It’s just undert two weeks until Thanksgiving and it is a great time to organize all your stuff before the influx of Christmas Cards, Holiday Food, Cookie Making, Decorations and of course Gifts. While all of them make the holidays feel so festive and so filled with tradition, they take their toll on your living. To some people I can imagine it can be some what overwhelming. So we here at Design Re:look have come up with some of our own ideas for those clutter issues.
The first thing most of us do is clean out!! This can be a dangerous undertaking because if you haven’t done it in a while it could take some time. I always start with a few basics.
First, I pull out a large black garbage bag and take that everywhere I go. It is so easy to pile up and keep items because you think you might need them. Some of it can go. Keep important papers, children’s artwork, pieces of a sets and anything you can see using in the next few months. I do suggest setting up a magazine holder or thin file box beside the refrigerator on the counter to keep papers you don’t know what to do with or magazines as they get strewn about the house. It’s also a great place for those notices or permission slip that come home.
Clean the counters off and with the Holidays upon us store any non essential items away for the season. When I was a child my mother would put all the nicknacks (as she called them) in a fifth bedroom closet which left the house bare and ready for Christmas Decorating. I don’t have a fifth bedroom closet (walk-in no less) but I may have a shelf in the basement, a high shelf that I don’t use too much in the linen closet and putting all the items I don’t need in one place makes getting my house back to normal after the holidays that much easier.
Clean out the kids toys and donate anything they have outgrown or don’t like. Ebay is another great way to clean out the old toys and it’s always a good thing to make some extra cash. Especially with the holidays coming. Paypal has come a long way and they have a great debit card that uses the money that has collected in your account for your purchases. Nice! Also look to second hand stores and Goodwill Donation Centers in your area.
Toys are a big issue, so I finally took my mom’s advice and bought plastic storage bins. Yes I said it. I don’t love plastic storage bins, I would rather use boxes, baskets, bins or shelves. But, it wasn’t working because everything was too accessible to the kids and they would take out three or four sets at the same time. Making it difficult for them and adults to reorganize. So, I divided up the toys into play sets and when they want to play with their mini Barbies, their Imaginext, their dinosaurs…they need to ask. Now it is important to leave their favorites of the moment accessible and they can get those whenever they want. It was too much to have it ALL out at the same time. And exchsnging the accessible toys every so often will keep toys fresh! Believe it or not so far so good. Maybe I’ll even get them to actually clean up one thing before going onto the next. That’s the goal right!
Another useful item on the list was pairing down. Keeping out only one type of item and putting the rest away. For example bath towels. Somehow, we all get different colors and styles in our bathrooms. Therefore, keep out the limited number of towels for the number of people using the bath. My husband and I keep out six towels. So put six matching bath towels out and store the rest away. The mismatched ones could be donated or stored out of the everyday flow. It is important that if you have guests you keep a set to put out for them. Having only one set makes doing the laundry easier because there is less sorting and putting away. Whatever stack you fold goes right onto the shelf.
Have a place to put the things that most often get out of hand. When you pick up you son’s mitten say, “Where do I keep his mittens….” and put it there. We seem to run into the most trouble when we say we we’ll figure it out later or place it down for a sec.
Coming tomorrow: We’ll list some faves for storing some of those items.
