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Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet

by | Jan 5, 2017 | Decorating Inspiration, Organization

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Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year YetStudio McGee

Are you ready to declutter and get organized in 2017!

I haven’t even started to take down my Christmas decor (gasp!), but I am really pumped about getting stuff put away this week so I can start with a clean slate. There are a few areas of my home I hope to organize right away to jump start the process, so I will show you a few organizing success stories next week. Now I’m committed :).

And yes, in case you are wondering, I promise as soon as my kitchen is complete (I’m still waiting on a few last details, story of my life) I will happily give you a tour. It won’t be long. I can’t wait to start showing you how my small galley kitchen will be organized, too. Small spaces can be tough, but I am up for a decluttering and organizing challenge this year.

How about you? Are you serious about getting rid of STUFF so you can feel more organized this year? I find that a lot of the success in decluttering starts with a firm mindset to get it done. Decluttering isn’t always fun! Baby steps will eventually get you there, but you do have to find the resolve and motivation to persevere to completion.

Why do you want to simplify and organize your home? Write down a vision of what you aspire to and why. How would being more organized and having less clutter change your life? Once you have a clear vision of why it matters to you, you’ll be more likely to stick with it. Stating the why and visualizing the end result of being more organized helped me to find the resolve to complete projects. The right mindset totally a game-changer for me in our old house and I’ll be going through the same process here.

Today you’ll find ideas that just might inspire you to organize something in every room! Rather than just share the tips I see, I’m going to give you the opportunity study the photos for ideas. Back when I first started blogging in the dark ages of the internet, we would play a little game of observation. I’d have readers study photos and find take aways and ideas they could apply to their own homes. There are always take aways. So let’s observe some ideas.

What spoke to you in any of these images? Is there an area of your home you need to declutter and organize this year?

What are your decluttering goals or organizational struggles? How could I help you this year by sharing ideas or motivation to reach your goals?

Let’s make 2017 our most decluttered and organized year yet! I’m in. Are you?

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year YetBHG

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet
BHG

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet
BHG

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet
BHG

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet
BHG

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet
BHG

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet
Ikea

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet
BHG

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year YetBHG

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet
BHG

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet Paint pen jars/ by A Beautiful Mess

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet
BHG

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet
Lonny

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet
BHG

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet
BHG

Don’t forget to share in the comments. What are some 2017 organizational challenges or goals in your home?

Check out my 2017 Organization Shop here.

Make 2017 Your Most Decluttered & Organized Year Yet

I think my favorite book I’ve written to date is the one that happens to be on decluttering and simplifying (called Make Room for What You Love, find it here).  You’ll find lots of practical help and fresh insights for the indecisive or non-organized types who have acquired far too much stuff. :) It’s just $4.99 for the e-book version right now at your favorite retailer!

Related post:

How to declutter when too much sparks joy

22 Comments

  1. Cindy in Oklahoma

    Sometimes I worry about myself. As much as I love “decor” surfing, nothing… and I mean nothing gives me as much pleasure as organizing our spaces. What does that say about me? Should I seek a therapist? haha….

    Love these ideas. Just yesterday I used a JoAnn Fabric coupon to buy a 3 tier bracelet holder. OMG. You would have thought my husband gave me a key to a new car. When we built this house I left a couple of shelves out of a portion of our closet. My new purchase now sits on the remaining shelf with a mirror above it. Okay…I’m off to find pretty towel racks for hanging my costume necklaces on the side walls. And then I’m rigging something upstairs in my little hobby closet for hanging wrapping paper. It’s gonna be a great day.

    • Katherine

      Therapist here! I also find orgnanizing (and purging) super fun. Surely we can’t both be nuts… Here’s to an organized 2017:)

  2. Sandy

    I am in the process of getting serious about decluttering. I worked on the living room yesterday. I didn’t realize how much better my bookcase could look. Motivated!
    Love the photos you shared today. I also love your room with the view. It has inspired me!

  3. Peg Allegretto

    When do we get to see the kitchen??!! : )

  4. Ginny

    I feel like I’m getting so much better at simplifying and being intentional. You have been a great inspiration to me. I need some help in cleaning windows. I love bright clean windows but I can’t seem to do them. They are so hard to clean on the outsides.

  5. Pam

    Lots of great ideas in the photos! I love the paint pen for writing contents on jars! Also, have been looking at ideas and making sketches for improving my clothes closet, which is just not working well as it is now. I had been thinking of putting a mirror in the closet for putting on jewelry, and although I don’t have a door to use like the photo above, I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks a mirror would be great in there!

  6. Mary Coakley

    WOW your house is so organised I will be taking your ideas on decluttering.Your house is beautiful I particularly like your sitting room the colour scheme is great the paint you used on the beams Thanks for the advise on decluttering.

  7. Diana R

    Love your book. Am resting after the holidays and visiting family. Still have my tree up, and will work on it next week, and then sit down and make up a Master List for what all I plan on doing in each room, for the new year. Want to downsize and maybe plan on getting a smaller place. The less I have the easier it will be if and when I find something I like. Also less for my children to have to deal with .

  8. Joanna

    I have all your books and have pre-ordered your newest one. I’m re-reading them all in order this month. I love them and love your blog. I’m excessively domestic (is there such a thing?) and love not only reading home décor and organizing/decluttering books, but I love doing it! All of it! The one big challenge for me? I live with chronic fatigue syndrome (cfs) and its cousin, fibromyalgia. Translated, that means my energy comes and goes-mostly goes. Every once in a great while I have a day with energy and then get so excited to be able to do things that I overdo it and am in pain for several days. A very frustrating way to live. It’s been this way for almost 16 years. That is my (constant) frustration and challenge.

  9. Jude Newman

    I love the idea of the pretty box to put things in under the bed.

  10. Anne B

    So far I’very checked out the IKEA closet idea and may have just the thing for my husband’s ever growing hat collection. Maybe some hat boxes and put them to use in our guest bedroom as a night stand or general decor in a couple other rooms of our house. We are making a trip to our “local” IKEA this Sat. “Local” is about 1 hour and 20 min drive for us LOL. We go once or twice a year. Sometimes with specific item (s) in mind and sometimes just to gather ideas.

  11. Megan @ Adventure & Home

    Our struggle is that our house is a MAJOR fixer upper (and we don’t have the famous HGTV stars to help us — haha). So, a lot of our money is going to just making it a livable space. It’s a small farmhouse ( 4 bedrooms, 1 bath), with only about 1500 square feet. We just consolidated, so I’ve been spending MONTHS going through everything and purging the duplicates. While doing that has helped, we still have way too much stuff. So, it’s back to square one for me. I think my plan moving forward will be to try and spend 30 minutes a day sorting through stuff we don’t need. These photos have been a huge inspiration. I love that everything is visible, so for it to look clean and tidy, you’re forced to put things in their place in most spaces. Thanks for sharing your post!

  12. Sallie

    I agree, Melissa; my favorite of your books is also Make Room for What You Love. You really helped me nail down some ideas for improvement in my daily routines and making decisions about Stuff. I love that book! Planning to re-read it this month while I’m in Decluttering Mode. In journaling through your book and looking at your questions today, I see one major issue I have is the emotional attachment I put on something, and then I’m afraid to send it away. Would love to see your thoughts on that subject. I know the idea of taking a picture of something, and I’ve used that, but then I don’t want to have a bunch of pictures to organize, either! Eeek! Any new ideas in that arena? LOVE your blog! Can’t wait for the kitchen reveal!

  13. sandyc

    Have been evaluating what I’ve accomplished in 2016 for the last two months and it’s all good. Have also been reviewing and planning what comes next for 2017, primarily and hopefully ditching my 30-year-old carpet and pinky beige tile for new flooring throughout. This is the year my CD ends and, although the project is delayed a bit due to other financial stuff, this is the year I’m hoping to get it done. Once this is accomplished, there will be no excuse for not freely inviting anyone in. (Three white cats and who knows what all is in that carpet inhibits me now). However, I’ve realized that the exterior of my home leaves much to be desired. My front door faces due east and in feng shui and the Chinese bagua, that area represents community as well as other life areas, and the somewhat abandoned appearance of my home doesn’t invite anyone to come up to the door. Can’t change the dreary paint job until the HOA repaints in 2019, but can work on the almost totally empty courtyard which sports only a lavendar spreading lantana and which currently does not have a working bubbler system. I do have two sunny green big pots on the posts (with pretty decrepit faux greenery) and our Landscape Chairman says I’m the only one he knows who has a water hose that matches my pots. I’ve decided that while I wait on perfect timing for the floors and interior, I can and should and will take action out front. (Nice thing about Arizona is that I don’t have to wait for Spring to pot and plant).

    Thank you as always, Melissa, for all the inspiration you offer us all the time.

  14. Sharon

    I loved all the pictures, especially that organized bathroom.
    My goal for 2017 is to continue to simplify my life and let go of some of the stuff I’ve accumulated, but I am having a hard time letting go of the things that belonged to my mother or gifts that she gave me because they are all sentimental to me.
    My main organizational struggle is to keep my office organized. It is a tiny room, so the desk is small and I don’t have a lot of room for file cabinets or storage items. I need a better system to deal with all the paper. I keep up on recycling and shredding all the junk mail or things I don’t need, but it’s the papers I need to keep that are the problem.

    • Jennifer

      For help with organizing papers (and every aspect of my home and life!!) I have found Marcia Ramsland to be most helpful. She has great systems and her books and radio programs are really encouraging too. Her website is OrganizingPro.com.

  15. Eliza

    Gorgeous! I need to work on our bathroom and under stairs cupboard. We tackle it often but it soon gets bad again.

  16. Elaine Heron

    Elaine here from over the pond in the UK! Last winter I took one box/case down from the attic every month to sort through. I probably could have finished last year if I sorted 2 boxes a month. However one thing I didn’t want to feel was stressed and put myself under too much pressure. Am continuing with that strategy this winter. Most of the “stuff” we thought we needed has gone to the charity shop. Am also like you Melissia, in that I have just had a new kitchen at Christmas. I am being very firm with myself in making descions, what goes back in the drawers and cupboards. It’s so liberating to realise you don’t need half the dishes you keep! Love your house, and your blog.
    PS just to let you know, your house/galley kitchen is not small at all, you should see the size of the homes in the UK, including mine!!

  17. DebraPM

    So many of these ideas are exposed/uncovered storage . I have 2 very furry friends and the cleaning issues are constant. Enclosed storage is a must for me. That being said, I love the “pot rack “idea.

  18. Bea

    I’m all for organizing and decluttering. But….when you over organize you may inadvertently be creating visual clutter. Case in point..the yellow door with all the stuff on it (not a good colour choice imo, not a calming shade), and the shelves in 2 of the bed and bath pics. I’ve decluttered and organized my home for the past 2 days years. Now I’m craving simple lines and decor that doesn’t demand hours of cleaning. I hate all the nooks and crannies where dust and dirt can accumulate!

  19. Ivory

    Loving it all! This year is my decluttering year, but because its so cold I will not be decluttering until its warmer. I hate the cold, just cannot get in the mood. Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Your place ROCKS!

 

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