For the past several months, but this month specifically, I have had an itch for change, decluttering, and simplifying my life and household. If your social media feed looks anything like mine, you know that so many people are trying to influence everyone to clean and organize their homes. While I absolutely love this satisfying trend, I don’t love how much it makes people feel the need to spend tons of money on fancy storage containers and organization supplies. If you feel the same way, please stick around—I’m going to share my budget-friendly version of the best home organization tips for a fresh start!

Declutter One Room at a Time

Decluttering is one of the most satisfying and rewarding processes, but that doesn’t mean it’s quick. In fact, this process can take weeks or even months depending on the size of your home and the amount of stuff you have.

The thought of going through everything you own is quite overwhelming for most people, but it doesn’t have to be. If you want to declutter but don’t know where to start, just remember that you should tackle one room at a time. Whether it be your bathroom, bedroom, or kitchen cabinets, consider starting with the space that bothers you the most.

If one of your goals is to jump into the low-tox lifestyle this year, decluttering is a great place to start! Knowing how to eliminate toxins from your home is crucial when it comes to starting this transition: you need to be able to determine what products and items contain toxins in order to make a plan to get rid of them.

Only Keep What You Need and Love

This step is the most difficult for many people, myself included. Even though I want nothing more than a perfectly organized home, I still struggle with holding onto things I don’t truly need or love.

For many, the desire to keep everything stems from thinking they’ll need it someday. For others, it’s rooted in not wanting to waste money by getting rid of something you spent your hard-earned-cash on. For me, it’s a mixture of both!

However, I’ve had to retrain my brain in the opposite direction. Now I’m a lot better about being able to part with stuff I no longer need, use, or love without regret or worry. Whether it’s a perfume that gives me a headache, a piece of clothing that isn’t flattering, makeup I bought but didn’t like, or one of the many cups I own, I’m no longer keeping unnecessary stuff.

Only keep what you need, use, and love! Even if it takes you multiple decluttering cycles to get rid of the unnecessary, you won’t regret parting with stuff you don’t truly use. You won’t miss it—I promise!

Repurpose and Use What You Have

This is the budget-friendly part! Although many social media influencers will try to tell you that you need fancy storage containers to organize your house, that’s certainly not the case. I’m willing to bet that you probably have a decent number of baskets, jars, and storage containers at home already.

When I started my decluttering process, I had a bunch of baskets and containers already. No, they aren’t all clear, and they don’t all match. But they do get the job done!

I was able to use what I already had at home to organize and store stuff in new ways. For instance, I decided to use an old plant pot to store my electronic charging cords, an old candle jar to hold my Q-tips, and a metal bin to store towels.

Also, I have 3 wicker baskets of different sizes that I was able to use differently. Originally, I was using the largest one for my nail polish, the medium for my laundry supplies, and the smallest for hair products. However, I decided to go through my nail polish since I hardly ever use regular polish and a lot of it was old. Once I was done, I realized I could fit all of the keepers in the smallest basket. From there, I decided to use the largest basket for laundry supplies and the medium one for hair products. This may seem like a small thing, but it made a huge organizational difference in all 3 instances without spending any money on new baskets.

All of this to say: repurpose items you already have and use what you have at home—even if you have to think outside the box to make it work.

Think About Accessibility

If you have a large home, you might be tempted to keep more stuff than you actually need. Because you aren’t strapped for space, you can put stuff you don’t need in storage so it’s out of sight. While this is a great idea when it comes to seasonal decorations, you should avoid doing this with other items. After all, if it stays in storage over a year, it’s not accessible and you don’t actually use it—get rid of it!

When it comes to the stuff you do need and use, there is also a hierarchy of importance and use-frequency to consider. For example, you probably use your makeup and perfume daily, while you might use your sweater shaver a few times annually. As a result, it only makes logical sense to make your personal care items more accessible than the things you also need but only use occasionally.

Accessibility is half the battle when organizing your home—be sure to keep your hierarchy of importance and use-frequency in mind when choosing a home for each item.

Now that you have the best home organization tips for a fresh start, you can declutter your home like a pro. You might be avoiding the organization process in your own home, but the one thing I’ve learned through it all is that there’s a tremendous amount of peace that comes with a beautifully organized and functional home.