It’s time to stop making excuses! You will be amazed at how easy it is to get your home organised – no matter how daunting and impossible it may be.

As the season’s change, so is your home organisation strategy, which means it’s the perfect time to make a fresh start. Despite what you think, it’s not that hard!

Here are some practical tips that easily and efficiently reduce stress in your home.

Memory lapses

Have you ever forgotten to send your friend a birthday card when you walked out of the house? Did you forget to print the directions to your niece’s wedding? Wouldn’t it be great if we could remember these things before leaving the house?

You can prepare it for success each morning, whether it’s the front door or the mudroom. To keep items you need before you leave for work, school, or events, create pockets that hang on the knob or over the door.

Many online and in-store door organisers cost under $15.

Missing items

The more stuff you have, the harder it is to find the items you need. In an unsorted toolbox, that perfect spatula hides in the overstuffed drawer and favourite shirts get lost in a crowded closet.

You might be surprised by how easy it is to get organised. Take those tools, for example. Garages can be one of the messiest areas of the house, but this simple approach can help you get it under control.

Install hooks and a pegboard.

Outline each tool to identify its location with a marker.

With this tool organisation system, you will not only stay organised but will also be alerted when a tool is missing. The good news is that organising is contagious – once you get started, it quickly spreads throughout the house.

Washroom woes

Laundry rooms are often the bane of an organised household. Get each member of the family their laundry basket, and label them. This will restore household harmony and save you time.

The cleaner the laundry, the less likely people are to walk by without picking up their clothes. Instead, ask them to pick up their customised basket in the laundry room.

No more misplaced or mixed-up items, and no more blaming you.

Doing everything by yourself

Most homes revolve around the kitchen. Everyone uses it throughout the day since it’s a high-traffic area. This is where we check our mail, study for school, use the computer, and store our stuff – plus, it’s where we eat!

Designate one area of the counter for daily routines, such as lunch preparation. Make sure it’s stocked with paper towels, wraps, baggies, and a cutting board. Additionally, you could build a station with supplies such as filters, strainers, and sugar for making coffee and tea.

Make it easy for your family to eat lunch or drink coffee by creating an organised space. It’s called delegation.

That missing phone number

Another practical tip for the kitchen that could save a life is to make a household manual. All it takes is a few minutes, and it’s free.

Grab a binder and a three-hole punch, and put all your important information in it. Information such as emergency contact information, the names of your family doctors and veterinarians, school rosters, alarm codes, medications and dosages for your children, caregiver names, the location of your wills – any information that would be helpful to someone in an emergency.

Gather all important information in one place, and keep it secure.

Cord traffic

The house is always filled with mismatched cables, chargers, and remotes. Quickest way to pull it all together? Centralised charging stations.

Having a charging station allows you to hide cords, keep all your electronic devices together, and even blend in with your furniture.

Toys everywhere

The most common home organisation issue parents encounter is their children’s inability to pick up their toys.

It may be as simple as teaching your children organisation skills from an early age and making it easy for them to organise their belongings.

A simple idea will help you move from frustration to elation:

Toys should be stored in bins. The toys in each bin should be of the same type.

Take a picture of each particular bin containing toys. Attach a picture of dolls and stuffed animals to the front of a bin containing dolls and stuffed animals, for example.

Clean as you go

Isn’t it great if everyone cleaned up their mess in at least one communal room? Are you reminded of your bathroom? Implement a universally applicable system to make this a reality.

Provide each member of the family with a toiletry caddy, just as you would at summer camp or in a college dormitory. Place the caddies on shelves in the bathroom, or, if space is at a premium, ask people to carry their caddies back and forth.

In the bathroom, everything is kept in order, and the bathroom is automatically cleaned after each visit.

Zen-less space

By removing clutter from our homes, we can create a more peaceful environment, away from overstimulation and the demands of our external environment.

Take that idea and apply it to one room in particular: the bedroom, which is designed to serve as a place of rest and healing. Next to the bed are piles of laundry, books, and magazines that prevent any possibility of a peaceful and relaxing sleep.

To create a peaceful environment, you should:

Disposing of unwanted clothing. Donate, sell, or box it and store it.

Limit yourself with one book to read from all the books on your bedside table (or floor). Ensure that the others are stored in an alternate location. Your table should only contain this month’s magazines, and the rest of the magazines should either be relocated, recycled, or donated.

Not enough time

Lack of time is one of the most common reasons why people do not get organised. Work, family, school, volunteer work, and other commitments seem to consume all our energy.

There is often little time in the day to organise or even clean, but many of us dream of alphabetised folders and colour-coded sheets and towels.

This issue should be managed by reducing and then repeating.

Make reductions. The most important thing we can do to create more time for ourselves is to eliminate clutter. The less clutter there is, the less time we spend cleaning it, the less time we spend putting it back in its proper place, and the less space we have to store it. Spend just 10 minutes today eliminating ten items that you no longer require.

There’s no need to look for perfection at all costs. Don’t obsess over details. There is no need to keep your home perfectly organised every day. “Good enough” is sometimes all that is required is more realistic.