Simple Organization Solutions You Can Do in a Day

Spring cleaning—or summer or fall or winter cleaning—lasts longer with a little organization. Organizing doesn’t have to take all day. All you need to knock these fast organization hacks out of the park is a willingness to work and a few simple supplies.

Closet Shelves

Just because you can close a closet door, doesn’t mean chaos needs to reign. If you keep your shelves orderly, you’re more likely to put things away properly, which helps keep the rest of your home nice and tidy.

Start by taking everything out of the closet. And sorting it into groups. Even a hall closet with a million different things inside can be organized. Make piles of games, towels, old photo albums, vitamins, and all of your DIY supplies on the floor. Go through everything and throw out or donate anything that you don’t use or need anymore, and anything that is broken. Once you’ve whittled the piles down, go through everything again.

After you’ve dejunked, start placing your piles back into the closet in a way that works for you. If you rarely use your wood carving kit, keep it on the top shelf. If you need access to your handtowels and extra sheets regularly, make sure to keep them in the middle. Don’t just throw things back into the closet. Make sure you’re stacking and sorting as you go so that there is a clear distinction between categories.

Pro tip: If you have a pile of several small items in your closet, like small pill bottles or old keys, consider putting those items in a storage bin to keep them from migrating around the closet.

Kitchen Organization

Kitchen organization can be fun because a lot of the time it doubles as decoration. Functional decor works on so many levels and makes for great DIYs. Start by clearing out your drawers in the kitchen and tossing or donating all of your old, unused, or broken items. Then think about what kitchen items you use regularly and set them in a pile on the counter. If you find that you have large appliances out on the counter, store the most-used at the front of your cupboards.

Take your most used spatulas and similar kitchen utensils and put them in decorative storage by your stove. If you love a good DIY, consider making your own decorative storage. Another great decorative storage hack comes in the form of a pegboard or corkboard. If you need a handy way to keep receipts or grocery lists organized, give one of these a try. You can always add decorative tidbits to spice them up and help them match the theme of your kitchen.

Under the Bed

Especially if you have a bed skirt that keeps everything hidden, under the bed can be a really handy storage place. Because most beds are lower, you will need long, flat storage bins for under the bed. Once you pull out everything that’s been hiding under there—hello old socks—dejunk and see what you have left. If possible, move the contents to other locations in the home where it would make more sense to store them.

Only store things under your bed that don’t need to be accessed very often or things like shoes, that are already being stored in your room. Make sure to keep those items you want easy access to at the edges of your bed.

Storage DIY

A fun, simple storage hack involves old boxes, paint, hot glue, and rope. Find an old cardboard box that you like the size and shape of and paint it white. Then, once the paint has dried, take the rope and hot glue it to the box. Start in a bottom corner and make a hot glue trail around the sides. Press the rope into the glue and let it secure. Then, continue this pattern, slowly wrapping around the box until the entire outside is covered.

This easy trick can be customized to match any room in your home and often gives a little personality to boring storage solutions. You can spice up the rope by painting it or adding tassels and other embellishments.