Have you moved recently and can’t seem to get settled into your new home? Well, the old real estate saying about buying a home also applies to settling into a new home.  It’s all about location, location, location!

Even when you move into a new home that is the same size as your last, or even bigger, it can be a challenge to unpack and put everything into the appropriate place. The kitchen cabinets are not the same layout. The closets are configured differently. That’s when you need to think about what you use most frequently and where you use it.  The answer to these questions can help you to figure out the best location for your items.

Kitchen

The kitchen can be the most challenging room to tackle when moving into a new home.  Think about which items you use daily.  Those items should get the prime real estate space in your cabinets. Consider putting plates and glasses in a cabinet near the dish washer so you can easily unload them after being washed without having to walk across the entire kitchen multiple times. The pots and pans you use most often should go in the very front of the cabinet and the lesser used ones can go towards the back. That crock pot, or other small appliance, you use only once or twice a year can get stored on the very top shelf of your cabinet or your pantry.  Same thing applies to those oversized items you use for entertainment purposes.  Those giant platters and serving bowls can go on a higher shelf.

And here’s a little hack for you … For that awkward corner cabinet that’s difficult to reach the back, lazy Susan’s can be useful so you can spin it and access all the items easily.

Bedrooms

In bedrooms, clothes and shoes are the primary things that need to be stored and accessed regularly.  If you’re lucky enough to have very large closets, that’s great but you can still be mindful of have you organize it.  Consider grouping similar items together in the space.  For example, put all pants together and all short-sleeve shirts together. If you don’t need to access those party dresses every week, perhaps they can go towards the back of the closet.  Grouping items will help you locate a particular item faster than looking through your entire closet.  Consider doing the same for your dresser.

If you don’t have a large closet, you may consider only storing in-season clothing and putting the off-season items in a container and storing elsewhere (like the attic) until their season arrives.

Shoes can be a challenge for many.  If your shoes end up being a jumbled mess on the floor, you may consider buying a shoe rack that can help utilize vertical space in the closet, so they don’t take up as much floor space.  And, if your shoes never actually make their way back to the bedroom closet, it may make sense to store them by the front door or garage door where you tend to slide them on and off.

And for us ladies who have multiple handbags to contend with, using the upper shelf of the closet is a great place to store them so you can see them and easily access them.  If your handbags don’t want to stand up for you, you can use a shelf divider to help corral them in the space.

Bathrooms

Bathroom cabinets and vanities can easily become a chaotic space stuffed with bottles of lotions and potions.  Before you throw everything under your sink, consider if you really need all those items at your fingertips.  Can that wrist brace you used 2 years ago get stored elsewhere? What about that unused medicine that is probably expired? Most bathrooms have limited storage space. Try to keep it to the items you use most frequently and consider under the sink stackable bins or organizers to group items like hair products, facial products, body products, etc.

Basements/Garages

Basements and garages tend to get filled up with the items we don’t know what to do with.  It’s easy for these spaces to become overrun with boxes and bins and then become too overwhelming to organize.  If you must store items in these spaces, consider creating zones.  A zone for holiday items, tools, sporting equipment, gardening items, etc.

Moving to a new home can be stressful and settling into a new home can be challenging.  Hopefully, these tips will help lessen that challenge.  And, if it’s still too much to contend with on your own, you can always hire a professional organizer who can help through your transition.

Karen Kabara

Your Tasks – Our Time, Inc