Getting & Staying Organized a Challenge?

When you've only got a few piles of stuff (papers, clothing, toys and more) around the house, it's easy to look the other way and pretend you didn't see them. But we all know what happens, the piles multiply and before we know it they seem to take over the house and we can't ignore them any longer.

So what's so difficult about staying organized?

My instinct says when we focus on getting organized, we're too logical or at least I tend to be. For example, our new house in Arizona has a nice big closet by the front door, which I love because we didn't have a front hall closet in New Hampshire. This closet might seem like the logical place to keep all my hats but it's not.

Staying Organized Easier When You Stop Analyzing

The reality is when leaving the house, I walk out through the laundry room to the garage. It's unlikely that I'll take a detour to the front hall closet to grab a hat, especially when I'm still learning that hats are important in the desert. So we took our old hat rack that used to be by the front door, and put it on the wall in the laundry room. It's a great visual reminder to grab a hat as I head out the door … and a good reminder to leave the hat there when I come home.

Favorite Home Feature for Staying Organized

As funny as it might sound, my favorite organizing tool are metal strips with 6 hooks that end up on the back of almost every door in my houses … and sometimes two of them, if what I'm hanging isn't very long. But I don't want to give away all my secrets here as I wrote a guest blog post at Her View from Home, titled 5 Organizing Tips to Avoid Clutter. Hope you like the article!

And just in case you're looking for similar hooks you can order online, here's a nice selection of hooks at Amazon.