While listening to Barbara Reich reveal her secrets to being an organized mom, I thought to myself, "I can do this!". Did you know that just by being organized you can gain back a half hour of your life each day?

Barbara gave practical tips to help one feel that getting organized was not going to be that scary.

Take it one section at a time and follow her four steps to help you get one step closer to an organized life:

• Purge – If it’s broken or unneeded, get rid of it.
• Design – Create the infrastructure for organizing your space.
• Organize –Put everything in its place.
• Maintain –Stick to staying on track in for the long-term.

It should take about 20 hours to completely go through your house and declutter. Barbara knows that this cannot all happen in one day so break it down and focus on one section at a time for a few days: 

• The home entryway: Mail is the root of all evil. Deal with it right away – don’t just leave it on the nearest available surface.
• The kitchen: Throw away those kitchen gadgets you never use. Are you really going to throw a fondue party/ice cream social/panini picnic? A streamlined kitchen can mean the difference between another night of take-out and a healthy family meal.
• The bedroom: When it comes to decorative pillows, less is more. Having so many pillows over-complicates the process of making the bed in the morning.
• The toy area: Only keep what your child plays with--educational toys exist to make you feel guilty.
• The junk drawer: Don’t have one. Ever.

Barbara also shared her favorite Container Store products as we took a tour around the store.

I must say the the elfa shelving is a favorite of mine too. I have the shelves in my closet and pantry. In my closet, I use them for scarves, belts, sweaters and purses. In my pantry, I use them for water bottles, reusable lunchbag storage, snack bars and my Keurig coffee flavors.

Some of the tips that we talked about are what I am going to focus on while Spring Cleaning my house:

• Use the same type of boxes to eliminate "visual noise" When things match, it just looks better.
• If you have some odds and ends on the counter, put them in a tray. It makes the counter look more organized.
• Keep it simple and easy on the eye. For example, one way to do this is to get rid of the excess packaging that toys come in. It takes up less space and will look better in a different box.

The Container Store offers so many options to organize your things. There is something for everyone's tastes. So, no matter the style you choose, if it all matches, it just looks better.

Momtrends was not compensated for this post. I did receive the book so that I can learn all the secrets to being an organized mom.