If you’ve read or heard anything about organizing, you’ve probably read that every item needs a home. Truth! Defining your spaces and ensuring that you don’t exceed those definitions is the most effective tool in your organizing tool belt. How do you do that?

Start With The Big Picture

Determine the purpose of each room in your house. Some areas are simple—bedrooms are for sleeping, kitchens are for cooking, and bathrooms are for toilets, cleaning, and grooming. But there’s a lot more living you need to account for.

• Where are entertainment items such as DVDs, board games, computer games, and books kept?
• Where are toys kept? Will they be in a playroom, family room, the kids’ rooms, or a combination? If a combination, is there a limit on how much is kept in each area?
• Where is your home office/bill-paying center if you don’t have a dedicated room?
• Where are household maintenance items such as leftover paint, tools, light bulbs, and step stools kept?
• Where are memorabilia kept? Should the amount kept be limited?

Thinking It Through Room By Room

Dining Room

Some rooms can serve multiple purposes–dining rooms are a good example. Your dining room may be for formal dining and your home office since the two functions don’t happen simultaneously, and you can store the elements from one use while using the room for the other purpose.

Kids’ Bedrooms

Kids sleep in their bedrooms, but what other purposes might their bedrooms serve? Should toys and books be in their bedrooms? If so, consider limiting the number of items to minimize pick-up—especially if these items are in other areas of the home. Is this where children will do their homework? If so, make sure that desk and shelf space support this.

Kitchen

Beyond preparing, serving, and cleaning up meals, do you want to use your kitchen for other functions? A kitchen often becomes a medicine cabinet, craft room, and/or home office without a conscious decision. Go ahead and use your kitchen for more than serving meals, but only do this after making a conscious decision and if you have appropriate space.

Laundry Room

People frequently use the laundry room to keep many miscellaneous items which leads to a cluttered, claustrophobic laundry room. Limit the laundry room to things dealing with laundry (laundry baskets, laundry products, and space to fold/hang clothing). If there’s enough space, this can be a good place to keep cleaning supplies.

Basement

Basements are notorious for becoming dumping grounds, but this is a waste of valuable space. Be purposeful in thinking through what your basement should be. Finished areas often work well for entertainment. Unfinished areas work well for seasonal decorations and infrequently used kitchen appliances and serving pieces. But piles of unpacked boxes after multiple moves? Not so much.

Master Bedroom

Create an oasis in your bedroom where you can shut the door and feel like everything is right with the world—at least for a little while. Don’t bring work, bill-paying materials, or projects into the bedroom. Set your bedroom apart for sleeping, changing clothes, and romance.

What’s Next?

After defining the purpose of each room, define each drawer, cupboard, closet, and space within each room. Gather everything throughout the house that fits that purpose. If there isn’t enough space, de-clutter. Remember, it’s just physics—you can’t keep more than you have available space. But knowing where to find things and being able to put them away quickly feels SO amazing that you won’t regret the trade-off.