Pick the Home Organizing Personality That Works for You

“The Fairy Godmother” is one apartment organizing approach people prefer. Read on for others!

When it comes to apartment organization, taking the first step is often the hardest part. Whether your biggest problem area is the front entrance, bathroom, home office or kitchen, you can turn chaos into order in no time when you apply the right persona to your organizing strategy.

Here are a few different ways people approach their home cleaning tasks. See if one of these speaks to your inner clean-freak.

The anger management expert
Think of the one room in your apartment that drives you the craziest. This room might be the key to your organization approach.

Does a messy apartment kitchen keep you awake at night? Do you curse under your breath every time you look at the unwieldy stack of papers in your home office? Be your own anger management counselor and turn your frustration for this one dysfunctional space into action.

Instead of taking an all-over approach to apartment organization, start by tackling the most chaotic area or most problematic room first. Channel your frustration to help you concentrate on this area before you move on to any other space. By the time you’re done, you’ll feel motivated to clean other maddeningly disorganized parts of your apartment. (Feel free to mutter under your breath as you clean, if you like!)

The fairy godmother
Another apartment organization approach is to concentrate on the first trouble spot you see when you get home from work each day. Pretend that you’re a fairy godmother, and you can wave a wand to magically fix this one trouble zone so you’re not immediately stressed out every time you walk into this room.

Though, unfortunately, there is no supernatural spirit of home organization, you can perform what feels like a magical apartment makeover by focusing on the few things you see every day that really set you off. Tackling these trouble areas can go a long way toward soothing your psyche. After all, your apartment should be your own personal sanctuary, not a hotbed of anxiety triggers. If you follow this approach, day by day, there should be less to stress about in your environment!

The top-down apartment organizer
The best apartment organization approach for you might be to start at the top and work your way down — literally. Walk into your main living space and look up! Check out ceiling fans, the tops of dressers and armoires, TVs — anything high up. These are the spaces you’re going to tackle first in your top-down cleaning and organization approach. Start high and then lower your organizing altitude until you’ve cleaned and cleared clutter off every space from ceiling to floor.

The morning person
Yet another soul-soothing way to begin organizing your apartment might be to start with the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning. Starting your day with a healthy attitude is important, and clearing the way for a simple and relaxing morning routine might be the kickstart you need to tackle the rest of your apartment trouble spots. If you always wake up and stumble into the shower, hit the bathroom first. If you trudge to the kitchen for a cup of Joe, start there.

Wherever you choose to start, take a deep breathe and tell yourself it’s OK to get through one space, one task at a time. You can’t do everything at once — you’ll only be overwhelmed. So take that first baby step, and then bask in your accomplishment. You can move on to the next area tomorrow or next week, systematically clearing your apartment of disorganized clutter step by step once you’ve cemented the organization approach that works best for you.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Nanka (Kucherenko Olena)