For many teenagers like you, it seems a common thing to have a room with a view – mountains upon mountains of dirty socks, old odds and ends, and dust-bunnies. But who really has the time and energy to climb these mountains every morning before school? A little organization could help to cut a path through this hilly clutter, or at least help you find last night’s homework.

If organization is what your room needs, the basic materials you’ll need are trash bags, old cardboard boxes (for storage), measuring tape, Rubbermaid storage containers, masking tape (or sticky labels), and a permanent marker. The following are three basic strategies you should use to clean up the mess:

1. Letting Go of the Clutter

This must be the first step in this process because there is no use organizing around the mess – those things that aren’t worth keeping and those things from your childhood that are important to you but that you do not need everyday.

o Grab a trash bag and one or two cardboard boxes.

o Start in one part of your room – maybe your closet, under your bed, or the place you feel is the messiest – and go through all of your clutter, one item at a time. Decide once and for all whether to keep the item or get rid of it.

o Put things to throw away in the trash bag. Put things to store elsewhere – like in the attic or basement – in one of the boxes. But for those items that you’d like to keep in your room, start a separate pile of things to put back in place after you’ve finished clearing the space.

o Continue this sorting process while you move progressively around the room.

2. Trying a Change in Atmosphere

This step is optional, but I would certainly recommend it, as it would give you more space and a generally more comfortable feel. Changing a room by moving its furniture can be very refreshing – it can turn a room from a horror to a haven.

o Before moving any furniture, try mapping out ideas so you don’t end up with your bed half out the door. Make sure you include all furniture that you wish to keep in your room.

o Use a measuring tape to measure the length and width of the furniture to be moved and the space to which you want to move it. If the measurements do not match up exactly, you must make sure that the dimensions of the furniture are less than those of the space.

o Make sure all lights and electrical devices that use a plug are in reach of an available outlet, and that there are enough outlets to accommodate all the plugs.

o Finally, make sure that you are able to move the furniture yourself or that you have a person to help you, and then get moving!

3. Creating Storage Space

Now that the trash has been taken out and the room structure rearranged, you will need places to put your belongings – places that are out of the way but not of the reach of your memory – places where you can always find the item for which you are looking.

o Go to the nearest Dollar General and pick up a few Rubbermaid storage containers – clear, plastic, stackable boxes (however many you feel you will need).

o For all those things that you did not throw away or store away in the attic or basement and the things that do not have some stationary site (on/in a desk or dresser), break them into categories for storage – kind of like files in a file cabinet – so that you will know where to find these things in the future.

o Assign each of these categories of keepsakes to a separate storage container and label them accordingly, simply using a piece of masking tape and a permanent marker. Then, place those items belonging inside.

o These containers can be stored within your room – under your bed or, since they are stackable, in a closet or vacant corner. They do not take up much space.

Note: Installing simple shelves is another option for more storage space – providing a place for books, little trinkets and ornaments, CD’s, movies, etc. – putting them on display at the same time.

Whether you’ve grown tired of “hopscotching” your way from your bed to the door every morning or you just need a change from the monotony of your unvarying life routine, organizing your room can be a refreshing transformation that’s not too drastic.