How to Start Organizing Your Home

This is a messy mom podcast, obviously, as moms, things get, very, very messy. And every now and then it’s nice to organize a little bit, right? So, today, we have Sarah Davis from the Neat Method Indy coming to discuss organizing your home. 

Sarah is born and raised in Carmel, Indiana. She went to IU for college where she majored in Broadcast Journalism then lived in Chicago where she had a stint working for the Oprah Winfrey Network. After 4 years, she moved back to Indiana and has been here ever since with her husband and 3 kids. Where she now has been doing Neat Method since 2018.

Fun Fact: Sarah and Bailey both had babies on the same day in 2021, what are the chances of that? 

 Join us, in this episode, where we and Sarah talk about how she got started with Neat Method, general tips for organizing your home, how to overcome the playroom madness, her go-to organization products, and more. 

How Sarah Started with Neat Method

Cari starts by asking Sarah, how did she get into the organization business and Neat Method in general?

And she first got started in advertising when moving back to Indy. But as soon as she had Harrison, her 5-year-old, it automatically seemed like there was a shift in her priorities and that didn’t feel right to her anymore.

Her husband was actually the person to introduce Neat Method to her. She had no idea that it existed or that professional organizing was a thing. He followed them on Instagram and shared a job posting that Neat Method had to her that was looking for a part-time organizer in the Indianapolis area.

She wasn’t even sure if it was real but she always loved being an organized person. So, she applied for the job and got it!

She first worked under the previous owner (for a year). So, that’s how she got into it as she was just looking for flexibility and being able to be with her son a bit more. Then the owner asked if she was interested in purchasing the business in 2019. Which was a very easy yes and now she is about to hit her 4 year anniversary.

General Organizing Your Home Tips

We brought Sarah on to help with organizing tips because as moms, we need all the organizational tips and tricks.

Bailey asks Sarah what she thinks is a great place to start when it comes to organizing. Because it can be really overwhelming, especially for moms. Being on social media and seeing organizers or people doing it themselves. It feels like you should be doing that too. So, where is a great place to start if this is something that you are wanting to do?

And Sarah reminds us that it is overwhelming. But she thinks the key is to start small, “because once you start small, you just focus on that one little piece, and if that’s all that you can do great. Then you can feel better in that one small space and move on to the next small thing. So for example, think about the hubs of your home like your kitchen, it could be your master or closet if you’re in there a lot. Think about the spaces that you’re in the most and start there. And it could just be going to the store getting a couple of bins, some labels, and putting them in.”

So, her recommendation is to start small. Start off thinking of a small little space in your house that you’re in a lot or that drives you the craziest. And don’t overwhelm yourself with everything because it’s impossible to get it all done, especially with our hectic lives.

We agree on this even in other areas of your life like nutrition and fitness. Start small, instead of trying to run a marathon right away, start with walking a little bit and then gradually increasing. You are building momentum to start somewhere and motivates you to want to keep going.

Go-to Products for Organization

Looking to get some organization to the absolute madness, Cari asks, if wanting to start somewhere, what are either go-to products or simple things to purchase? 

So, for Sarah, there are a few great places to gather your organizational necessities

• Neat Method and their products. They have a line for all your organizational needs like baskets that are simple, clean, and fit almost every aesthetic of the home. They also have bundles, for example, for closets or pantries to buy all the organizing essentials for that space. 
• Amazon
• Target
• The Container Store

Then also, generally speaking, things you need:

• Baskets. Or something to contain your things.
• Labels. A lot of time people will buy the basket, put their stuff in it and then nobody really follows through. Instead, they just throw whatever in there because no one knows what’s supposed to go in the basket.
  • For example: have a basket with a nuts and fruits label then they know that is where those go. 
• Drawer dividers. If you have drawers in your kitchen or pantry, these can help to keep your drawers more clean and organized. 

This truly is a life changer because even if you do one small spot, it’s motivating and it makes you feel good.

But Sarah also reminds us, that, “I think that the reality of it is it’s not always going to be super organized. I mean even in my house, it’s like I have my bins that I have in my pantry and I have them labeled. So I’m doing all of the things, but do I have to go back, once a month before my grocery run and clear it out because it’s gotten kind of messy? Absolutely. I mean, the reality of it is you’re running around everywhere and it’s not going always be perfect, but it’s just the idea of having it so that you can maintain it. And it’s just a little bit easier to keep up with.”

So, it’s a reminder there is a method to the madness. Learning the method, just like fitness and nutrition will help give a little jump start. You will have a plan and know the basics. 

Organizing the Playroom

This leads us right to our next question, talking all about the playroom. For Bailey, it’s the most chaotic space in the entire house, which of course is to be expected. But how can we make the playroom less chaotic? She asks Sarah, what tips and tricks does she have up her sleeve?

First off, Sarah does think it’s impossible for it to stay tidy when they are little. But there are still a couple of things she suggests you can do.

One and this one can run true for all spaces we talk about today. But for the playroom, it is getting containment and labeling. She cannot stress labeling enough.

She says, “if it’s little kids, then if you’re wanting them to learn how to put their stuff away themselves and they don’t know how to read, we recommend color coding. So, maybe make baby doll toys pink and baby dolls themselves purple. The dinosaur bin is going to be blue. So that when you’re showing them what needs to go where that’s a good way for them to see it. If it’s older kids, just write down on a label what exactly is going in that bin and then they know how to put it away. It doesn’t stop it from getting messy because kids are going to dump the bin. For my boys, it’s dumping the bin and then walking away and not playing with any of the toys that they just dumped out. But it makes it easier to know where it’s going to go and a little bit less overwhelming when it’s time to pick up.”

Another thing she recommends is swapping things out. Not having everything out at once because toys accumulate. She likes to have a stash of stuff in hefty bins in the storage room. Then when it seems like her kids are over some of their toys, she does a swap out and it feels as if they get brand new toys. 

She also noticed that when the toys are all out, they’re less inclined to play because it almost feels overwhelming to them. Versus when she has it all cleaned up and organized for her own kids, they are starting to know what’s in each of their bins and are more inclined to play because they know where to go to find what they’re wanting to play with. Then it’s just a matter of saying, let’s put it back into that bin. 

Which is easier said than done sometimes.

Working with Sarah + Neat Method Indy

We now had all the questions for her and her business. If someone was interested in working with Sarah and Neat Method, how does someone go about doing that? Is it hourly or project-based? What does that process tend to look like?

And the process is quite seamless as Sarah explains: 

1. They start off with a complimentary consultation. This includes her coming to the home and seeing the space(s) interested in. This will be where she discusses the client’s goals, their pain points, what they want to ideally change, what they aren’t loving, and get all those details for her to put into a proposal. This is also where she will take measurements for products. 
2. Then comes the proposal. This will outline what her process looks like and what she anticipates in terms of how long she expects it to take and how many organizers they need to complete the project. The proposal will include that and the associated range in cost. If you are curious about products as we were, they would purchase the product for the client and that would be part of your proposal. They do work within your budget and are hourly. 
3. Once the client feels good about that then we get them on the calendar and get them organized! 

This can be a great service if you don’t want to spend your free time organizing and would rather spend time with your kids or on the 5,000 other things you’d rather be doing. Sarah and Neat Method Indy help give you your time back by organizing your home for you! 

Sarah’s Final Advice on Organizing Your Home

We hope you found this as helpful as we did on tips about organizing your home. If you aren’t in the Indy area there are other Neat Methods all over the nation, just check out the neatmethod.com website and click on the locations tab at the top. Then you are able to contact the owner near you through the website. 

Finishing up, Sarah left us with one last reminder, there’s always gonna be something to clean up. It’s okay to not feel like you have to always be perfect. Or always be tidy or organized because the reality of life is that it’s not always going to be that way.

So cut yourself some slack and just kind of roll with it. It’s going to be okay. And something that her mom had always said to her is, “the mess that you might leave for you today, we’ll always wait for you tomorrow.”

Having the systems in place helps you keep going and not feel super overwhelmed because you know that you can get back to it at some point, but also realize that the reality of life is it’s busy and crazy. It’s okay to put that aside for the day or whatever it might be and focus on what else you need to focus on.

And remember, these are our homes and we live in them. They’re going to look lived in sometimes. So, as we talked about in the beginning, start small, one step at a time, and give yourself grace – it’ll all be good. 

This is only the beginning of our conversation on how to start organizing your home with Sarah Davis. Listen to the full episode wherever you listen to your podcasts.