Easy steps to take towards a more organized lifestyle – WSLS 10

ROANOKE, Va. – Professional organizer Ann Custer shares how you can become more organized in your day to day life.

Custer owns Wow Organizing Services and travels across southwest Virginia and North Carolina. She says statistics show the top 3 disorganized rooms in a home are the bedroom, garage and your home office.

The first step in organizing is de-cluttering and being honest with yourself. Ask yourself, “How often do I really use this?”

Changing small habits can make a big difference.

Custer says, “Take 10 minutes at night and go around the house and put up things that belong in their home that’s where clutter begins, we don’t put things back where they need to go.”

Problems can start when we keep items we know we never use.

Custer mentions another statistic — typically we only use 20% of our stuff while 80% goes unused.

Custer suggests rolling your shirts and when you’ve worn an item after laundry put that shirt in the back so you give yourself a chance to wear your other shirts. If you just fold your shirts, your most worn shirts will stay at the top and will most likely not wear your shirts at the bottom because you won’t see them often.

“The purpose of organizing is seeing what you have so you can find it quickly and easily and not be stressed out,” said Custer.

Another suggestion, hang all your clothes in your closet in the same direction. After you’ve worn something hang it back up in the opposite direction. That way you can tell which clothes you wear more often than others.

Custer even has a cool hack for keeping your matching socks together. Get a small netted bag for everyone in your home. Put all your dirty socks in the bag and when laundry comes put the bag in the washing machine and dryer.

Preparation is key.

Custer said, “Take a few minutes at night, give yourself some thoughts of what needs to happen tomorrow, what do I need to make sure to take and have all of that at the front door or whatever door you go out of so you can leave the house stress free.”

One of Custer’s clients, Betty Kingery, said working with a professional organizer gives you a reality check and is worth the investment. “If you feel like you don’t have the money for it at the time, think about how much money you spend on things during the week that could have I done without that so really set aside some money.”