Are you wondering how to organize a room? Like any other project, organizing a room takes some time and effort, but the rewards of an uncluttered space are worth it. Depending on what a room is used for, proper organization can take anywhere from a couple hours to an entire day. Start with a plan that accounts for the types of items in a room, and what the room is used for. Then take everything out, sort it by type, and move it back into a new, functional home.

1. Choose music that gets you pumped up: exercise music is great.

2. Use a timer for motivation. Trying to 'beat the clock' for each task, like emptying parts of the room or sorting piles, will keep you working quickly.

3. Short on time or space? You can tackle organization in smaller chunks. Work on one area or function of the room each day.

Organization is not just about being able to find things when you want them. It’s also about creating a calm, clean space, where you can work and play efficiently without the stress clutter creates. Because you’ll need to move everything out, sort it, then move it back in, this can feel like an overwhelming project. It’s almost like moving all over again, and it will take several hours of hard work. But unlike moving in for the first time, once you have lived in a space, you know how you use it. Where you do different tasks, and most crucially: what works and does not work about the current system. Because you know this, you’ll be able to tailor the new organization system to your lifestyle, which no one else can do.

Every successful mission or task begins with an honest assessment of the situation. In this step we’ll determine a plan of attack. The plan can be done ahead of time.

1. What is the room used for? What functions does it serve, and what are the major activities done there? Do you need to sleep there, do you like to sit and listen to music, play video games, and/or study?
2. What are the major categories of possessions in the room, and which ones are needed to support the functions? Do you have clothes, books, video games, a large stash of yarn?
3. Does the current layout serve those functions? If not, can you improve matters by rearranging furniture or getting more? Try sketching out possible floor plans for your room, which will give you a visual sense of what will work without the heavy lifting. Create ‘spaces’ for each function, like a chair facing the tv and a shelf nearby for movies and video games. They can overlap: that same chair could be used for knitting if you have a basket on the other side filled with yarn.
4. Take a few pictures. There’s nothing like comparing your ‘after’ to the ‘before’ to see how far you’ve come.

The best way to create a clean, organized room is from a blank slate. So everything is going to need to come off shelves and out of drawers, making things look a lot worse before they start looking wonderful.

Optimally, you’ll move all the ‘stuff’ out of the room entirely. If this isn’t a possibility, make your piles on the bed, on the floor - just not in the way of any furniture you may be moving!

1. Turn on your music and take a deep breath.
2. Stage your sorting area. You’ll want a bag for garbage, a bin for items you want to give away, and a bin for items that need to be moved permanently out of the room or returned to other people or places.
3. Work your way around the room, removing all portable items. Place them in your sorting area in piles based on the types and functions you identified earlier. For example, clothes will go in one pile, games in another. If you see anything that needs to leave the room or you want to get rid of, put them in the appropriate bin. Don’t worry if you’re not sure about something: if you can’t instantly make a decision put it in a pile. We’ll deal with it later.
4. The one possible exception to the ‘empty the room’ policy is large numbers of similar items on open shelves, like books. They can stay there, for now, but take everything else off the shelves.
5. If you need to move any furniture, do it now.

Now that everything is laid out, the real magic happens.

1. Dust off your shelves and drawers. You want a clean start to your newly organized room.
2. Take one pile at a time, starting with the largest. This is where you’ll start to see what items you can get rid of. Many of us have acquired duplicate or triplicate items like staplers, but we only need one! Also, get rid of anything you do not use, or put it in another pile for storage.
3. Subdivide the pile into types. Separate dirty clothes from clean, old papers from current ones, and categorize your movies into genre.
4. Move what’s left of the pile to its new home. Place them neatly, but don’t worry about decorative touches for now – that will come later.
5. Repeat the previous three steps until your piles are gone. You’ll be left with your garbage bag(s), two bins, and more than likely a pile of stuff that didn’t seem to fit in anywhere else. Congratulations, you’re almost done!

The bulk of the work is done. Congratulations! You’re just one step away from joining the ranks of the organized.

1. Find homes for everything in the ‘miscellaneous’ pile. This is the time to use some of it for decoration. Things that you’ll want to use should go near where you’ll need it. Anything that you won’t need right away can go in a storage box somewhere out of the way. 2. Return the items from your ‘it goes elsewhere’ bin to their proper homes. Throw out the garbage and take the donation box to a local charity. 3. Vacuum your newly-empty staging area. 4. Smile, you’re finished! Take an ‘after’ picture of your work, and enjoy your new space.