When you live in any size home, you have a need to have home organization. Fact is, we all have “stuff”. And “stuff” can end up slowing down our day, and ruffling our feathers in the evening. “Stuff” quickly becomes clutter, and who wants that? Not only does clutter take away from the look of your home, it adds to the overwhelm you feel each day. Household organizing ideas can be super easy once you make them a habit. If you have stacks of papers that belong no where, crazy and chaotic mornings, or lost backpacks and car keys, check out these easy & inexpensive home organization ideas!
Home Organization Ideas
Household Organization Ideas
1. This one is pretty self explanatory… To have the most organized household, and to avoid morning chaos, lay out everything you are going to need in the morning, the night before. Then, (and here is the hard part) teach your kids to do the same. Photo below by ‘BHG‘.
2. Have a central area to organize purses, keys and your wallet. Always put it there. Always. Want something that also looks good? Make this entryway hall tree bench DIY from ‘Angela Marie Makes‘! Full plans and instructions for this home organization idea, and it so charming! Would love to leave my keys and purse here every day!
3. Set out everything for breakfast that is non refrigerated, right down to the spoons. Obviously, this means knowing what’s for breakfast the night before. No stops at Krispy Kreme, ok? And make all kids school lunches the night before, always! Or better yet, listen to ‘The Seasoned Mom‘ and make school lunches on Sunday that will last all week! These kinds of home organization ideas save money too!
4. Write up a daily to do list for the next morning on your smart phone and put priority items first. Move items from today that didn’t get done into tomorrows list. Update your calendar. We like an app called “Cozi“. It has the capability to handle your whole families’ activities, and you can even keep your grocery list there. Cozi lets each family member share with one, two or all other members what their schedule is. It can also send you email reminders, like for trash day. Oh, and it’s free. Or if you prefer a more traditional home organization idea, you can set up a family message station with a dry erase calendar that family members can share. We like this DIY family command center by ‘House of Wood‘.
5. Evening organization tip – Go get gas, pick up the first graders cupcakes, or get that pencil sharpener that your high schooler can never seem to find. Don’t put off errands ’till morning when everything is busy.
Bathroom Organizing Ideas:
6. Keep your bathroom paraphernalia out of sight when not in use. Buy a plastic carry-all with a handle on top, or a pretty basket. Put all of your make-up, deodorant, hair spray, razors, etc. into the container and place under the counter. Bring it out when you need it, then always put it right back underneath. Check out how ‘I Heart Organizing‘ doubled their under sink storage for a guest bath.
7. Shower caddies are essential for keeping the shampoos, conditioner, face scrubs and specialty in-shower treatments from taking over the whole space. (Guilty.) You can make a DIY shower caddy to keep your bathroom organized! This caddy tutorial from ‘Dunn Lumber‘ looks extremely high end (and expensive!) but is pretty cheap to make!
8. Squeegee your shower doors after every single shower. Keeping the squeegee right in the shower makes that easier. Add a little suction cup hook if you need. If you have a shower curtain, use a daily shower spray to keep clean up from being impossible when you finally get around to a whole bathroom cleaning. Cheap organizing tip? Get yours at the dollar store.
9. A strip of magnetic tape (any craft store) or a magnetic knife holder are great organizing ideas that can take care of the little things, like nail clippers, tweezers and scissors. Try this from ‘Treasures and Travels‘.
10. Use those wasted corners and awkward space to put in a cabinet or shelves to add storage. Remember to repurpose to save bucks, and that paint is everything when you want to organize your home on a budget ! Find out how to make this bathroom shelf from an old drawer, at ‘BHG‘.
11. Once a month, go through your bathroom cupboards and drawers and throw away old or ineffective products you never use. Might not be the most fun of household organizing ideas, but come on, we all gotta do it!
12. Roll your towels and use them as decor tucked into pretty baskets or piled on a bench. Rolling towels takes up less space. Check out our post on OhMeOhMy on DIY bathroom towel storage! Check out this home organization idea using baskets at ‘Zevy Joy‘.
13. Use wall hooks for hanging towels, robes and clothing. Behind the door is a great way to use wasted space.
14. Use drawer organizers for makeup, jewelry, ponytail holders, and other loose items. Or make your own. Try our post on budget make up storage for ideas. Learn how to build this easy DIY bathroom drawer organizer from ‘Hazel & Gold Designs‘.
15. Use pretty floating shelves to add storage and to organize above the toilet, and add value to the room. Need tutorials? DIY floating shelves.
16. Use a timer in each bathroom, and use it… This is great for getting out the door on time, AND getting teenagers out of the shower.
Closet Organizing Ideas:
17. Place color separating baskets in your closet for laundry, and one for dry cleaning. This will save you time sorting clothes, and you will always know when you have enough colors for a full load. We are in love with these DIY laundry sorting bags from ‘Yellow Brick Home‘. You can stitch this up from cheap, or leftover fabric, making it a truly inexpensive home organization idea for families!
18. If you haven’t worn it in a year, donate it. Goodwill and some other charities even take worn out clothes, as it employs people while they are redirected to recyclers.
19. Sort your clothes by season, and only keep the present season in your closet. Pack out of season clothes away in an under bed storage container. DIY under bed storage ideas!
20. Put your clothes in categories that work for you. Color, formality, type or office wear are good places to start. This will save you time putting together outfits, and save you money from re-purchasing items you didn’t remember you had, as they were buried in the closet… somewhere. Inevitably, you know they will re-appear right after the return-window on your new item has expired. Love this organized closet from ‘Lark & Linen‘. Organize your home, you can do this!
21. Recycle wire hangers. Clothes simply slide off of them to the floor. Get velvet hangers at Costco to hold even the slinkiest silk dress. Or make your own with this organizing idea & tutorial on no slip hangers by Diane from ‘In My Own Style‘.
22. Use a system for hanging and organizing scarves and belts. Shoving them in a drawer is no good for anyone. Try this DIY clothespin scarf and accessories home organization idea from ‘DIYS‘.
23. Use a shoe rack. Rotate out of season shoes just the way you rotate out of season clothes. No reason for six pairs of leather boots to bury all your cute sandals in July. Or check out our post at OhMeOhMy on shoe storage projects for small spaces!
24. Use hooks and pegboard on any closet wall space to hang purses, jackets, and accessories. Photo by ‘HGTV‘.
25. Use vacuum sealed bags to store out of season clothes in a tight space. Just don’t use this method on delicate fabrics, as the wrinkles could become permanent.
How to Organize Your Kitchen:
26. Organize your kitchen cabinets into categories. Make sure your cups are near the fridge so you can easily pour that afternoon juice, and your utensil drawer is near the dishwasher so you don’t have to make ten trips across the kitchen. Pots and pans? Near the stove. Kids plates? On a lower shelf so they can get to them without calling you from the first bath you have had in a month. Getting it? Also, keep your drawers organized including the misc / junk drawer that we all have. There are all kinds of household items that can be repurposed to help keep everything contained and organized.
27. Keep whatever you use for a pantry immaculate. No where does clutter make more of a mess than with food. Try our post on organizing your pantry. Don’t have a pantry? No problem, jump on over to ‘Classy Clutter‘ and find out how to make your own DIY rolling pantry. This is genius!
28. Add a kitchen island to a small kitchen to increase storage and prep space. No worries, we’ve got that covered for you too. DIY kitchen islands, and more DIY kitchen islands! Want some more? ‘Becca Mclagan‘ made this gorgeous DIY kitchen Island for under $100! Go find out how!
29. Use an inexpensive plastic lazy-susan in the back of deep cupboards, so you never forget whats hiding back there! Or make a lazy susan for each one of your kitchen cabinets with this organizing idea with step by step directions from ‘ The Art of Doing Stuff‘.
30. Try to organize tupperware in a drawer rather than a shelf, as that way you will always be able to find a matching lid. Check out our post on DIY tupperware organizers!
31. Only keep things on the counter you use often. We only keep the Keurig on the counter, even the toaster goes in the pantry and gets brought out daily when needed. And if I could convince my other half, the Vita Mix would go under the counter too! (Not the Keurig folks, at this very minute I’m sipping its second offering of the day.) (Update: Vita Mix tucked safely away in it’s very own deep drawer!) You can also make your own DIY appliance garage with this home organization idea from ‘Julie Blanner’.
32. Do you have cards and scraps of paper with scribbled recipes on them? I don’t even care if they are printed from your computer, time to come into the 21st century people. “Evernote” is a free app, where you can take photos of each recipe with your phone or tablet, add them and even organize them into folders. (Thanks to reader Karen for this tip!)
33. Have a whole closet full of plastic grocery store bags? Organize your home by tucking 10-20 into one or two bags to hang onto, then recycle your plastic bags folks!
34. Keep your fridge clean. Every time you go to the grocery store, make sure to clean out the old food and toss. Rotate older food into the front so it is used up first. Try these 7 steps to an organized fridge. Jessica at ‘Four Generations, One Roof‘ uses containers to hold items in her fridge. Love this idea!
Organizing Kid’s Rooms:
35. Need a fun organizing idea kids night actually participate in? Hang a hoop over a laundry basket for slam-dunking dirty clothes.
36. Or, place a two-compartment hamper in your kid’s room so he or she can organize light clothes from dark clothes as they undress.
37. Easy home organization ideas also come cheap! Use poster putty in your child’s room and have your child display his or her favorite artwork all on one wall, gallery style.
38. Hang a net from the ceiling to store stuffed animals, dolls, or action figures. Or use wall planters with this idea from ‘BHG‘.
Or this DIY toy swing from ‘It’s Always Autumn‘. Love this, and its an easy tutorial for such a cute project to organize your home!
39. Add wall mounted bookshelves and help your child organize their books. Make sure you remember if you place a large bookshelf in a child’s room, bolt it to the wall for safety. Need ideas? Try our post at OhMeOhMy on creative bookshelf projects.
40. Buy the kids their own alarm clocks and teach them how to get up on time. By themselves. Without you.
Other Home Organization Ideas
41. Make sure everything in your house has a home. Teach all family members to mind their own messes. For example, if you take it out, put it back; if you open it, close it; if you throw it down, pick it up; if you make a mess, clean it up; and so on.
42. Put wastebaskets in every room and place several unused trash bags in the bottom of each one. This will eliminate countless trips to retrieve new trash bags and give all family members a place to throw away their trash.
43. Make sure the remotes have a drawer, basket or shelf to live on. How often have you found it under the sofa? Better yet, make this remote control pillow with these easy instructions from ‘Make It Homemade‘! So clever, you can just turn it around when you don’t want to see the remotes, but they are always right there!
44. Use a plastic caddy to store cleaning supplies in and tote it from room to room.
45. Organize your home using a plastic laundry basket for quick pick up and transport of toys to their proper homes each evening.
46. Make a designated area for homework, crafts or sewing. You can create a very organized space in a small area, and that prevents you from having projects strewn all over the house. ‘Your Modern Family‘ created this DIY homework station, so that everything is always where it needs to be, come home school or homework time. They used inexpensive Ikea table tops to make this great study space.
47. Each night before bedtime, have all family members pick up clutter for 15 minutes. Make a game out of it and see who can pick up the most things in the shortest amount of time.
48. Have one designated spot where kids are to leave school flyers, permission slips that need to be signed and school photo envelopes. Make this part of the nightly “laying out for tomorrow” habit.
49. Make a master grocery list on the app or website of your choice. Categorize the groceries into sections such as frozen, dairy, and so on. In each category, list the most frequent items that you buy. Organize the grocery list according to the way your favorite grocery store’s isles are set up. Make sure each adult or teenager has the app loaded on their phone as well. If they forget to add Pop Tarts to the list, then they are eating oatmeal.
50. Don’t leave things ’till later. Procrastination is the number one cause of clutter and mess. Take care of it right then and there.
Make sure your home runs as smoothly as it can, and that you can take the time to enjoy it, instead of always dealing with clutter and chaos. Did you love these cheap ideas to organize your home? Then jump on over to our posts on DIY dollar store organizing ideas! Then check out our post on 12 Genius Packing Tips & Hacks for when you travel, over on OhMeOhMy!!
Image Credits: Dunn Lumber, BHG, Angela Marie Makes, The Seasoned Mom, Treasures and Travels, Lark & Linen, HGTV, BHG, Four Generations, One Roof, BHG, Its Always Autumn, Make It Homemade
Wow. What an impressive post! And I love that these are all your own pictures! Pinned. I will be referencing this one a LOT! :) THANKS!
You have some good suggestions. #35, however girls play basketball too!
Absolutely!
That’s what I was going to say!
You have some great ideas here and as for the basketball hoop idea, awesome for younger boys and girls but really who notices that both play the game in this article, so not what its about. I will keep checking this one out for ideas:))
Great ideas, just one thought – Rather than throw away the plastic bags from the grocery store, take some of them with you each time you shop or reuse them as trash bags, cuts down on waste and better for the environment. In Wales we have to pay for bags when we shop and the money goes to charity, the amount of bags used has reduced dramatically.
Good ideas Ruth. Thanks!
Our community uses the plastic bags for packing food for our ‘Backpack Program’. We have a collection spot at our church just for these plastic bags! When I have more than my ‘plastic bag holder’ can hold, I drop off a big bag full of these. The group is wondering what they’ll use, if there is a ‘plastic bag ban’ in our area. It is an awesome way to help recycle! I also use those bags for traveling-hold shoes, wet clothes, sandy beach stuff, etc.
Is that a silverware organizer on the wall under “closet organizing” holding the jewelry? Also #8 should say “hole in the handle” instead of “whole in the handle” … That’s the editor in me coming out ;)
Yes – 3 of them in a row! Thanks – fixed the typo!
Thank you for such a great list; but please donate your plastic bags to your local food bank to be used for food distribution or take them to your local Walmart for recycling, do not throw in the garbage.
Yes. Definitely agree!
I’m an American citizen and this post has great ideas for us all… now what I do with my plastic bags is my business, I love these ideas though! Thanks!
I must say your tips are great. Some tips we see for organizing include buying expensive pieces to use for storage where as your tips require little or no capital outlay and can be done quickly and easily with what it already in the house.
These are honestly some of the best organizing ideas I’ve ever read. There are things in here I’ve never thought of doing, so thank you very much.
I love this! But I do agree with donating the plastic bags to a food bank, every bit helps the needy. Also another tip for a kids room is boxes or baskets under the bed for toys. Label each box; dolls, legos, stuffed animals, ex. Another plus is it saves space on the floor!
I love all of these tips. Thank you for sharing. Another place to donate all the extra grocery bags to is the Public Library :-)
Great list!
I agree with Ruth and the others about the plastic bags. (In Germany we also have to pay for them in the stores and lots of people use fabric shopping bags.)
Also instead of throwing away food that your family does not eat (#34), I think it’s better to donate the food or register on a foodsharing-website (of course only edible food).
There are some great tips in here, I’m really glad I read this article. Could I just make a plea (at least to the UK readers – I don’t know how it works elsewhere) that instead of throwing your plastic bags away you donate them to a charity organisation. Most organisations will, quite rightly, not waste money on producing their own plastic bags and so their shops rely on donated bags instead. Thank you.
I already do most of these things and I know the value of being tidy and organized ! Most times I’ll prepare everything for lunches the night before but then assemble everything day-of (think egg salad sandwiches, salads, cooking meat or hard boiled eggs, etc).
I am also assigning hubby to have “prep duty” for the following night’s dinner. He preps everything so all I have to do is cook it- we have a young baby and if it weren’t for this, we’d have to have grilled cheese & soup daily !
Thank you for the great tips! Another great way to deal with glass shower doors is to treat them with Rain-X. It’s miraculous!
Oh my what fantastic tips and tricks- for the top picture all of our mail is cluttered on our eat I’m kitchen table I love what you have done to remedy that situation. Where did you get the bins for organizing mail and the bags for the family’s stuff? What should I be looking for?
I used the hanger and shower hooks to hang up my son’s caps and he was amazed. It worked very well. That was a great idea. Will share this with family and friends.
some good (new) ideas but #33 bothers me – plastic grocery bags can be returned to the grocer for recycling instead of filling up landfills. Cheers to organization!
Why not recycle the plastic bags at your local grocery store?
We agree, great idea!
#33 should read, “…and recycle the rest” rather than “…and throw the rest away”!
Instead of putting 10 plastic bags inside one and throwing out the rest why not do that to all of them and bring back to store where they will recycle them instead of throwing them in trash. So bad for the environment.
Sorry hadn’t read other comments I see many agree
Also there are people like me who can’t where high heel shoes but I was lucky enough to have the room in my closet to put in an inexpensive ikea book shelf to hold all of my flats that were in, yes, boxes. But for me it was the perfect solution.
Yup it’s me again I love your ideas many of which i use others that I will use, on #47 when my kids were little I used to play music like in musical chairs and when the music stopped we would see who had picked up the most. No prizes just the satisfaction of being the winner.
I’m now inspired to install a basketball hoop over my daughter’s laundry basket and it’s not going to be pink.
What an awesome list! Every single one of these tips are very helpful and will definitely provide a less stressful lifestyle to those who implement these ideas in their everyday lives. Thanks and Happy National Organize Your Home Day!
I’m so inspired by ur budget “repurposing ” ideas, creating something useable out of your clutter to organize the clutter has always impressed me! NOW…Anybody with ideas on how to make said “husbands/children” maintain/participate after I do all these amazing organizations? LOL! Uve inspired my eternal optimism….so try try again I shall!
Dont think you should advise people to throw away plastic bags. Recycle or re use them!
I live in Ontario , Canada . We have a program that weaves clean milk bags into mattresses & blankets for third world countries. Washable & last forever. Maybe could also use plastic grocery bags? Good to do the 3 r’s .
Number 35 is sexist. What if girls like to play basketball too?
We agree! Girl’s too!
I know this post has been up for a couple of years, but, for those like me who are reading it for the first time… If you have clippings or pieces of paper with recipes written on them, take a photo with your phone and save the recipes in an app like Evernote. You can do the same thing if you only make one or two things from a cookbook, take a photo of the recipes you use, instead of keeping the whole book (and donate the book!).
Love this idea! Thx Karen!
#35: this works equally well in a GIRLS room as well, yannow. :)
Of course!
Lovely article. But recycle the magazines too please
Wow. Great ideas. Thanks for sharing this. Good luck.
Just read post for first time. To commenters, hey girls, she’s got it, on bag recycle and girls play basket ball. As smart as this post is, I’ll bet she’s well aware of both. I am pinning & will refer to these tips frequently. You go, great post!
Hi, Kathy! I read this a couple weeks ago. Great ideas, thanks
for sharing them. I was curious about the very first picture, the
3 cute white bags. I was wondering if you would tell me where you purchase them from. Please email me, I would really appreciate it. Thank You!!!
Im sorry Brenda, its not our photo, so we have no idea! Any of our readers know and can help Brenda?
Hi Kathy! Love your ideas! For those who are asking about the bags…if you have even the most basic sewing skills, there are thousands of pins with patterns for generic bags that could be adapted for this purpose. You really would only need to add one (sturdier) handle and reinforce the bag to hold it’s shape using heavy plastic mesh or something similar. Now, if I can just get the rest of my family on board with my organization and decluttering, I’d be in great shape! Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to change a tiger’s stripes!
Thx for the tip Vanessa!
great tips to orgnize home , thank you for sharing.
Thanks for these different organization ideas. Personally, I really like the idea of trying to organize cabinets in categories. I wonder if it could be good to potentially label them at first so you have an idea of where everything goes.
Your ideas are super cool and really beneficial to enhance anyone home decor.
Loved it!
Keep sharing with us more ideas.
kids room is messiest place in every house. Mom has to busy all time to keep it organize. My house is like that. So i am searching how to get rid of this problem. Thanks for sharing such a nice ideas of kids room organization.
Thanks a lot for another great information. This website has been my gateway to information :)
Amazing ideas ! Such a clever way to organize kids room. kids room is messiest place in every house. Mom has to busy all time to keep it organize. My house is like that. So i am searching how to get rid of this problem. Thanks for sharing such a nice ideas of kids room organization.
Your room organizing ideas are really great and helpful. I would like to implement your ideas for decorating my room.
WOW!! This is great. I think there are many things I love the most. This post is definitely going to help for those who are facing problem in their home.
Amazing! Such a creative though to organize kids messy toys. Mom has to busy most time to arrange kids messy zone. It’s must helpful to organize kids room. Thanks for such a helpful kids room organization ideas.
Wow, I just love the ideas about organizing home and I think you did well and totally unique ideas. I am here for the first time and it was a really great experience. Thank you
I have a small walk-in closet and trust me walk-in closets are hardest to organize when it comes to clutter. the more space you have the more clutter you’ll collect. I cannot agree more on closet organization tips, that’s pretty much everything that I personally follow. Great Job!
Thank you soo much yetişkin
Wow this article is very amazing to organize our home… I hope all the readers will enjoy this article.. these ideas are very useful for all readers and especially for house wives..
Thanks for sharing this article to us
Thanks for sharing these different ideas. Personally, I definitely like the idea of looking to arrange cabinets in room. I am surprised if it can be exact to potentially label them before everything so you have an idea of in which everything is going.
Thanks for sharing this article