Getting Organized After Your Move

The moving truck is unloaded and you’re ready to start your home organization, but where do you start?

As you begin unpacking, take time to move through each room separately. Thinking about every room and space that needs to be unpacked and organized can be overwhelming, take it one step at a time. 

In each room, designate a box or bin as the ‘do later’ box for items that require a little more thought and planning.

Kitchen Organization Hacks

Storage

If your cabinets and pantries have adjustable shelves, take the time to position them at the heights that work best for the items you are storing. Doing this before you put items away will save you time and headache later. 

Transform your “junk” drawer into an “everyday” drawer. Use drawer organizers to keep common household items organized and neat.

Categorize your party utensils and decorations in a separate space from your everyday kitchen items. 

Use a dish rack to store food storage container lids.

Fold kitchen towels and stack them vertically. Use a drawer divider to store potholders and other kitchen linens together. 

Keep cleaning products organized under your sink by keeping them in a basket. 

Store baking pans vertically using a sturdy mail or file organizer. This will keep your baking pans easily accessible and less prone to breaking.

Keep cooking utensils organized with drawer organizers. You can also keep your most-used utensils on the counter in a decorative utensil cup.

Pantry

Organize soda and soup cans with a stackable rack organizer that rolls down a new can each time one is removed. 

Food

Store like with like and organize your items into baskets and bins to keep shelves tidy and ensure your pantry staples are easy to find. 

If you are planning to decant food items, make sure your canisters are clean and dry before tackling the kitchen. Avoid putting all of your food in the pantry with the intention of decanting later. Instead, move food immediately from your packed items into their new containers. 

Organizing Your Family Room

Oftentimes the family room is where most of the miscellaneous boxes end up when moving. The first step to unpacking your family room is to remove any boxes that are definitely not staying in the room. 

Quickly determine a place or box for items that will be staying in the family room but do not currently have somewhere to go. For example, tv remotes, books, magazines, throw pillows, etc.

Designate a bin for items that, while organizing, you decide to donate or discard. 

Make sure everything that is going in the family room has a place. Whether it is on display shelves, or in a side table drawer, keeping flat surfaces free of clutter will transform your space. 

Use trays to organize decorative items on tables and counters. 

Be sure your entertainment system conceals out-of-control cords.

If you have children, assign a ‘play zone’ to keep toys tucked away. Unused corners are a great place to conceal toy bins.

Maximize the storage your coffee table or storage ottomans offer. 

Playroom Organization Tricks

When organizing a playroom, it is important to keep your expectations reasonable. Don’t expect perfection when it comes to keeping toys and supplies put away.

Use bins to store children’s toys all in one spot. Choose a storage system that combines large and small bins to accommodate toys of all sizes. 

While labels are great in most other spaces in your home, consider not labeling everything in your kid’s space. This keeps organization flexible as their taste in toys change and to ease clean-up time. 

Rotate toys to keep them interesting for your children. If you bring toys out and they are no longer interesting, you know those toys can be donated.

Displaying children’s artwork in the playroom is a great way to add color to the walls and reduce the need to store a whole pile somewhere. 

Home Office Organization Tips

Start organizing your home office as soon as you move in with these tips!

Documents

If you didn’t purge papers and documents while packing, now is the time. Go through all of your paper and decide if you need to toss/shred it, file it, or take action from it. 

Color-code your filing system by category. Separate files into these 5 categories and assign each a color: financial, medical, personal, insurance, house. 

Create life binders for easy grab-and-go in case of an emergency. Common binder categories include medical, pet, auto, manuals, home, and personal.

Stations

Create a mail station to maintain control over all the incoming and outgoing mail. This will help make sure the mail is handled properly and does not get lost in a stack of papers. 

Create a printing station with the printer and any supplies needed. Place a wireless printer in a cabinet or other area of your office to free up space on your desk. 

Organize

Make your office look less cluttered by storing office supplies in containers, drawers, baskets, and bins out of sight.

Use a label maker to label files, drawers, and boxes and easily identify and locate items later.

Categorize office supplies by categories to make it easier to find items. Common categories include:

Stickies (sticky notes, tabs, stickers, etc.)

Tools (straight cutter, staple, staple remover, hole puncher)

Budget (checkbook, calculator, bill calendar)

Writing Tools (markers, pens, pencils)

Mail (envelopes, stamps, address labels)

Labeling (labeler and label tape)

Declutter your office space by hiding cords, installing shelving, and using drawer dividers.

Design

Organize your books to your preference. Organizing by color will add a clutter-free design element in your space. 

Utilize wall space to hang filing systems, calendars, whiteboards, shelving, and more. 

Closet Organization Systems

Clothes

Many professional organizers opt for organizing clothes by color order. This keeps clothes visually appealing and makes it easy to find matching items. 

Store jeans in a neatly folded stack rather than hanging. This will save hanging space and make it easier to see all of your jeans at once. 

Pack away seasonal clothing to keep available storage in your closet for clothes you are currently wearing.

Store t-shirts by folding them to file behind each other like this:

Follow these steps for folding:

• Lay the T-shirt face down with the arms spread out. 
• Use your hands to spread it out flat with no wrinkles. 
• Fold the left arm in.
• Fold the right arm in. Now you should have a long rectangle. 
• Fold the bottom of the shirt up. 
• Turn it right side up, and fold it once more.

Shoes

Incorporate shoe boxes to prevent shoes from getting dusty and damaged in your closet. Opt for boxes that open at the front so you don’t have to shift any boxes to get to your favorite pair.

Tilted shelves are also an effective way to organize shoes. Neatly placed shoes will be prevented from slipping and sliding and are easily accessible. 

Accessories

Use hooks to organize jewelry and prevent tangles. 

Garage Organization

Get your garage organized from the start with these helpful storage tips.

Use a track system to hold items such as shovels, brooms, bicycles, ladders, cords, and rakes. 

Hide the mess with cabinet storage. Limited on space? Use rolling storage shelves to maximize the space available. 

Install magnetic strips to be a catchall for small items that tend to get lost in your garage. Attach soup cans to the strip to hold items like pencils. 

Hang bicycles on garage walls or ceiling to free up valuable floor space.

Use ceiling storage solutions for items you don’t need access to frequently like seasonal decor and equipment.

Finish making your new house feel like home with these tips!