Getting your home organized can feel like an overwhelming mountain to climb — especially when you don’t know where to start. As a professional organizer serving families throughout the Minneapolis and St. Paul area, I hear this all the time: “I know I need to get organized, but every time I try, I just end up moving piles from one room to another.”
The truth is, getting organized isn’t about willpower or finding the perfect storage system on Pinterest. It’s about having the right approach. Here are my top tips for getting started — and making it actually last.
1. Declutter Before You Organize
This is the most important rule in home organization, and the one most people skip. It’s tempting to run out and buy bins and baskets and start building beautiful systems — but if you haven’t first decided what genuinely belongs in your home, you’ll just end up with organized clutter.
Go through each room and ask yourself honestly: Do I use this? Do I love this? Does this belong in my life right now? The things that don’t make the cut can be donated, sold, or thrown away. The less you have, the easier it is to organize and maintain.
2. Make a Room-by-Room Plan
Trying to organize your entire home in one weekend is a recipe for burnout and half-finished projects. Instead, take it one room — or even one zone within a room — at a time.
Walk through your home and make a list of every area that needs attention. Then prioritize: Which spaces cause you the most daily frustration? Which areas would make the biggest difference in your life if they were finally under control? Start there, and give yourself permission to fully finish one space before moving to the next.
Completion builds momentum. Finishing your pantry gives you the energy and confidence to tackle the kitchen cabinets next.
3. Invest in the Right Storage — After You Declutter
Once you know what you’re keeping and where it needs to live, then it’s time to think about storage. Good containers — bins, baskets, boxes, drawer organizers — can make a huge difference in how functional and tidy a space feels day-to-day.
A few principles I follow with every client:
- Measure before you buy. Too many people purchase bins that don’t fit the shelf or drawer they’re meant for. Measure twice, buy once.
- Choose clear containers for frequently accessed items so you can see what’s inside without digging.
- Use uniform containers where possible — matching bins create visual calm and make a space look intentional rather than chaotic.
- Don’t over-buy. You don’t need to fill every shelf with a container. Empty space is okay — and it leaves room for things to breathe.
4. Label Everything
Labels are one of the most underrated organizing tools there is. When every member of your household knows exactly where things live — and where they go back — systems maintain themselves much more easily.
They don’t have to be fancy. A simple label maker or handwritten labels on masking tape work just as well as any decorative set. The important thing is clarity: anyone in your home should be able to find something and put it back without asking you first.
5. Build Simple Maintenance Habits
Even the most beautifully organized home will fall apart without maintenance habits. The key is making those habits small enough that they don’t feel like a chore.
- Spend 10–15 minutes each evening doing a “reset” — returning things to their homes before bed
- Designate a specific time each week for a light tidy of the main living areas
- Do a seasonal declutter of closets, the pantry, and storage areas at least twice a year
Small, consistent habits beat intensive occasional purges every single time.
6. Use Your Vertical Space
One of the biggest untapped storage opportunities in most homes is the walls. Floor-to-ceiling shelving, wall-mounted hooks, and over-door organizers can dramatically expand your usable storage without taking up any floor space at all.
This is especially valuable in older Minneapolis homes and Twin Cities condos where closets are small and square footage is limited. Think up, not out.
7. Start Where the Pain Is Worst
When everything feels like a mess, it’s hard to know where to begin. My advice: start with the space that causes you the most daily frustration or slows your morning down the most.
For most families, that’s the kitchen, the master closet, or the entryway. Organizing these high-traffic areas first gives you an immediate quality-of-life improvement — and the motivation to keep going.
8. Make It a Family Effort
Organizing your home is a team project. If the people you live with don’t know where things belong or feel invested in the systems you’ve created, those systems won’t stick.
Involve your kids at an age-appropriate level. Assign clear zones. Make sure storage solutions are accessible enough that everyone can actually use them independently. When organizing is a shared effort, it becomes a shared habit — and that’s when it really changes how your home feels.
Ready to Get Started — With Some Help?
If you’ve tried to get organized on your own and it keeps not quite working, you’re not failing. You may just need a personalized approach and someone to work through it with you.
I work with homeowners and families across the Minneapolis–St. Paul metro to create organizing systems that fit their real, actual lives. Every project is different, and every solution is built specifically for you.
Let’s talk about your space. I’d love to help.
— LaRae, Aligning Spaces
