Clutter-Free in 30 Days
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Forget about big organizing overhauls. (Who has the energy?) The slow-and-steady approach is much more effective for time-pressed moms. Tackle just a couple of our 30 super-simple projects: that pile of jumbled cords in the family room today, the overflowing drawer of cooking utensils tomorrow. You'll be inspired by the day-to-day results, and within a month you'll see major home improvement.
1. Clean up the utensil drawer by moving the four or five things you reach for most often to a countertop canister or crock. Take stock of what's left and toss anything superfluous. You'll be pleased when you can slide the drawer open and closed without it jamming.
2. Sort craft supplies into piles of like items—glue and tape together, ribbons and bows—then stash it all in clear plastic bins, says Stephanie Vozza, author of Five Minute Mom's Club (Franklin Green). Stack bins, whether on the top shelf of a linen closet or on an office bookcase. The next time you need a pair of scissors, you'll be able to locate them in seconds. If your boxes aren't clear, label them.
3. Pull cleaning supplies from under the kitchen sink and create space for them in the room they're used in, suggests Vozza. Move shower and toilet cleaners to a bathroom cabinet, the stain stick to a shelf in the laundry room, and wood polish to a dining room cupboard. The benefits are twofold: You'll have more room in your kitchen cabinet, and cleaning products will be close at hand.
4. Clear out visual clutter in the family room: Pull your DVDs off the bookshelves and arrange them in sleek, stackable cases. Either put the boxes back on the shelves—they'll look infinitely neater—or stack them next to the DVD player for easy access.
5. Put an end to cord chaos once and for all. The BlueLounge Cable Box ($30, bluelounge.com) holds even the biggest power strips—plus, it has room for adapters and extra-long cables. Simply drop everything into the container and close the lid.
6. Keep a stash of 10 or so trash bags in the bottom of the kitchen garbage can. After taking out the trash, just grab a fresh bag.
7. Hang a small shoe organizer on the back of your pantry or kitchen cabinet door, suggests Donna Smallin, author ofThe One-Minute Organizer (Storey). Use it to store measuring spoons and other items that go missing in the back of drawers.
8. Outfit the wall next to the back door with a series of hooks hung at different heights for holding stuff your kids would otherwise dump on the floor—like jackets and scarves. 3M Command self-adhesive hooks (amazon.com) come in a variety of finishes and can be pulled down without damaging paint, says Smallin.
9. To keep a few extra towels tidy, fold in half lengthwise and arrange on a floating shelf above the bathroom door frame. Or, if you have the space, neatly arrange rolled-up towels in the vanity or in an oversize basket on the floor.
Get more great tips to make your home Clutter-Free.
Don’t miss these stories:
· Clutter Control in 10 Steps
· Organizing from A to Z
· 18 Things You Can Get Rid of Today
How do you manage the clutter in your home? What steps will you take to make your home clutter-free?
1. Clean up the utensil drawer by moving the four or five things you reach for most often to a countertop canister or crock. Take stock of what's left and toss anything superfluous. You'll be pleased when you can slide the drawer open and closed without it jamming.
2. Sort craft supplies into piles of like items—glue and tape together, ribbons and bows—then stash it all in clear plastic bins, says Stephanie Vozza, author of Five Minute Mom's Club (Franklin Green). Stack bins, whether on the top shelf of a linen closet or on an office bookcase. The next time you need a pair of scissors, you'll be able to locate them in seconds. If your boxes aren't clear, label them.
3. Pull cleaning supplies from under the kitchen sink and create space for them in the room they're used in, suggests Vozza. Move shower and toilet cleaners to a bathroom cabinet, the stain stick to a shelf in the laundry room, and wood polish to a dining room cupboard. The benefits are twofold: You'll have more room in your kitchen cabinet, and cleaning products will be close at hand.
4. Clear out visual clutter in the family room: Pull your DVDs off the bookshelves and arrange them in sleek, stackable cases. Either put the boxes back on the shelves—they'll look infinitely neater—or stack them next to the DVD player for easy access.
5. Put an end to cord chaos once and for all. The BlueLounge Cable Box ($30, bluelounge.com) holds even the biggest power strips—plus, it has room for adapters and extra-long cables. Simply drop everything into the container and close the lid.
6. Keep a stash of 10 or so trash bags in the bottom of the kitchen garbage can. After taking out the trash, just grab a fresh bag.
7. Hang a small shoe organizer on the back of your pantry or kitchen cabinet door, suggests Donna Smallin, author ofThe One-Minute Organizer (Storey). Use it to store measuring spoons and other items that go missing in the back of drawers.
8. Outfit the wall next to the back door with a series of hooks hung at different heights for holding stuff your kids would otherwise dump on the floor—like jackets and scarves. 3M Command self-adhesive hooks (amazon.com) come in a variety of finishes and can be pulled down without damaging paint, says Smallin.
9. To keep a few extra towels tidy, fold in half lengthwise and arrange on a floating shelf above the bathroom door frame. Or, if you have the space, neatly arrange rolled-up towels in the vanity or in an oversize basket on the floor.
Get more great tips to make your home Clutter-Free.
Don’t miss these stories:
· Clutter Control in 10 Steps
· Organizing from A to Z
· 18 Things You Can Get Rid of Today
How do you manage the clutter in your home? What steps will you take to make your home clutter-free?
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Comments
www.thechesterfieldcompany.com
- 8/27/2012 7:33:44 AM
Check out flylady.com - great ideas - and you start where you are and slowly build a system to STAY decluttered and always 15-minutes from being company-ready.
One of her mantras is that "you are not behind - jump in whereever you are" and also "you can do anything for 15 minutes" - I'm not completely successful at following her system, but I love the basic principles! - 3/7/2012 8:30:43 AM
- 10/1/2011 1:29:00 AM
Thank-you for the blog & it's helpful suggestions. My biggest clutter problem deals w/ paper. I try to weed out the unwanted/junk mail each day but somehow the catalogues keep piling up. Bills to be paid have their own special spot & once they are paid they get filed. Then there are those mailings from assorted places/organizations requesting a donation. Some send return address labels &/or paper pads w/ your info on them while others include a coin from $0.01 - 0.10. Sometimes I think I get more of those than I do catalogues. You would like to help them out, however, there is a limit. Ignoring them is not going to make them go away. I could try Andy Rooney's suggestion & return the envelope w/ their information inside on those who have postage on their return envelope, however, many leave the stamp off. Between the unwanted catalogues & donation requests there are definitely to many trees being killed & that is what concerns me. I really used to be extremely organized & thus find all this clutter is all-the-more irritating. I can relate well w/ KITTYGAL2 & JIBBIE49. I had an elderly friend who has since passed. Several years prior to her dying she needed to go from a hospital to a nursing home. I was her health care proxy (very important to have a Living Will/Advance Directive) & her nephew was her POA. He & I had to dismantle & break-up my friend's "home" & it made me think about a lot, ie:we have things that are important to us yet mean nothing to others & here I am disposing of those type of things. When my mom died, we did the same as JIBBIE49. Now I have clutter from when we cleaned out my parents house. I've come to realize that clutter is like dust, in that no matter how many times you get rid of it, sooner of later it's back again.
- 9/28/2011 2:12:36 PM
By making it fun and time-limited, she gets the kids to "buy in" and builds good "clean as you go" habits, and makes sure that the little things don't get out of control, even on really busy days. She is basically my domestic hero. When I go over there for a visit, I'm always really excited to participate - what a nerd! - 9/28/2011 12:32:02 PM
**I need that cable box!!! - 9/28/2011 9:40:16 AM
And the "take it slow" approach doesn't work well for me, either - like someone else said, by the time I get C under control, A and B have resorted to chaos! - 9/28/2011 9:15:45 AM
Since then, I have been systematically going from room to room evaluating the items within and making decisions regarding whether they are important to my life now. As you can imagine, it amazed me how much "stuff" (George Carlin fans can appreciate that reference!) I had accumulated over the years. "Stuff" actually expands to fill the room available! Paring down and "down-sizing" has been a revelation to me --- I have made so many trips to Goodwill that I think the staff thinks I work there! It has been so liberating to jettison so much that I absolutely "needed" and realize that the important parts of our lives don't necessarily include the "stuff", but the friends and family who are important to us. I would give anything to have my best friend back with me today ---- - 9/27/2011 5:16:27 PM
My problem with one thing at a time is that by the time I get spot X cleaned up, A,B, and C are back to disaster areas...sigh. - 9/27/2011 11:27:29 AM
So far as kitchen stuff goes, I try to get as many double-duty utensils and equipment as I can get my hands on. For instance, I have a double spatula (big end and small end, both usable spatulas) so that I have one utensil rather than two. Also, baskets from the dollar store are invaluable when it comes to corralling stuff in drawers. I keep all my measuring spoons, bottle openers, thermometers, and such in a little basket so that they don't float around and get lost. A magnetic strip for knives is also a good choice - gets them up out of the drawer, where they can get dull and cause cuts if you aren't careful.
Just make sure that when you buy organizational tools, you actually have a use for them! Sometimes it is tempting to buy those baskets, but always try to visualize a use prior to getting them - that way you don't have to worry about organizing your extra organizational tools! :) - 9/27/2011 8:59:55 AM
- 9/27/2011 7:45:56 AM
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