The Road to Recovery: Simple Ways to Get Organized

January 19th, 2012 by Caitlin Morgan| Posted in About Us, Apartment Guide, Apartment Living, Decorating | No Comments »

I believe there’s a fear inherent in us that we will die alone in a pile of things we bought 50 years previously.  Or maybe that’s just me—and numerous characters from TV and film, not least Bridget Jones, who fears she’ll die “fat and alone, and be found three weeks later half-eaten by Alsatians.”  While we can’t guarantee that getting your apartment organized will prevent you being eaten posthumously by wild dogs, it sure couldn’t hurt to try.  Below are 5 tips paraphrased from the ever-clever Apartment Therapy.

Give everything a home

Sounds nice, doesn’t it?  No orphan panties lying around?  I’ll tell you all the same thing I told my boyfriend while he was wading knee deep in unwashed jeans, looking for a credit card:  if every item has a place it belongs, you’ll know where to put it, and you’ll know where to look for it.  In other words, if you keep essential forms of payment in the pocket where they were last seen, you’re in for some trouble.

Tidy every day

Stop hyperventilating (although that could be the dust you’ve never wiped from your bookcases).  I don’t mean vacuum daily, but if you let things like mail and unwashed dishes pile up, they’ll be exponentially more daunting when you finally get around to dealing with them.

On  that note, God made hampers for a reason

Even the atheists among us can agree, dirty laundry is best kept in the dirty laundry basket, and not in the clean laundry pile or covering that nice Oriental carpet you inherited.  This will also prevent your mother from seeing your scandalous see-through teddy when she drops by for a surprise visit.  I can’t emphasize enough that this is a situation to avoid.  Not that it’s ever happened to me.

After a year, give it the heck away

If you haven’t worn or used it in a year, you’re probably not going to.

You’ll also have way more space for the next time you want to indulge in retail therapy.

Chore-chart it

Creating a chart makes it more likely you’ll get chores done in a timely manner, especially if you have roommates.  Did you know you’re supposed to clean your bathroom once a week?  You might if “clean your smelly bathroom” was staring at you from the refrigerator.  Organization is all about planning, so plan to do it.

How do you keep your apartment from getting out of control?  Tell us here or on Facebook.