How Do I Start Organizing My House?

At the beginning is where most stories start and an Organizing Journey is your story toward less stressed living.  I was talking to a friend and they asked this question and my immediate response was 'what spot pisses you off the most?'. Now I realize that may be a bit blunt or rough but organizing can be connected with such strong emotions so let's de-stress some of the frustrations by being honest.  

For many mom's that I talk to it's that paper pile that seems to land on any flat surface available.  You walk in the door, arms full of stuff and the mail pile lands on the kitchen table.  Then folders get emptied and maybe some work files come home and the pile appears.  Once activities are wrapped up and homework is finished, dinner is about ready and that pile moves to the countertop.  Repeat this again tomorrow and the next day and by the end of the week the counter pile is falling off and the table has another new start already growing.  That cycle of frustration ended up pissing me off enough that I finally tackled in and put a system in place.  It took a few tries but eventually a basket became a habit, a sorted system included a self-cleansing process and there are less and less recurring piles happening.  

Maybe laundry is your frustration.  Once I became more comfortable with accepting laundry as a circular cycle,  the frustration was decreased some.  Laundry is never done but comes in stages of the cycle.  You've got the dirty clothes, clothes being washed, clothes being dried, clothes waiting to be put away and clothes being worn,  so knowing that this is a cycle that doesn't have a start and end made my brain more accepting. Once a process was setup to keep the cycle moving, things can be a little more organized.  For us here at Hopeful Headquarters, assigning days really made a difference in keeping us on track.  I know my personal day is Monday and the next persons day is Wednesday so it's my job to have my stuff out of the way before their time comes.  The pressure is really on if I miss a week because then my day usually runs into the next and I'm sometimes scrambling to get out of the way.  General laundry (linens and such) have their own day too so the cycle is moving in various stages for all the varieties of laundry.  

If you're not sure about your personal organizing style yet or want to know more about space types,  I'd suggest starting with Small Space Successes Organizing Starts with You! before sorting through the frustration spots.