1. One category or room at a time , one drawer at a time:
Because I very rarely have an entire day to dedicate to organization, I have started giving myself a week per room. Then each day I divide it into a small manageable task, such as one drawer. Sometimes I will also do it the Marie Kondo way- by category. For example, I will tackle all the books in the house. Set a thirty minute timer on your phone, and just give it thirty minutes a day. You will be surprised by how much you can accomplish when it's focused on one small, specific, achievable goal.

2. A tie rack for necklaces to hang (inside the closet)
Jewelry has been a hard thing for me to organize ever since we had kids. My girls are prone to get into my jewelry, even if it means climbing furniture to get to it. While thankfully, there's less climbing these days- I still find that keeping it out of sight is less tempting for them. That is why I hung a tie rack (high enough for me to have to reach up, and out of site for them) for my necklaces to hang inside my closet. It's not the most beautiful jewelry storage solution, but it's inside my closet so I don't mind.


3. A basket for the in-between clothes.
Both Connor and I will often have clothes that aren't quite dirty enough to be put in the dirty clothes, but they aren't clean enough to be put back in our drawers. We tend to lay them on the floor or bed in a haphazard pile and it is a constant source of angst. Our room is small, so it makes a big difference when clothes are lying about. So I decided to have a basket for the "in-between dirty and clean" clothes. That way it's neat and tidy looking while we are living life.

4. Organization rule: If there's too much stuff for a cabinet, it's time to purge not get a bigger cabinet. The nice thing about having a small house is that it forces you to reassess your things and purge regularly. I subscribe to the rule: if it doesn't fit in the cabinet anymore, don't buy more storage.....get rid of things until it fits in the cabinet. After Christmas when you have received new items is a good time to look at what you have and make sure you aren't accumulating more than you can manage.


5. When possible, make items smaller for storing.
An example of this is buying drinking glasses that stack. (We recently swapped our old ones out for these to make more space in our small kitchen.) Sometimes we keep the boxes that come with purchases (shoe boxes are an example of this) to stay organized, when in fact they are taking up needed space. If they are detracting from your organization- recycle them. Another idea (that I'm hoping to try this year)is using linen bath towels. They take up way less room to store,  are beautiful, and apparently they dry very fast.