Do you feel like your house has been over taken by clutter, and can’t figure out where to put it all? Here are a few suggestions on how to organize your possessions.
Firstly, purge, purge and purge some more! As general rule of thumb, when deciding whether or not keep an item, is to ask yourself if A) you love the item, and B) do you use it. If the answer to both of these questions is no, then it’s time to send the item in question to a better place, be it a yard sale, donation or pass on to family or friends.
Clothing can really pile up- in the closet, and once you’ve run out of room there, on the floor. Consider using a closet organizer, as they make it easy to have a place for everything, and everything in its place. Or, if you just have too many clothes to fit in your closet(s), consider getting rid of some. Everyone has certain items that they wear only during a particular season. If you haven’t worn an article of clothing during the past year, consider donating it to charity or passing it on to friends or family. The exception to this 1 year rule is pregnancy- obviously it’s hard to wear your usual wardrobe when you’ve gained 30 pounds or so!
If you’re like me, you have a large CD collection that’s been amassed over decades, and which the majority of you hardly listen to anymore. Sit down with a cup of coffee and read through all the song titles, making a list of the songs you realistically want to hear again. Then rip those songs onto your computer, and you’re free to donate all of those clunky jewel cases holding CD’s that are rarely listened to. The best part? Now you have all your favourite music in one spot that can be carried with you wherever you may go, by adding it to your portable music player, phone, tablet etc. Don’t forget to make a back up copy of all that music by loading them to another device, such as a USB.
Magazines can pile up quickly, considering the frequency with which they arrive in the mailbox. Why not tear out the pages that contain articles that are of interest to you, and store them in page protectors in one binder? You can even add dividers to the binder and organize your articles by section. Voila- 1 binder full of personalized magazine clippings without having to sift through a bunch of superfluous pages. Or, try subscribing to one of the online magazine services that will send your magazines directly to your tablet/computer. If you find you don’t miss the experience of holding the print version, this may be the way to go going forward.
Over the door shoe organizers are very handy, and can be used for more than just shoes! Why not use one in the laundry room to hold and organize cleaning supplies? One could also be hung inside the front closet door to hold hats, mittens, scarves etc. Be creative and think outside the box- there are many different ways to use one of these organizing tools.
When children are having fun, it can get messy. Toys seem to take over all surfaces faster than the blink of an eye. One trick to help keep all those toys organized it to rotate them. Keep a few toys out at a time for playing with, and the rest go into storage tubs in your basement. Then, once a month or so, switch out the toys for the ones in the tubs. This not only cuts down on the mess, but also keeps your children interested in their toys, as they get “fresh” toys every month!
Hopefully some of these tips will help to keep your home more organized. Once you get in the routine of keeping organized, it will become second nature. This will give you more time to sit back and smell the roses!
