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home organizing: where do I start

Home Organizing: Where Do I Start?

Tackling home organizing on your own can be a daunting project. Let us help you discover where to start!

Break it down

Organizing the entire household can be a lengthy and stressful process. Don’t pressure yourself to do it all at once. home organizing: where do I start?Tackle it room by room and break it down over a period of a few weeks. Set yourself a time period and a task and then focus on getting that small project complete. Otherwise, it will be easy to get distracted and overwhelmed by all the things on your to-do list!

Organizing when you have a family

If you don’t live alone, home organizing can be even more complicated. Most likely, the other household members won’t be around for the entire clean up. So before you start, make different sections for each family member. This is where you’ll place anything of theirs which they may want to get rid of. Next time you see them, make sure they go through their piles and immediately dispose of anything they don’t need. This will make the whole process a lot easier!

Stock up on supplies

Purchase plenty of garbage bags and spare boxes to put in items that are getting thrown away or taken to charity or goodwill. Make sure to get extra cleaning supplies, such as paper towel, multi-purpose spray, rags, and air freshener. Keep in mind that you should also call your local council to schedule a hard trash collection ahead of time. By preparing all this early you can dig into cleaning and get everything organized efficiently.

Tackling that first room

Now that you’ve stocked up on supplies and planned a schedule, it’s time to start cleaning. Which room should you tackle first? This may seem counter-intuitive, but the best place to begin is the storage areas. This includes spare rooms, closet spaces, the garage, attic, and wherever else you store miscellaneous things. The reason why this is the best place to start organizing is that you first need to create space to store any important objects. Most likely the things that will be thrown away will be items that have been gathering dust in storage. Set aside plenty of time to clean and organize any full storage spaces.

Next up: The shared rooms

After making space in storage areas, start working on shared rooms. This would include the kitchen, living area, dining room, and communal bathrooms. Try and get the other members of the household involved in the project too. This is especially important if you have young children, as they will enjoy learning how to clean and have a sense of pride that they have been involved.

By de-cluttering space and giving each item a specific home, it will be easier to keep everything organized all year round. Make sure you let family or housemates know where each spot is. Better yet, make labels for different sections. After you’ve finished the communal areas, it’s time for the private ones.

And remember, we are here to help you along the way if you need a little extra support. Organizing your home is always easier with expertise, support and coaching from an organizing professional.  With our Lead Organizer on site, any space is redeemable! We provide space planning and efficient storage ideas and solutions for easy access and retrieval.  We’ll help you sort, pare down and liberate yourself from what you don’t need, creating strategies and a system of home organization specifically tailored for you. We even assist you with space planning and re-design.

Secrets To An Organized Kitchen

Kitchen-Counter-Decor

The kitchen is the hub of most homes where we gather to cook, eat or just talk. It is also the spot that causes many of you a lot of grief because of the organizational chaos happening there. Keep your kitchen an inviting space to be in by following these easy to follow tips.

Baskets and bins

Your storage systems can be both functional and decorative according to your kitchen décor. Spices, cleaning supplies, and other small items can be kept in baskets or bins for easy retrieval and storage. Some of your everyday spices like salt, pepper, curry powder and the like can be kept in a decorative bin or basket and taken right to the table.

Kitchen - basket

Use clear storage containers

Keep your coffees, teas, sugar, flour and other such goods in clear storage containers and label them for easy access. You will find storage containers easier to use as well. How often do you get flour or sugar all over your counter when pouring them out of the bag you bought them in?

Store them close to where you use them

Keep your spices and cooking utensils close to the stove and your drinking glasses stored close to the refrigerator. Normally there is more than one person in the kitchen so avoid getting in each other’s way and have what you need close at hand. Items you use often should be stored at eye level for easy access.

Small appliances

Your kitchen counter can easily become a magnet for every conceivable small appliance you have purchased but unless you use them daily try to store them down below.

Kitchen - small appliances

Appliances like rice cookers, slow cookers and blenders don’t normally get used every day so keep your counter clear and looking organized with just your daily use appliances.

Some items are better stacked vertically

Cutting boards, baking sheets, platters, and other similar items are better stored vertically to prevent damage and to make it easier to get them and put them away.

Kitchen - stack vertical

There are a number of inexpensive systems you can install to help you accomplish this.

Drawer dividers for cutlery

Drawer dividers are a must in any kitchen and I am surprised at how many people don’t install these, even for the larger utensils and knives. They keep everything neat and organized and easy to find.

Making more space

There are so many functional items to help you increase your space in the kitchen that can be so limited. Standing wire shelving can almost double a shelf space and if you have a deep corner unit a lazy Susan can add space and make it so much easier to retrieve items. There are also under shelf wire racks you can purchase to create space for mugs or small plates. I myself recently installed gliding shelves in my pantry to easily reach the items in the back of the pantry shelves.

At ClutterBGone, we love organizing kitchens and have the expertise and ideas to make your kitchen more organized and productive. Contact us here for more information.