How to Get Your Home Clean and Organized

Over 90% of Americans have trouble keeping their household in order. We are continually looking for ways to organize our belongings, our homes and our lives. Add housecleaning to the organizing problems and we are overwhelmed!

If you work outside of the home (or even have an in-the-home business), you know how difficult it is do get everything done. One suggestion is to take one full day off of work and devote it to cleaning and organizing your house. Let your babysitter or day care keep your children for the day just as if you were at work.

The better your house is organized, the happier you and your family will be. Here are more suggestions to get your home, and family, clean and organized.

1. Do you have the supplies you need to keep your home organized? It will help if you have decorative bins and boxes to keep papers and other items in. Try using drawer dividers, wall racks and baskets to keep things together.

2. Do you have a cleaning system? When you don't have a system of cleaning the rooms in your house, you can easily forget where you are or forget to clean items that really need to be done. You can't remember everything! So, create a system and write it down. Make it in a "task list" format and slip it inside a plastic sheet meant to hold sheets of paper. Then, mark off each task with an erasable marking pen as you finish it.

3. Get rid of the clutter. Do you really need 6 cookie sheets or 8 paring knives? What about your bed linens and towels? Most of us have "old" sheets that we are keeping "just in case we need them" someday. Have a garage sale or donate those items that you aren't using. Rooms that are overcrowded with furniture can also look cluttered. Decide on what you really need and get rid of the rest.

4. Do you have bad organizational habits? Do you just toss the mail and flyers on a table or countertop when you get home from work? Create a new habit that requires you to look at the mail and to throw away junk mail and flyers before it gets tossed onto the first available flat surface. Then, take your remaining mail to your desk and put it in your "in" basket or box.

5. If you are totally overwhelmed by the clutter and disorganization in your home, you may need a professional organizer. These people are trained in home or office organization and will show you exactly how to get your rooms organized - the right way. Be sure that the home organization company is reputable. Check to see if they are a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). Professional home organizers will not judge you. They've probably seen homes that are much worse organized than yours!

You can get your home clean and organized. Do a little bit every day. Start in one room. Move on to the next room when that one is finished. Your home and family will love you for it.