The Best Way to Organize Your Home
If organizing your home is something you have been putting off because it seems like such an overwhelming job, relax. You can finally get organized and stay that way. After all, you have far better things to do than search for a lost utility bill or that missing shoe. Doing away with the clutter, finding a place for everything and keeping it all in place is not as difficult as you might think. All you need is a little organizational strategy. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Drawer inserts or dividers
- Shelves
- Baskets
- Boxes
- Plastic bins
- Coat rack
- Filing cabinet
- Electrical cord organizers
- Recycling bins
Instructions
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Tackle the biggest challenge first. Empty the drawers and closets in the room or area you are working on. Throw or give away what you don't use. The less you have to put away in an organized manner, the simpler the project will be.
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Use drawer dividers, baskets, boxes, racks and shelves to organize the closets and drawers. These will help keep things in their places and prevent the eventual cluttered junk drawer effect from recurring. Racks placed on shelves or on the closet floor will make better use of available storage space by compartmentalizing and creating stacking shelves. Hang wall shelves in the kitchen, bath and bedrooms and use baskets, bins or boxes under beds for additional storage space.
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Keep it simple and sensible. Group like items together, whether they are food items in the pantry or toiletries in the bathroom. Use organizers in drawers and on shelves to keep things orderly instead of jumbled in a drawer or shoved into a cabinet wherever there is room. Use hall trees, coat racks or hooks to keep coats and keys organized in the entry if you don't have a coat closet.
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Set up a filing system for important papers and bills. You can use a filing cabinet, but if you don't have one, large baskets that will hold files and dividers can be just as efficient. Store them on shelves in the office area.
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Organize and streamline the work flow in the kitchen by keeping utensils, spices and other items you use most often clustered together. Bins or a lazy Susan can help keep everything within reach. Nest pots and pans in cabinets under the counter. Install racks for baking sheets or use two or three rows of tension rods positioned between the bottom and top shelf to make a stand up rack for cookie sheets.
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Clean out the refrigerator and start over. Use transparent plastic bins to store items like bagged cheese, coffee and other foods. Use the door trays for bottles that can spill. Butter, margarine and spreads can be grouped together. Meats and other items that may leak should be stored in drawers or in bins that will prevent spills from spreading.
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Corral electrical cords in a flexible tube designed to keep cords from becoming tangled and out of view or in rigid cord channels that can be attached to the underside of a desk top or a wall.
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Don't allow clutter to collect and resist the urge to make piles. Set up a box, basket or hanging wall organizer to keep mail from piling up in the entry way. Throw away, recycle or shred junk mail as soon as you get it.
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Set up recycling bins that are easily accessible and larger than you would normally need in a week. This way, if you fall behind on the recycling you won't have overflowing bins.
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References
- Photo Credit clothes-pin image by Sonar from Fotolia.com
