Have Too Much Junk Around The House? Don’t Worry, You’re Not Alone.
Lucky for you, we are here to help. In this month’s blog we are going to provide you with useful information on where to start, how to organize your house, and ways to make sure it stays tidy. Sometimes having an outsider help with direction, and what to do with all that extra junk is the extra push we need. We suggest taking a trip to Home Depot, or any storage place to invest in a few different size moving boxes to start. Even going to the dollar store to buy some plastic bins will help as well.
The Bookshelf:
Most of us have a bookshelf piled with books we’re never going to read again, or books that have gotten handed down to us from Family, or friends. This is the perfect place to start for decluttering. Take all the books down, and give the shelves a good deep clean. Grab a moving box, and get started. Go through the books, and if it is something you won’t ever read again, put it in the box. If the book is something you can actually see yourself reading again, put it back on the bookshelf. Once you’ve gone through all the books, you can add some bookends for decoration. Or, add fake plants to the book shelf to fill in the empty space from the missing books. Label the box “books” and seal it up for donation.
The Linen Closet:
If you’re anything like the rest of us, the linen closet can be a store all for things that don’t include linens. We suggest starting with taking everything out of the closet. Give the shelves a nice deep clean, then sweep or vacuum out the bottom area. Go through the linens, and take the outdated things, and place them in a box. If you have a spare or guest rooms and have extra bedding for those rooms, we suggest getting some vacuum sealed bags, taking the bedding for those rooms, adding a few sheets of fabric softener, sealing them up, and placing them under the bed for when you need them to free up some space.
Take the linens that you actually use, and place them back into the closet. Next, take the items you had in the closet that weren’t linens and go through them. Anything that is expired, broken, or almost empty, throw it out. Take the plastic bins from the dollar store and organize the things that you are keeping. Make a bin for nail items, sun screen, shower items, etc.If you have a label maker, label the front of the bins to make looking for things in them easier. A lot of us keep lotions and shampoo from hotel stays; consider making care packages with those and dropping them off at a local Woman’s, or Homeless shelter.
Make sure when you are putting the linens and bins back into the closet, you’re organizing by ease of use, and things that you use the most. This will help keep the closet tidy when you are looking for things after organizing.
The Bathroom Cabinet:
The Bathroom cabinet sometimes can be a store-all for all things cleaning supplies and shaving. You can organize that area by putting the items in the plastic bins. Make a bin for shower cleaning supplies, toilet cleaning supplies, then basic bathroom cleaning supplies. You can also make a bin for shaving items, if you store those under there as well. Add a sponge, magic eraser, etc. to each bin so as to not cross contaminate. Using a label maker here can help as well so you can label each bin accordingly.
The Pantry:
Pantries can be a helpful tool when preparing dinner, but only if they are actually being used. A lot of us will stockpile cans and non-perishable items when they’re on sale, and then these items expire, or we just throw them in there and barely ever use them. We suggest you state by taking all of the items off the shelves and giving them a good cleaning. Go through the boxes and bans and throw away all of the expired ones. Then you can either put the items back on the shelves in order of what they are, with the ones that will be expiring first in the front. Or, you can invest in some of the can organizers shown. These organizers can free up a ton of space in the pantry.
The Bedroom Closets:
We all know that our bedroom closet is something we struggle with. Most of us have a stack of clothes that we are hoping to fit into again. But, if I can be brutally honest for a moment, if you haven’t been able to fit into them for a year or more…just donate those clothes. Now that we’ve had that tough love moment, let us tell you how to organize your closet. Take that stack of clothes and put them in a box for donations.
Next, take all the clothes out of the closet, lay them out on the bed on the hangers. You can use pop can tabs for this next part, or buy some cheap shower curtain rings. Take the can tabs or shower curtain rings and place them on the top of the hangers and place the clothes back into the closet. When you wear that piece of clothing, take the tabs/rings off and place them in a little box for safe keeping. If, after a year, you still have articles of clothing that still have the tabs/rings on them, donate them. If you haven’t worn them in a year, you aren’t going to wear them again.
In Conclusion:
No one likes the process it takes to organize their homes, if they did, no one’s house would be messy lol. But, if you take each room in strides, you can become a master of organizing in no time. The key is to make sure you keep up on organizing when you’re putting things back after you use them. That way you will only have to do this large process once in your home. We hope that you’ve found these de-cluttering tips useful. If you have tried any of these before, share with us if you have found them helpful.
Good Charities To Donate To:
A few of our favorite charities to donate to include:
-Volunteers of America -Coalition on Temporary Shelter -Covenant House Michigan -Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries -Haven -Michigan Veterans Foundation -Vets Returning Home -Vietnam Veterans of America -POET Animal Rescue
