Organize Now: 10 Clutter-Busting Don'ts

I can't recall how many times I've kicked off a weekend by declaring, "I think I'll organize my home." Unfortunately, those declarations have not quite resulted in a basement-to-attic shipshape house. Organizing your home can seem like an impossible task.

My biggest problem? Clutter. But not piled high in bins and covering my desk and every previously empty surface. I house that clutter, you know, with all that cute storage stuff from Ikea and SeeJaneWork.com. I've spent oodles on baskets, accordion files, mason jars (great for loose tea and cotton balls), file totes, photo albums, letter box sets and nesting cubes. Oddly, I still can't find what I need when I need it.

Frustrated that my home-organizing routine hasn't worked wonders, I asked Cynthia Townley Ewer, Vicki Norris, Jamie Novak and Donna Smallin, four fabulously organized and creative experts, what most of us mortals do that we shouldn't when attempting to organize our homes.

Let's take a look at their collective top 10 organizing tactics to avoid. Take it from the experts — and someone who has put their ideas into action — these don'ts will show you the way:

1. Donna Smallin, author of The One-Minute Organizer, says don't be concerned with reserving big chunks of time to organize your home. "The most important thing is to get started by scheduling regular uncluttering time — from 15 minutes to an hour each day."

2. "Don't mistake cleaning for organizing," declares Vicki Norris, author of Restoring Order: Organizing Strategies to Reclaim Your Life. "Cleaning can actually create clutter because in an effort to disinfect surfaces we dump everything in sight into junk drawers and form haphazard piles thus compounding the original organizing dilemma." Norris suggests prioritizing the organization of your space first. "When items have destinations, the clutter naturally begins to clear and cleaning becomes a breeze."

3. Get creative. Don't limit the function of a product by its intended purpose, says Jamie Novak, author of 1,000 Best Quick and Easy Organizing Secrets. "Over-the-door shoe organizers are perfect in the bathroom to hold hair clips and makeup, in the pantry for soup mix and snack bars and for easy-to-see supplies in the office. Use box lids, muffin tins and egg crates as faux drawer organizers."

4. "Don't be afraid to break up sets — sheets, dishes, canisters — as it's often more efficient than keeping them together. Just because you bought it as a set doesn't mean you have to store and use it that way," encourages Cynthia Townley Ewer, editor of OrganizedHome.com.

5. "Don't expect products to independently solve your organizational challenges," offers Norris. "Products used outside a discovery process rarely work the wonders you expect. Take time to identify your actual needs and you'll be able to introduce the right product at the right time in the process.