New Year, No Chaos? 8 Ways to Get Organized This Year (That Actually Stick)

Let’s be honest: The New Year’s resolution energy is strong right now. You’ve probably bought a new planner, drank a green smoothie, and booked a new exercise class. If you’re a mom, you have most likely walked around your house wielding a black trash bag, or at least threatened to! But here is the reality check from a team of moms who do this for a living: Resolutions fade. Systems don’t.

At This Organized Chaos, we don’t believe in getting organized just for the aesthetic (though we do love a color-coordinated bookshelf). We believe in organizing to save your sanity. We know we can't fix your kid’s habit of leaving socks on the floor, but we can create a home where cleaning up takes ten minutes instead of two hours.

Here are our top 8 ways to get organized this year:

1. Set a Timer

Don't try to tackle the whole house, or even your whole closet, in a weekend; you’ll burn out

and feel defeated, repeating the cycle we see so often of why people can’t get organized. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Pick one drawer, one shelf, or one corner. Sort it out into piles of keep, trash, donate. Bag up trash and donations immediately. Put back the keep items neatly and decide if containment is necessary. When the timer dings, you stop. You did so much in 20 minutes! Even if the whole space isn’t finished, you at least got it sorted out and removed trash and donations. Progress over perfection.

2. Touch It Once

This is a game-changer for busy families. When you pick up an item, make a decision right then and there and act on it. Is it trash? Donation? Or does it need to go back to its "home"? Do not move a pile from the kitchen counter to the dining room table just to "deal with it later." Later is a mythical place where clutter goes to multiply.

3. Decanting is (Mostly) for the Pros

We know, the clear containers on Instagram look amazing. But if you hate refilling cereal boxes, don’t decant them. An organized pantry only works if you can maintain it. If pouring Goldfish crackers into a glass jar feels like a chore, keep them in the bag and use a nice bin

to hold the bags instead (don't forget to label the bin!). Function first, always.

4. Take an Honest Approach to Clothes

If you’re ready to tackle your closet, be honest with yourself about what you decide to keep. If it doesn't fit your body right now, or if it makes you feel anything less than fabulous, it’s time let it go. If you haven’t worn it in a year or more, if it’s outdated, pilling, stained, unflattering, or if you’re keeping it because it was expensive, it’s time to let it go. You deserve a closet full of clothes that fit the person you are today, not the person you were five years ago or the person you might become someday. Donating clothes still in great condition to a career closet, local shelter, or selling items on sites such as Poshmark are a great way to make sure you’re upcycling responsibly.

5. Create a "Go-Elsewhere" Bin

You know the struggle of things migrating to other rooms or floors of the home: things that belong upstairs end up downstairs, things that belong in the playroom end up in the kitchen. A solution to this struggle is to create a Rehome It Basket, either a the bottom of the stairs or in the room, like kitchen or living room, where items most end up dropped throughout the day. Toss the stray toys/socks/books in there as you come across them. Taking that basket up or to the playroom is one trip, rather than twenty. The caveat here: you have to take it up every day and put the things away. Enlist kids and partners to take responsibility in putting their things away so the chore doesn’t fall only on you.

6. Don’t Buy Storage Before You Purge

This is the biggest mistake we see! Clients buy beautiful bins before they know what they are keeping. You can’t organize clutter. Purge first. Measure second. Buy bins third. (Or, hire us, and we’ll bring the perfect bins for you!)

7. The Garage: Not a Dumping Ground, an Extension of Your Home

Do you treat the garage like a giant junk drawer? When that door slowly raises do you cringe and hurry to close it before the neighbors see the mess? Often the first entry point to your home. If you are tripping over golf clubs and holiday decor to get to your door, you are starting your day with stress. Prioritize vertical storage (slatwalls are our best friend) to get things off the floor.  If this feels overwhelming, ask us about our Concierge Garage Service!

8. Give Yourself Grace

This is the most important one. Your house is lived in. Kids live there. Life happens. Being organized doesn’t mean your house looks like a museum 24/7; it means that when things get messy, you have a system to get it back to baseline quickly.

Need a hand? If you look at this list and think, "I don't have the time or energy for this," that is exactly why we’re here. We handle the heavy lifting, the donation drop-offs, and the system implementation so you can get back to doing what you love.

XO,

Trish

Get In Touch

Trish Johnson is a professional organizer and systems expert. She is a wife, mom of 3 kids, and a former elementary school teacher. Trish understands the stresses of daily life in a busy family and she truly enjoys helping people get set up with effective, organized systems that are functional as well as beautiful. Her company, This Organized Chaos, is located in New Jersey and services the surrounding areas organizing homes and small businesses.