Expert: Jan Hayner - 1/22/2008

Question
I have a big problem in my room. I am a freshman in high school, so I am really busy. And my room get is always a mess. I have a lot of clothes and I get home late, so I just throw them on the floor. And I have a ton of stuff and no where to put it. I also share my room with my older sister. Can you help my room?

Answer
Hi Emmi;
It sounds to me like you are a normal, busy, high school student. I think I can help you out! Here are a few tips.

1. Use the space under your bed wisely, Get storage containers or even a cardboard box that slides under the bed easily. Use this for sweaters, sweat shirts etc.

2. One of the best things that you can purchase and is inexpensive is a closet hanging organizer that has about 5 shelves. They are made out of canvas material and just fit over the clothes bar. These are great for jeans, sweatshirts and pants or sweaters. I can get two and sometimes three on a shelf.

3. Keep a hamper in your closet or a decorative one in your bedroom and throw what is dirty in there as soon as you take it off. This way, you will know that everything left in the room should be hung up.

4. While you are looking for what to wear, the next morning, you can also hang up the items that you had left lying around the room.

5.Anything that takes less than, 2 minutes to do, should be done right away. If you can, set a kitchen timer and see how fast you can clean a room. Normally a 'pick up', shouldn't take more than 10 minutes. Make a game of it and you will create a habit that will help you the rest of your life.

6. Shoe organizers hung on the inside of your closet door, can come in handy for a ton of things; brushes and combs, jewelry, hair accessories, scarves, pens and pencils, magic markers etc.

7. Hang a shelf on the wall and then place colorful straw baskets on it (get them at the dollar store), for keeping overflow items in and out of the way.

8. Designate a home (storage area) for everything that you have. This way you will always be able to find it, it can be stored in a container and out of the way,and your room will always look organized.

You don't have to go to a large expense to organize. Start out by using cardboard boxes, that you can cover with Contac paper to match the room or make your closet look fancy. Make sure that you label the outside of the box, so you know, just by looking at the box, what is inside of it. Believe me, it is impressive!

I hope I gave you some ideas that you can use Emmi. Maybe some of your friends might like to try these ideas too and you can show off your finished project to everyone, all of you might like to have a contest to see who comes up with the most ideas.

Happy Organizing,
Jan Hayner