By Christina Morton DesAuguste
Christina is the founder and CEO of The Organizing Company. She’s been organizing professionally since 2013. She has a background working with kids and teenagers, as well as in retail. Her saving grace during social distancing: Pineapple Cranberry Vodka
Spring is finally here! And after a year of staying home more than ever, I think we all could do with some spring cleaning and organizing. But the question is, where do you start? Should you clean first, then organize? Or vice versa? And how to you know what to start with when you clean or organize? The bedroom? The kitchen? There’s so much to do!
Sometimes it really does feel like a chicken and the egg question, and it can happen both ways. But I’m a big believer that if you need to do both cleaning and organizing, you should start with organizing. Often cleaning companies will call us because a house is too cluttered to be able to really deep clean. And when you’re organizing, you are pulling stuff out of closets and clearing floor space you haven’t seen in months. You kick up a lot of dust from shelves up high in your closet and realize how dirty the inside of your bathroom drawers are. As you’re going through the steps to organize there’s also a natural break (the Zone It Step) when you can pause and clean drawers, shelves, etc before putting items back in.
If you start with cleaning it means you’ll be moving the clutter around twice and/or doing follow up cleans after you organize and find more dust bunnies. Organizing first is definitely more efficient. But do keep in mind that if things have really gotten out of hand in your home, you may really need to do two passes at it, so starting with a quick dust and vacuum might make organizing more pleasant anyway.
So where do you start with organizing?
At The Organizing Company we usually use a top down approach. Most people have a lot of things in their bedrooms or living spaces that belong elsewhere, but not a lot of things in the basement that need to go all the way up. So, while it might sound best to organize the basement first to be a staging/storage area, saving the basement for last means that you’ll already have everything moved down there that you need to organize.
Starting at the top is the best way to avoid having to organize the garage or basement a second time because you found more stuff that belongs there and your original plan won’t work! It also creates a retreat or "sanctuary" in the master bedroom so you have one calm area to recharge as you tackle this big project!
If you know you have lots of unpacked shopping bags, suitcases, or the like in the mudroom, garage, or car start with unpacking just those items and bringing them to their intended room before starting on step one. Otherwise, just get started.
Then, as you go through each room, move things that don't belong to their proper room to organize later. That way you can focus on what really should be in the room you're working on.
If you have a helper (or a week without the kids in the house), it would be ideal to do the “Sort It” and “Curate it” steps of our method (see below) in every area before moving on to deciding where things go. But we know that’s not usually possible, so tackle one room at a time with this guide and know that you might find a few things that trickle in later. Or give us a call and we’ll take care of it for you!
The process we use is called The Organize Anything Method. You can use it in any room to organize, you guessed it, anything.
Plan It
Sort It
Curate It
Zone It
Contain It
Maintain It
If you’re new to our blog and aren’t familiar with our method, you can find a more detailed explanation here.
The Top Down Approach
1. Bedrooms + Closets:
Master + Closet
Kids’ Rooms + Closets
Guest Room + Closet
*Make sure you wash and gather any clothes from the laundry room before getting started. Even if you know you’re going to keep them!
Also, it’s time to start swapping out seasonal clothes. So pull down those bins of shorts down from the top shelf and reincorporate them into your closet!
2. Bathing + Laundry Spaces
Bathrooms
Powder Room
Laundry Room
Linen Closet
3. Living Spaces
Entry + Mudroom
Hall Closet
Kitchen + Pantry
Living Room + Family Room
Dining Room
Office/Den
4. Storage + Utility Spaces
Garage
Basement
Storage Room
Utility Room
I always like to change out decor for spring organizing, and add some flowers. So change your throw pillow covers and duvets/blankets, swap out dark artwork for cheery, light colors, and fill some vases with silk flowers. Your place will instantly feel refreshed, even if you didn’t buy anything new.
Plan ahead.
Going through your entire house will take time, so don’t expect to get through it all in a weekend. For most people, it probably will take 50+ hours of hard work to organize an entire house. If you’re already hyper organized and decluttered, you can cut that time by two-thirds, and if your house is super disorganized and very full, you may need to double it.
However long it takes, use this as your roadmap for getting through the house. And if there’s something you need to adjust to make it work better for your situation, go for it! The important thing is that you have a plan to get through it all and that you’re making progress room by room. Celebrate your successes and reward yourself at each milestone along the way. If you get discouraged or feel like your time is better spent elsewhere, you know where to find us.
Now, what about cleaning? Where should you start?
This is definitely less of my forte, so I’ll direct you to a very thorough spring cleaning guide from Re/Max Experts. This guide will take you through what supplies you need, where to start, and the little details not to forget.
Now that your home is organized, it should be a lot easier to navigate as you clean.
One quick note about kids and spouses: It’s really important to get everyone involved in organizing their spaces, and even communal spaces. And one person probably shouldn’t be responsible for all the cleaning by themselves either.
Talk with your partner and your kids about how you can work as a team to create a home that you all love being. Focus on the benefits for each person of getting things clean and organized. Set clear goals and rewards. You can even come up with a game or contest. Teenagers may be more motivated by a contest involving cash prizes! Get creative and get everyone involved. Your role can be to plan, delegate, empower, and encourage your family to keep plugging away along side you. It’ll be worth it.
Life is slowly getting back to normal, but soon enough we’ll be hosting dinner parties again, and it will feel so good to welcome your guests to a beautiful, organized, sparkling home. Press on when you feel like you’ve been cleaning for ages. It’ll be worth it!
Happy Organizing!
Christina + The Organizing Company Team
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March 18, 2021
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