Tag: organization

Spring into Clean! Tips to Tidy Up Your Home

April 7, 2020

With the winter season coming to an end, now is a great time to declutter and refresh your home. An organized house can improve your mood and cleaning up is a great way to get rid of stress. These tips will help you get the most out of your sprucing up, and make your home a place of tidiness and relaxation. Get Rid of That Junk!Before you start pulling out the cleaning supplies, begin by going through that closet or storage room and organizing. We all accumulate vast amounts of stuff, and it is important to know when to let some of it go. Start by sorting things to keep, things to sell and things to throw away into piles. This will let you differentiate between your valuables and random pieces you picked up over the years. Plus, selling things that you don’t want is a great way to get some cash. If needed, you can always ask a removal service to dispose of bigger items such as an old fridge or couch. When you go to put things back in their place, try using plastic storage containers. Not only do they keep your items organized, but they’ll also protect

What Can You Get Rid of Right Now? 25 Quick Ideas for Decluttering

January 17, 2019

Got a spare hour or so? It’s time to start tossing. Grab a trash bag, a recycling bin and a few donation boxes and get down to business. Working room by room, here are the things you can get rid of right this second. Kitchen 1. Expired food in your fridge and pantry. (Don’t forget to check all those condiments—they don’t last as long as you think). 2. Recipe books, cards and print-outs you don’t use. 3. Old or one-time use cleaning supplies under the sink. 4. Bottles of alcohol collecting dust. 5. Old, stained and tattered sponges, dishrags and hand towels. Living Room 6. Magazines you’ve already read. 7. DVDs no one watches. 8. Knickknacks that no longer speak to you. 9. Extra throw pillows and blankets. 10. Toys and electronics that aren’t played with or used. Bathroom 11. Expired medications. 12. Old makeup, nail polishes and skin care products. 13. Any half-empty bottles or soap remnants in the shower. 14. Sample packets and hotel soaps, shampoos and lotions. 15. Any hair accessories, curlers or hot tools that don’t get used. Bedrooms 16. Extra sets of sheets—you only need two! 17. Clothes that don’t fit or you no longer

10 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Home

January 11, 2019

Want to make 2019 the best year yet? It all starts with a happy home. Putting even one or two of these 10 household New Year’s resolutions into practice can help you create a healthy space for making all your dreams realities. 1. Improve your indoor air quality.Make clean air a priority in 2019. Poor indoor air quality is a leading cause of respiratory issues, like asthma and allergies. It can also cause headaches, dizziness, nausea and general malaise. That’s because indoor air can harbor mold spores, dust, pollen and other nasty stuff you don’t want to be cooped up with all day. Changing your furnace filter at least once a year can go a long way toward improving indoor air quality. Make sure your ventilation system is up to par, particularly in the kitchen and bathrooms. You should also use low-VOC paint and burn real firewood instead of pressed wood logs. This will help keep risky chemicals out of the air for extended periods of time. As an extra measure, portable air cleaners are available to help purify air in single rooms. 2. Declutter, room by room.The beginning of the year is a great time to reevaluate your belongings.

Make Your Refrigerator More Efficient with These 8 Hacks

October 18, 2018

When we think of ways to save energy, we don’t often turn to the fridge. It just does its thing, right? Well, not quite. Here are eight ways to make your refrigerator more efficient. First, it’s important to note that if your refrigerator is 15 or more years old, you may not be able to get the most out of it energy-wise, even if you do everything right. Older models are simply never going to be quite as efficient as newer models, and more sophisticated units are coming out all the time. When you decide to replace your older fridge, opt for an Energy-Star-certified model. Now, on to the hacks! 1. Get rid of frost if you have it. This is much more common in older units. If your refrigerator is accumulating frost, the first thing you’ll need to do is defrost it. Otherwise, you’re automatically setting yourself up for a far less efficient fridge. That’s because frost buildup can cause fridge coils to work overtime and make it more difficult for the unit to keep at a consistently cool temperature. It’s a bit of a process, but defrosting is totally worth it—plus, who couldn’t use extra room in the

Folding Fitted Sheets Made Easy

September 14, 2018

Here’s a familiar sight—your sheets are fresh out of the dryer, and now everything needs to be folded. You take care of the flat sheet, no problem. Pillow cases, easy. Fitted sheet? Hold on a second. If you think the only way to fold fitted sheets is to crumple them into a messy ball and throw them in the closet, you’re not alone. Sure, fitted sheets are unruly, but there’s a better way to fold them that’s a snap to learn. Before We Get Started Why are we going through this in the first place? Isn’t it enough that your fitted sheets get sort of folded and stuffed in the linen closet? At least they’re not ending up in a pile on the floor, right? Well, there are a few good reasons to take the extra minute and do the job correctly. First, your sheets will stay wrinkle-free, which we all know deep down is better than the alternative. Second, folding your fitted sheets actually saves a ton of room in your linen closet, so if you’re one of those people who keeps more sheets, towels and other linen-closet-y things than you probably need, anything you can do to create

How to Organize Your Garage in One Weekend

September 12, 2018

The garage is one of those spaces that often serves as a “dump” zone. Not only does it house bikes, tools and lawnmowers, anything that can’t be stored inside tends to get shuffled off there. And before you know it, you can’t see the floor! While we realize everyone’s storage space and belongings are different, we have a few tips to help you organize your garage in a stress-free way that makes sense. It’s Not Just You Before you go feeling ashamed at the state of your garage, know that up to 57 percent of people with a two-car can’t even park one vehicle inside due to the sheer volume of clutter. Whether you want to blame it on consumerism, the homeowner DIY movement, or something else entirely, Americans have a lot of stuff. And with our busy schedules, we don’t make a lot of time to think about how we store it. Because we’re betting on there being several years’ worth of clutter to sort through, we recommend setting aside one full weekend to conquer your garage with your undivided attention. It might not be the most fun you’ve ever had, but it’ll be worth it. Make it a