Life works incredibly well when our houses are clean and organized. When we're organized, we can think more clearly, we're more efficient, and we can take on projects that have lain dormant for months or even years.

I love having a clean house. I find that I have more energy and can manage many things all with less effort than when my house was cluttered. And I am more peaceful, relaxed, and confident.

But good, lasting organization doesn't happen overnight. It is crucial to start smart because decluttering takes a lot of effort at the beginning. I strongly recommend getting expert advice in order to see results quickly and avoid getting bogged down in too much "stuff". You'll save yourself hours and hours of work if you listen to the right people.

When I began Project: Get House Organized, I followed these simple steps to get started:

Step 1. Get Rid of Everything You Can - I began in the garage, knowing that all of the things that I was going to get rid of were going to make a pit-stop in the garage before they got sold, given away, or donated. So, I cleared out every single thing that I could. And then, I went back after three days and got rid of even more. The more times I did this, the more I found to get rid of. I also gave myself plenty of time to do the project.

Step 2. Clear Out the Big Things - After the garage was cleared out, I went from room to room, looking in every drawer and box. If this is too overwhelming, which it may be for some, start "big". Take a look at each room and pick things that are big and need to go. One thing that I did was to work with my husband on getting rib of books. We cleared out three book cases worth of books in a one-hour period. We boxed them up and donated them to the library. Then, we put the bookcases in our storage room to store any left-over books and our CD collection. This cleared out a great deal of space and made a good start in decluttering the house.

Step 3. Find a Place for Everything - When everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING has a place, it is easy to manage it. Putting things away is a simple matter when they have a home. Picking up will never be difficult after you complete this step. Project: Get House Organized really took off when I worked on smaller rooms, like the laundry room, and our bathroom, to make sure that everything had a place. Once it did, cleaning and straightening was a snap. But it's easy to get sloppy. Still, when I pick up a room now, I ask myself before I move on to another place in the house, "Is there something that needs a home? Can I put anything else away in this room?" When I do this, I look at my house with new eyes and I constantly clear things out of the way.