Home Organization Reset Routine: A Simple Guide for Busy People

Home Organization Reset Routine Tips

Keeping your home organized sounds like a simple task, but it can be incredibly difficult in the face of a busy schedule. There are dishes to be done, clothes to be put away, packages to be brought in from the doorstep, papers to be put on the counter, and those pesky everyday odds and ends that seem to not have an appropriate storage location.

The truth is that your home organization does not need to be absolutely perfect all of the time. What many people are realizing is that instead of doing a thorough organization every weekend, it’s more sustainable to set up a home organization reset routine that can easily repeat throughout the week.

Rather than trying to organize every drawer in the house, a reset routine takes into consideration the aspects of your home organization that most impact your daily life.

Here’s a reset routine to help you get back on track with your home organization:

1. Do a quick walk around the house

Before pulling out every drawer in the house, take five minutes to walk around the house and spot anything that seems out of place.

Your coffee mug probably goes in the kitchen, the jacket hangs in your closet, toys need to be put back in a basket, and the paper may need to be put in a paper tray.

Make sure to only gather things that just seem to be out of place.

This is a really beneficial step because oftentimes clutter can form easily when everyday objects are just placed somewhere other than their designated home.

2. Pick one area

One of the biggest mistakes with home organization is attempting to do everything at once.

To prevent overwhelm, pick one area that you want to focus on at the moment. It could be the kitchen counter, the entryway, your bedside table, a bathroom cabinet, the laundry area, a junk drawer or a section of your wardrobe.

Give yourself permission to stop once that one space has been finished.

It’s really rewarding to see even just one space cleaned and organized.

3. Clear visible spaces first

Focus more on the areas that you see than anywhere off the beaten path.

The kitchen counter, dining tables, coffee tables and entryway surfaces are popular trouble spots that just seem to attract clutter.

Remove everything from the surface and sort the items into three categories: keep here, move, or remove.

You don’t need fancy systems for this step, only a functional one.

4. Set up designated homes

Your home organization can be dramatically improved by making sure that the things that you use every day have a reliable and consistent home.

Keys could each share a hook, chargers could go in one drawer, remote controls could stay in one basket, and shoes can each have a place.

The important thing is to be consistent.

Having an object without a home is usually so frustrating because it ends up on any table or surface.

What is your natural reaction to finding the object the next day?

That’s probably where it should go.

5. Think vertically

Rather than buying more furniture to gain storage space, think vertically.

Walls and doors are places that people often overlook. With the right amount of hooks, narrow shelving, pegboards and hanging storage systems, you can gain incredible storage space without taking up any additional square feet.

It’s especially helpful if you live in an apartment or in a home that doesn’t have a lot of extra room.

Current home organization trends are also favoring the idea of maximizing storage potential instead of expanding square footage.

For instance, a small shelf near an entryway could accommodate keys, sunglasses and other odds and ends without requiring a cabinet.

6. Make a drop zone near the front door

Most often, clutter forms in the home because there is not a good place to set things down upon entering the house.

Create a drop zone that could include a key tray, wall hooks, a basket, a shoe rack, a shelf and a mirror.

The basic idea is to make it more convenient to put things away than to leave them on a table.

7. Set up before buying storage products

This is a crucial part of home organization.

When a space becomes cluttered and it seems like there is nothing to place anywhere, the immediate reaction is to buy storage boxes or containers.

However, storage products are not a magical fix-all.

First, you need to throw away the things that you want to get rid of, then you should group the remaining objects. Then finally consider whether additional storage products are necessary.

Otherwise, you could simply be left with boxes of things that you didn’t even want in the first place.

8. Apply the 80% rule

You don’t need to fill up every drawer, shelf, cabinet, etc.

Leave some space for organizational ease and convenience.

If a drawer is completely full, every single additional item will cause a mess.

Instead, keep the drawer at slightly less than capacity.

That way, instead of having to reorganize everything each time you add a new item, you just put it in the empty space.

9. Make a small “reset basket”

A reset basket could be one of the most helpful parts of your home organization reset routine.

Keep an empty basket in an accessible location.

When you are going around tidying up, throw misplaced items into the basket instead of running around the house doing this.

Once you are done collecting misplaced items, put everything in its proper place.

It’s a really helpful tip for people with busy schedules.

Rather than thinking, “I need to organize the whole house,” you’re just collecting misplaced items.

10. Go through the junk drawer

Every home has one drawer that is an odd storage space for all of the things that have no particular home.

If you are short on time, don’t dump the entire drawer on the floor.

First remove the obvious trash and duplicate items, then group the remaining items into categories.

For example, batteries, small tools, cables, pens, measuring tools and miscellaneous household objects could each have a small section in the drawer.

You may want to invest in a drawer organizer, but even sectioning off small areas with small containers will help.

In fact, a recent IKEA organization study revealed that people are actually still using junk drawers, which proves that we all have a lot of small odds and ends.

11. Keep a donation bag

Decluttering is really helpful, but it’s also important to have a place to put the things that you no longer want.

Keep a bag or box nearby in a closet.

The things that you want to get rid of can go in the bag until it’s full. Then you can donate the bag instead of putting it back in the house.

By doing this, you can avoid the possibility that you’ll feel the need to take the items out again.

12. Make the bedroom easy to reset

Your bedroom shouldn’t always need a full cleaning every morning.

Create some easy reset habits such as putting dirty clothes directly in the laundry basket, putting away shoes, clearing the bedside table before going to bed, making the bed upon waking and keeping everyday items easily accessible.

The bedroom simply has to be easy to reset, and it really is perfectly fine if it doesn’t seem like a hotel every single day.

13. Don’t keep clutter behind closed doors

One of the most common mistakes with home organization is keeping clutter inside of cabinets and then pretending that it isn’t clutter.

Think about how often you use each item and organize based on that.

Rather than having everything hidden behind closed doors, have everyday items be the most accessible.

Occasionally used items can go higher or further away, and rarely used items shouldn’t be anywhere close to the everyday items.

This will dramatically increase the practicality of your home organization while also reducing the likelihood that everything will seem like clutter one day.

14. Spend 10 minutes at the end of the day resetting the main areas of the home

The most valuable part of having a home organization routine is the maintenance. The best way to maintain your organization is to spend about 10 minutes at the end of the day resetting the main areas.

You can do things like:

1. Put away anything that has been left in the living room.
2. Clear the kitchen counters.
3. Put away shoes and bags.
4. Throw dirty clothes in the laundry basket.
5. Put cups and dishes in the kitchen.
6. Prepare the main areas of the house for the next day.

Ten minutes doesn’t seem like a lot, but it can be surprisingly helpful.

If you do it routinely, it can actually prevent larger organization jobs from forming.

15. Don’t expect a perfectly organized home

Perhaps the most important rule is to not expect to have a perfectly organized home.

People live in their homes, cook, work, relax, and sometimes even have children.

Realistically, your home organization just needs to make life easier, not make people feel as if they constantly have to keep everything perfect.

Recent home organization research has really emphasized the importance of sentimental items and the reality that a home is not meant to be completely empty.

Instead, the goal of home organization should be to have a practical system where items can be found without having to dig through unnecessary piles.

A Simple Home Organization Reset Weekly Schedule

If you want to keep track of your home organization, here’s a simple weekly home organization reset schedule that you can follow:

Monday: Reset the entryway.

Tuesday: Organize one kitchen surface or drawer.

Wednesday: Tidy the bedroom.

Thursday: Sort papers and miscellaneous items.

Friday: Reset the living room.

Saturday: Declutter one small storage area.

Sunday: Do a 10 minute whole home reset.

You can also change things up to better match your schedule.

Home Organization Reset Routine: Final Thoughts

Keeping your home organized isn’t nearly as difficult as you might think.

Start small, get things that have been misplaced back to their rightful places, clear the visible surfaces, set up permanent homes for everyday objects, and eliminate unnecessary clutter.

Then, maintain that progress with a few minutes of reset time each day.

The best home organization reset routine is the one that can be repeated. It can even help your home organization be more successful if you don’t expect to have a perfectly organized house.

Your home might not look like an IKEA catalog. Your organization system can definitely help your house seem a lot more comfortable and a lot less stressful to clean.