5 Ways to Keep Your Home Organized for the New Year

The new year is synonymous with a fresh start, so what better way to hit the reset button than by getting organized at home? Well, now’s the perfect time to conquer that resolution, especially since January is National Organization Month.

To help you get started, here are 5 tips for decluttering and reorganizing your space.

1. Store Holiday Decorations Properly

With all the festivities behind us, you’ll want to safely organize, pack, and store your decorations until next year. You’ll be thankful you did when the holiday season rolls around again. Check out our secrets to properly caring for your decorations below.

Organize. How well you organize your decorations now will determine how much of a hassle it’ll be to set them up during the next holiday season. Save yourself the time and stress later by organizing everything into three piles: trash, donate, and keep. Once separated, further organize the items you want to keep by use, type, and breakability/fragility. This way, everything will be easier to find as you go.

Pack. To master this step, you essentially have to become a Tetris expert. The more efficient you are, the more items you can put away in fewer boxes. You’ll also want to take extra care when wrapping, layering, and boxing your decorations to ensure nothing gets broken or squished.

Store. The goal here is to keep all the boxes and containers out of sight until it’s time to pull them back out while also ensuring they’re accessible and pest-free (if stored outside). A storage system would do the trick, whether as a dedicated place to stow holiday decorations or as a section in a closet. And don’t forget to label each box by what’s inside to easily take stock of your inventory.

2. Invest in a Closet Organization System

Like many people, you may have received clothing, shoes, bags, and accessories as gifts over the holidays. But without making room for all these extra items, the gifts could start to overcrowd your closet (and likely you’ll add more items during the year). The right organizational system will wrangle the clutter and overflow by optimizing your space to reach its full potential.

Keep reading to find out what to look for in a system.

Best Customizable Organization System: Closets by Liberty™

A good organizational system will maximize your closet’s space—but a great one will also be easy to install, adjust, and use. Closets by Liberty™ systems tick all the boxes.

The fully customizable systems allow you to adjust shelves, hanging rods, and drawers to any tower or any height based on your current needs while also remaining flexible enough to adapt as seasons change.

But don’t just take our word. Find out 7 reasons why a home improvement expert loves our systems, and why you will too.

3. Declutter / Reorganize Closets and Pantries

From reach-ins to walk-ins, every closet or pantry could use some extra attention in the new year. The best way to go about decluttering and organizing will depend on the size of your closet. Below we recommend which organizational system will work best in your space and offer tips on how to restore order to your closets.

For Tiny Bedroom Closets, Linen Closets, and Pantries

Found in bedrooms as clothes closets, in hallways and bathrooms as linen closets, and in kitchens as panties, 4-foot reach-in closets are small but mighty. Each room requires a different approach when it comes to best storage organization practices, so flexibility is key for Closets by Liberty™ 4-foot closet systems. Learn how our systems are designed with your specific needs in mind to streamline your space:

Tiny bedroom closets rely on personalization to meet your unique wardrobe needs. If you have a mix of hanging and folded items, our 4-Foot Traditional system offers a nice variety of hanging rods, shelves, and drawers to give every item an assigned place. Meanwhile, our 4-Foot Extra Hanging system works best if the majority of your items need to be hung. And shoe lovers can carefully order their shoes, bags and accessories along the bottom half of the closet with our 4-Foot Extra Shelving system.
Linen closets stow items that need to be folded, stacked, or stored in bins so shelves are the way to go. Our 4-Foot Linen system exclusively features shelving so you can see all your items at a glance. For a neat display, sort by bath towels, bed linens, and beyond, then fold and place each category on its own shelf. See how Sincerely Sara D refreshed her linen closet for inspiration.
Pantries, like linen closets, don’t need hanging rods or drawers. That’s why our 4-Foot Pantry system features open shelving to help you quickly browse and reach your food supplies. To get organized, sort by type and give each category a dedicated shelf. Be sure to also adjust the height of the shelves to maximize space. Check out The Handmade Home’s laundry room storage makeover to get the look.

Check out our blog, Design Ideas For 4-Foot Reach-In Closets, to get more organization tips for tiny spaces.

For Small Spaces

When organized efficiently, small to medium size reach-in closets can fit your entire wardrobe with ease. Closets by Liberty™ 6-Foot Traditional system is completely adjustable so you can reimagine your closet with each season, making it ideal for small bedroom closets. Move its 11 shelves, 3 deep drawers, and 3 hanging rods to any tower, and then adjust them to any height for the optimal configuration.

Learn how you can expand your reach-in closet space without remodeling to maximize every inch.

For the Average Closet

To fit all your wardrobe essentials, you need a fully customizable master bedroom closet organizer. Our 8-foot closet systems come in 3 configurations so you can arrange your space exactly as you want:

Using our 8-Foot Traditional closet system, you can adjust the hanging rods and shelves to any height to amplify the square footage.

If most of your clothes need to be hung up, opt for the 8-Foot Spannable, Extra Hanging system so you’ll never be left scrambling to do last-minute ironing.

Those with an extensive shoe collection can line their sandals, sneakers, and heels along the floor and bottom shelf of our 8-Foot Spannable, Extra Shelving system. If shoes aren’t your jam, convert these shelves into storage for purses, luggage, and other items.

Discover more organization tips and inspiration for the average closet in our blog, Customize Your Master Walk-In With An 8-Foot Closet System.

For Walk-in’s & Large Spaces

If you’re lucky enough to have a luxury master walk-in closet, you’ll love our 10-foot closet systems, which feature five towers for endless customization. Similar to other Closet by Liberty systems, the 10-Foot Extra Hanging and the 10-Foot Extra Shelving configuration options boast incredible flexibility to create a dream space that’s unique to your organizational needs.

Find out how you can create a luxury master closet with our 10-Foot organizer to create the dressing room you’ve always envied.

4. Maintain the New Organization

After installing and setting up your new organization system, commit to keeping your closet tidy on a regular basis so you’ll never have to go through a major declutter again. Following a weekly organization routine is a manageable way to ensure your home remains neat and orderly throughout the year. Here are a few tips to make putting away your clothes easier:

Group your items by category or color (or both if you’re ambitious). Organizing by category lets you know exactly what you have, and how much. Arranging by color helps you coordinate your outfit.
Put things you wear regularly front and center, and store the lesser-worn items toward the back or on the upper shelves.
Purchase additional storage accessories like shallow drawers, deep drawers, and shelves for your closet organizer if you find you need more storage.

5. Establish a Seasonal Cleaning Plan

The saying, “A cluttered room is a cluttered mind”, rings especially true at the start of a new year. That’s why many New Year’s resolutions include cleaning and organizing the house at the top of the list—and closets are usually the first space tackled.

Your closet can become disorganized or bloated even when you keep up with your clutter regularly. It’s inevitable as you purchase new clothes, change your wardrobe to fit the season, and fall out of love with ill-fitting, worn out, or outdated inventory. To get ahead of the mess, complete a deep dive into your closet every season. Here are 5 easy tasks to start off with:

Pull everything out. Take stock of your entire wardrobe by separating all items into three piles: keep, donate/sell, and throw away. As a general rule of thumb, if you haven’t worn an item in the past 6 months, you never will so ditch it—this includes pieces that no longer fit or aren’t your style anymore.
Clean your closet. Once your closet is completely empty, give it a thorough wipe down.
Evaluate your space. Now that your closet is a blank slate, you can start envisioning how everything will fit given your current needs. Think about what didn’t work and how to improve the layout this go-round. With a Closets by Liberty™ system, you can quickly and easily reconfigure every drawer, shelf, and hanging rod exactly where you want.
Sort your “keep” pile. Hopefully, you were able to thin out your wardrobe during step 1. Add items back by usage, garment type, and/or color for easy browsing. This is a huge time-saver during the morning rush.
Put the finishing touches on your closet. After focusing on how functional your closet is, you can finally focus on the design. Recreate the boutique look at home with small details. To create a uniform display, update your hangers to all one type. Or if you have space, add a mirror to add glamour and convenience. And perhaps the most important detail to consider: the proper closet lighting for your space.

Start the new year off right and get organized to save time and maximize your space. Shop our systems to discover which size is right for your home organization needs.

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