Expert: Jan Hayner - 12/28/2007

Question
Hello. I am a high school senior girl. I have completely loaded my schedule with sports and academics and find it difficult to keep my room organized. I literally try cleaning it twice a month (if not more!) but it never stays cleaner longer than a couple of days. My major problem is that I have so many little things in my room that are hard to find a spot for, so I just end up throwing them on my desk and dressers. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks so much!

Answer
Hi Erin and (soon to be) Happy New Year!

You bet I have some ideas for you. It sounds like most of the problem is actually clutter overload. With this being the begining of a New Year, it is an excellant time for you to have a 'New' look, in your room. You will make your life easier and impress your family and friends at the same time.

Try these helpful tips that I am sure will take care of a lot of your problem.

1. Pick up the clutter around your room every night before you go to bed.

2. Designate a specific area for everything that you have

3. Use a cute basket to throw things in, so it isn't lying all over. You will just have one basket to empty of clutter.
Also, include a small hamper in the corner of your room or in your closet, this will eliminate clothes hanging all over the room. Just get one of those cute folding hampers, then if you find that you are used to throwing things in the wash at night, you can use it for storage.

4. Add a shoe organizer to the inside of your closet door to hold all of the little odds and ends that take up room. You can label the pockets, if there are specific things that you use all of the time.

5. Organize your dresser drawers so that each drawer has specific things in it and put 'like' things together. Such as: socks and nylons; pajamas and robes; underwear and bras etc.

6. In your closet, the ideal thing to add is a hanging sweater organizer (if you have room, add two) you can easily fold sweaters, sweatshirts, sweat pants and so on and not have it take up room in your drawers.

7. Also in your closet you may want to add a second clothes pole (they run about $5.00 (bed bath and beyond or on the net) this way you have two places to hang blouses and shirts.

8. Use plastic see-thru containers on your shelf above your clothes for out of season clothes. Make sure that you have a separate one for shorts; tops; swimsuits and gear etc.

9. Sometimes organizers in drawers don't work well for some people, but it can help to put drawer divers in your drawers. This can be something as simple as a small piece of luan, cut to fit and super glued to stay in place. It helps to make small 'bins' in your drawers and keep things neat.

10. Use your walls to hang small shelves etc. for your things that normally you would have on top of a dresser or nightstand. It won't get messed up as easily and it will add a lot to your room. You could paint these to match the colors in your room and use as matching pieces to make your room look fancier.
I hope this helped a little. Mainly just remember the nightly 10 minute pick up. This one will make a big difference and save you hours of cleaning up.
You will soon be, leaving for college or going out on your own and you have taken the right step to ask for help with all of the little stress points in your life. Good job!
Not many girls your age think that far ahead, I am truly impressed! Keep up the good work, if I can help you in any other way, just let me know.
Happy Organizing,
Jan Hayner