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  • Kimberly Norton

5 Home Organizing Mistakes You're Making and What to Try Instead

Updated: May 11


Organizing Mistakes You Are Making




Home Organizing can be a daunting task and a lot of the time people go about it all wrong. Here are the 5 most common mistakes that I see people make when it comes to organizing any space in their home and how you can avoid wasting time and effort. Here is how to get the organized home that you have been wanting that will stay that way for the long haul.


You are trying to organize your home without pulling anything out.



Clothes piled on a piano


Many people begin organizing their home by rearranging the things that are currently in a space without removing them. This is a big mistake that will cost a lot of time and wasted effort.


Instead, remove absolutely everything from the space from the beginning. I know, this may seem like a daunting task, but I promise it will speed up the process.


Taking everything out of the space should always be the first step when organizing any room in your home. This will allow you more room to sort and assess what you have. Trying to shuffle things around in the space will just waste time.


This brings me to the next mistake people often make.


You want to keep absolutely everything!



large pile of shoes in a wooden bin


I know that it is hard to get rid of things that you own for so many reasons.

  • You spent good money on those items.

  • Maybe someone gave them to you as a gift.

  • you had big plans to use those items one day.

But the truth is that there is a good chance that you will never use a lot of items that you are holding on to. You probably forgot about most of them because they are hiding among so many things.


If the thought of decluttering seems like too much, start with a sort and edit. Sort all your things into big categories. Once you have all the like things together commit to eliminating 3 things from each category. This is less painful and builds that decluttering muscle.




You don’t gather all the items that belong in that space



laundry basket full of clothes

Have you ever finished organizing a room and have it all pretty only to find more like items around your house that should be stored in that same area?


You wind up shoving those items in wherever they will fit and ultimately end up with a mess all over again.


After you have sorted and edited your items, make sure to shop the rest of your house for similar items that you would like to store in that space.


It is a waste of time and effort to organize a space only to mess it up later because of poor planning. Take the extra time to ensure that you have all of the items that belong in that space before you put it all away.



You don’t use logic when putting things back


women sitting on steps outside thinking

Another common mistake in organizing is not having a thought-out plan for putting the items away. Most people will put the items back in the exact same spots that the items were in before.


People fail to realize that it isn’t always having too many things or not having them sorted correctly that is the cause of being unorganized. Often where or how you store items doesn’t make sense for how you use the items making it more difficult to put away properly.


Before you put your things away think about each category and find a home for that item that is close to where you use it. For items that you use often, ensure that they are easy to access and just as easy to put away. These items should be front and center.


All other items should be stored in the areas that are less easily accessed.


You think that Organzing Labels are silly.



baking items stored in clear containers with pretty labels.

I know that it seems silly to label containers that to you very obviously show what exactly belongs there. Anyone living alone might be able to get away with not labeling things, but for anyone who lives with another person I can tell you from experience that failing to use labels is a sure-fire way to undo all the hard work that you put into organizing your home.


To the person who did the organizing, it is very clear to see where everything should go, but to others in the household it isn’t always so clear. Having labels makes it 100 times more likely that others will put things back where they belong and will save you a lot of pain and frustration in the long run.


Bonus knowledge: Organizing your home is not a one and done sort of thing. You will constantly have to revisit each space in your home and reset it.


Nobody is perfect and neither are the systems that you set up. Life happens and things don’t always get put back the way that they should.


The benefit of having an organizational system is that the time and effort it takes to reset is minimal compared to having to redo the entire space over again.


So, tell me, which of these home organizing mistakes are you guilty of making in the past?










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