Tackling Home Organization: The Easy Process I Use & My Favorite DIYs

Tired of daydreaming about cute and functional organization set ups in your home? I was too, so I created a simple plan that guides me every time I need to make some changes for the sake of my sanity!

Home organization plays a major role in our wellness! Many, many people function for years-even a lifetime- without learning how to organize their home in a way that works for them.

Organizing your home is certainly a large task that you might wanna leave to professionals, but even a few simple DIY hacks for home organization can go a really long way. Just dedicating even a little bit of your free time to identifying under-functioning areas in your life and finding easy organizational solutions can drastically improve your productivity and overall happiness!

These ideas and simple organization process made my busy lifestyle so much more organized and didn't really cost a thing.

Why Home Wellness & Organization Matters So Much

Your home is the place where you wake up in the morning and go to bed at night! It’s where your most beloved possessions (and often, people) are held. Your home is the space you go into that shelters and nourishes you, blocks out the chaos of the rest of the world, and kinda acts as the command center or HQ of Your Life, Inc.

When the CEO of the company (that’s you) can’t find the lucky socks or the cord to that super obscure piece of technology that you need right now, all hell could very well break loose. And for some people, the "vibe" of their home directly contributes to happiness, sense of self, and general peace of mind.

*raises hand*

We are all at different places in life, and bathroom decor might be really, really low on the priority list. I totally get that. Home decorations, organization pieces and fancy wellness setups are not always affordable and certainly aren't necessary for survival.

Considering that my average budget for organization and home projects over the last few years has been a whopping ZERO dollars, easy DIYs and affordable solutions for home wellness have been my go to.

I love how a few simple organization hacks have helped me be more in control of my space, and I want to share some ideas to help you out too! Before I tell you what I've created, I thought I'd share my unprofessional (but totally working!) method for starting any organization project.

How To Start Easy Home Organization

Starting is literally the hardest part, but once you decide you want to change your life with simple organization, it becomes second nature and partially an obsession.

A healthy obsession though, right? :)

If you're not sure what area to tackle first, I would recommend starting by taking an inventory of your whole situation. What area of your home is limiting productivity the most?

For example, I was actually spending several minutes each day looking for the socks and underwear that I needed from my way-too-full top drawer. It was a daily annoyance. Once I acknowledged to myself that it was holding me up unnecessarily, I was able to move forward with the simple fix that I explain below.

Other great tips for starting to organize that have helped me is simply going through any area and getting rid of what I no longer need. Trust me- dedicate 30 minutes to only looking for stuff to donate/trash, and you will find things to declutter.

This will make you feel accomplished and inspire you to get organizing.

To summarize: when starting easy home organization on a budget, assess your situation as I mentioned above and take note of the areas that are not functioning as they should be. Fully acknowledge them - write it down if you have to!

Now you have a bigger picture and know exactly which projects you should take on.

Simple Step By Step Way To Organize Any Space

After I have a big picture understanding of which areas are limiting my productivity, I like to follow a simple guide for organizing the space. I quickly wrote out the simple home organization steps I take to help you if you're stuck. Download the printable with the step by step planning page below!

Step 1: Identify Problem Areas

Questions to ask yourself: What do I lose often? What am I always searching for as I run out the door late? What area in my house do I make a huge mess of when I'm using it?

Action Steps: Write down the area you identify: Ex) my closet, my front entry way, my sock drawer,

Step 2: Determine the Specifics

Questions to ask yourself: What is happening in this area that bothers me? What could I get rid of? What do I wish I could put here/ do with this space but I can't?

Action Steps: Write down the answer to these questions, or at least take really good mental notes. Maybe, "I can't reach the rice, so everything knocks over when I take it out." or "When I need socks I find underwear, when I need underwear I find socks."

Step 3: Research & Ideas

Questions to ask: What are good ways to organize xyz? What is my budget for this space? What do I already have?

Action steps: Brainstorm time- even if just quickly. I know the problem area, but I don't know what I'm going to do about it yet. Here I would probably head to Pinterest or even just Google and search broadly for ideas for whichever space.

Step 4: Take Everything Out

Once you have some idea of what you want to do with a space, I highly recommend taking everything out of your space and getting rid of what you don't need. If you're unsure about an item, put it to the side. Once you've done your organization project, there may still be room for it.

Step 5: Bring Idea to Life

Questions To Ask: Did I clear out unwanted items? If I do this idea, will it help me with X?

Action Steps: Group items by function and aesthetic. Rank in order from most to least used. You want similar items together and everything spaced out. Place everything in the new system. This varies depending on what type of space you're working in, but you get the idea.

Step 6: Review and Adjust

This step is just as important as the rest. Once you've recreated a space, make sure it actually works for you! Too many times I've been convinced that a new organizational method or hack I saw somewhere is the only way to do it. It's not true! Even tips from a professional might not meet your specific needs right away. Know this and adjust as needed, don't force yourself into a system that still isn't working.

This is just a very brief and overarching explanation of how I tackle home organization when I feel like my productivity levels are floundering a bit due to my space. Even so, you can certainly use this as a guideline if you're starting to organization your home and aren't sure where to begin.

Organize Your Home With Professional Looking Storage That You Can Do Yourself

Let's tour my apartment and check out what DIY organization hacks are helping me right now.

Wall Display for Jewelry

Display and organize with this DIY jewelry organizer! Probably inspired by a Pinterest Pin once upon a time, this adorable DIY jewelry holder is perfect for a bathroom, bedroom, or even a closest. Not only is it a cute decoration piece, it also organizes my jewelry without taking up any space in a room.

I found the White Wooden Plaque from Michaels for under $10. From there, you simply hammer small nails into the plaque. This golden nail kit from Amazon is the best because it has a variation of nail sizes and other hanger pieces. It's only $9 and can be used for many, many projects to come. If silver nails is more your look, this kit is just under $6.

Neither color work for you? Spray paint is a DIYer's best friend.

Tip: Organize your favorite jewelry pieces by color- grab all of your golden hoop/hook earrings or rings and put them together on the board. Functional and so cute!

Imitation Material Stickers

Ask anyone close to me- or simply follow me on IG- and you'll quickly learn that this DIY trick is my favorite to do. Using imitation material stickers is one of the best techniques to easily and quickly make a drastic change to old, cheap, or found-in-the-trash furniture. No major equipment necessary.

This marble sticker on Amazon looks as close to the real thing as possible, but is so much cheaper! I used it for this IKEA Hyllis shelf hack. Its a decently simple hack, albeit one of the most intense ones I've personally ever done because of all the wood cutting. It turns out amazing and can literally save you hundreds of dollars.

This is as an organization hack because I use the stickers to upcycle cheap storage furniture and shoe boxes, taking pieces you might not want to use to organize your items and turning them into functional pieces that you love.

Easy diy vases and storage containers

Upcycling old glass jars is one of the easiest ways to make your place look expensive without spending more than a few bucks. Instead of recycling empty olive oil glasses, jars, and other glass containers, I often give them new life with a simple coat of paint.

I've used matte paint that I picked up at Michaels and I've also used the popular "trash to terracotta" method coined by the Collective Gen blog. With this method, you can use any old acrylic paint mixed with baking powder to give glass or plastic containers an authentic pottery look.

This DIY decorative storage hack is so simple, in fact, that I think I over did it a little. I have my beautiful little jars all over my small apartment and I love each and every one! (You can see two above in the picture of my IKEA shelf hack.)

Mason Jars for Desk Organization

Honestly, what can't mason jars do? I think I might have 100 mason jars that I use for many different things in the home, one of them being organization. No mason jar that I come across will every make its way to the recycle bin!

Use mason jars to hold pens, pencils, highlighters and other small desk essentials in your office or on your desk space. They can sit directly on your desk, be placed on a shelf, or even be crafted in hundreds of different designs and functions.

Shoe boxes for Drawer Division

So I do have a surplus of shoe boxes because I am a professional runner. But either way, we all get shoes at some point. Instead of tossing the box, consider styling them with sticker like I mentioned above or repurposing them into something useful.

Here, I use shoeboxes to divide messy parts of my drawers. After cutting off the tops and excess pieces of the sides, its simply a matter of taking everything out of the drawer and putting it back in.

I know "life-changing" might sound dramatic, but this DIY drawer organization hack honestly came close for me. I was always leaving the house late simply because I couldn't find the right socks and underwear!

You can buy drawer dividers or drawer bins, but why not upcycle something you already have instead of buying more? I was able to simply and quickly divide underwear, bras, and socks for the first time by sliding the boxes directly into my top drawer.

Organize Your Home The Easy Way

Let's keep it real. Organization isn't always easy, especially when you're just starting out. However, following a simple pattern for home organization each time you feel like your space is holding you back is a great place to start.

Whenever I can't take a certain set up anymore - like get really, really frustrated with it - I take a few minutes to think about how I can come up with a solution for my problem. I never spend too much time on it or try to do anything too fancy, yet I've been able to develop set ups that I think are really cute while making my life so much more functional!