Organizational Tip- Entry 1

1 Corinthians 14:40- "But let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner." I know that this verse is dealing with church services and how they are to be held. However, I also believe that we can apply this verse to our homes and our care of them. If you have been following me on Yahoo 360, then you know that I do an organizational purge of my home twice a year. It keeps us from collecting unnecessary "stuff" and keeps our home and living quarters clean and neat- let's face it, less stuff means less clutter. I am beginning a weekly series called "Organizational Tip" where I will be giving you a step-by-step layout of the process that I go through during my purge of each area of the house. I hope you find this weekly installment helpful for yourself and your home.

The Hall Closet: I don't know if you have a hall closet or not, but ours pretty much only gets used during the winter when we actually have a reason to reach inside for our jackets. Occassionally a pair of sneakers ends up in there, and our small quick-fix vacuum has made a permanent home there, but other than that, it gets hardly any love from us. So in my organizational sweep, I decided to take care of that sad little spot, and show it some TLC towards the beginning of the sweep. Here are the steps I used. I hope it will be of some help to you.

• Completely empty your hall closet
• Use a hard floor vacuum (like our turquoise blue $10.00 day-after-Thanksgiving find) to pick up all of the dust and dirt that you can't even see
• Scrub the floor and baseboards (I used the generic version of Clorox Disinfecting wipes)
• Decide what coats and jackets you and your family have out grown, dislike, or will probably never wear again (be brutal)
• Put the few items that survived your scrutiny back on the shelves by owner (my husbands jackets all together, mine, then Addie's- hers are the smallest so they are closer to the front)
• Decide what, if anything, will be stored on the shelf (you know, the shelf that ends up in every hall closet above the hanging rack to store things that you forget you even have until your next purge)
• Put anything belonging on the floor back in its place
• Stand back and admire your hard work

As I said, I hope this helps you. For some people, organizing a space can take a day, for others it can take a week (this is where I fit in). I prefer to take one room a week (remember my office organization?). It keeps me from becoming overwhelmed with the project, and I know that Addie is not being neglected in my quest for cleanlines and order. She is my main responsibility, so my organizational times happen when she is napping. Therefore, it takes me a bit longer to finish a room. The goal is to be comfortable with your home or space and for your family to feel comfortable, too. A clean, oraganized home is always a comfortable place to be.