Guest Post - 6 Useful Tips for a Clutter Free and Stylish Bathroom

The fight to keep your bathroom stylish and clutter-free can seem endless. Who knew how much stress a stray toilet paper roll could cause? Some simple strategies and a good plan of attack is a recipe for success, so read on for tips on how to stay on top of the clutter.

Hiring Professionals

Hiring professionals is the best way to get rid of both bathroom clutter and stress from your life. The professionals know how stylish your bathroom should look and will use the necessary steps to get it there. 

When you hire professionals to declutter and revitalize your bathroom, you can rest easy knowing the job will be done right. Going with organizing professionals grants you peace of mind. When you leave the hard work to the professionals, you're sure to love the results. 

Move the Medicine

Bathrooms seem like the natural home for medicines, but this is not the case. In fact, the humidity of bathrooms is often bad for your various medical supplies. Try moving any first aid kits to your kitchen, if there is space. Kitchens tend to be more accessible in case of emergency. 

Consider putting your daily or weekly medicines into a weekly pill-organizer for your bedroom. When you have moved your frequent medicines, you can then store the less regular medical supplies in the kitchen. Note that anywhere out of the way works for long storage. The fewer things there are in your bathroom, the less clutter!

Use a Bathroom Planner

Using a bathroom planner is essential when designing your bathroom. All design plans need a good plan to work off, and bathrooms are no different. Online bathroom planners allow you to send, receive, and edit designs without carrying them everywhere with you. You need to know how to best use your space and planning it out beforehand removes any room for unwanted surprises. Getting your bathroom planned before beginning the renovations is a key ingredient in the recipe for success.

Consider your Furniture Choices

There is a broad range of furniture that you could consider using in your stylish bathroom. A somewhat unorthodox, yet stylish idea, is to use outdoor furniture as vanity seating. Comfy and boho, using outdoor furniture will complete your space.

The reasons which make outdoor furniture great for use outdoors also make them ideal for bathrooms. Outdoor furniture is water-resistant and will survive any unexpected spills. What's more, you can also use them after showers without fear of damaging the fabric. When designers create their outdoor furniture, they know that the furniture needs to resist the elements. If the furniture can withstand the outdoors, it can withstand the worst your bathroom can throw at it.

Be Creative with Storage

If you don't have access to large storage units, it's important to innovate. Think outside the box. Bins and baskets are good, inexpensive storage should the floor-space be available to you. If you don't have the floor space to spare, wall-mounted cabinets can be a stylish and creative way to add more storage to your bathroom.

Bring your Tech Together

Hair straighteners and driers use chords. Chords tangle and create an absolute mess the very instant you stop paying attention. To prevent this, you can dedicate a single drawer to your technology and use wire-ties to manage the chords. With no more cluttering around the electrical outlet, your bathroom is sure to look more relaxed and stylish.

Bringing these tips into your home is sure to leave yourself and your bathroom more relaxed. An important plan and a touch of diligence are all it takes to keep your bathroom clutter-free and stylish.

Author Bio: Harper learned organizational skills from her parents at a very young age. Her hard work paid off – with her organizational skills coming in very handy in her professional life for scheduling, managing work, and meeting deadlines. And this all began with a pink paper planner her Mum handmade for her while she was in primary school. To know more about Harper and read more of her written works, visit Harper Reid.

How to Choose the Right Organizer for Me

Professional Organizing companies are a fairly new phenomenon. Thanks in part to the TV series HOARDERS and Marie Kondo, the public is now aware that there are trained specialists that can help them take control of their living and work environment. However, you do not need to be a hoarder to reap the benefits of hiring a professional organizer. By decluttering and organizing your house you will be able to find what you are looking for with ease and eliminate repurchasing items, thereby making you less stressed and more productive at home and work.

Finding the correct organizer can be overwhelming. Googling professional organizers in your area brings up a host of people who are organizers plus home service advertising collectives, so where to go from there? How do you find the person/people that are the correct fit?

The questions below may be a good guide to what to ask when interviewing various companies.

• What is your organizing philosophy? Do you tackle a room at a time or do you organize by category? Can you organize my attic, playroom and kitchen or do you specialize in areas such as paper management or memorabilia?

• Are you going to get rid of all my belongings? (please note: this is a trick question)

• Do you offer consults? Is there a charge or are they free?

• Are you a member of NAPO, the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals? Members are required to take education courses before joining.

• Are you insured?

• What is a typical day like? How long it a typical session and how many organizers does my project warrant?

• Will you provide references if necessary?

• Will you bring the necessary supplies? Do you provide a concierge service if I need organizing systems and products such as bins or drawer organizers?

• Is your rate hourly or based on the whole project?

• Will you help me to find places to donate, sell or dispose of the items I no longer want to keep?

Since most people have not worked with an organizer before and many of us are not used to having people work in their homes, these questions are important to making sure everyone has the same goals. Most importantly, make sure you have a good connection with who you hire. You are a vital part of the process so you should feel you can trust your organizers and have a good working relationship with them.

Guest Post - The Fun Way to Declutter Your Home and Reduce Stress

A clutter-free home is a stress-free home. There is something rejuvenating about cleaning out full closets and junk drawers. Fortunately, you don’t have to be an expert to get that clean and organized home you’ve been desiring, and you can even have a good time throughout the process. Below, you will find some easy and fun methods to declutter and destress.

The Plan

The goal of decluttering and cleaning the entire home is admirable, but when it comes to execution, you need a solid game plan. Before you jump right in, take the time to make a list of all the areas in your home that need attention, and then rank them by priority. Don’t forget to also include spaces like the garage, attic, basement, and shed. Then, plan for what you will need. Some cleaning supplies you might consider are:

• Bins

• Trash bags

• Labels

• Boxes

• Vacuum/broom

• Duster

• Various cleaning solutions

For each space you’re tidying, you will want to start small and then go big. The little accomplishments will give you the encouragement to tackle bigger tasks. As you go from space to space, try to keep the following six steps in mind:

1. Empty

2. Clean

3. Sort

4. Remove

5. Sort Again

6. Reload

Making It Fun

Don’t plan to clean and organize until you drop. It will take some time to accomplish all you are setting out to do, and you don’t want to rush through the sorting phases. Take some time to enjoy going through memory lane with each item. For items that are gently used but are no longer needed, donate them to organizations you are passionate about.

Plan for little rewards as you complete a task. For example:

• For the bigger spaces that will take some time, reward yourself with dinner out, a nice walk in the park, or a movie.

• Consider a sweet treat for the cleaning and tidying you’re not looking forward to.

• Get your loved ones involved.

• Clean while rocking out to your favorite songs.

• Listen to an audiobook while you tidy.

The Art of Tidying

Decluttering does not mean becoming a minimalist, having bare rooms, and throwing away all your memories. The idea of tidying is to either donate or throw away what you don’t love or use and to keep and organize what you do love and use. Most of us are guilty of buying clothes we don’t wear and for letting that junk drawer pile up. Essentially, tidying resets your home and stops the cycle of accumulating unused and unloved items.

Stopping the Mess Before It Starts

Clutter begets clutter. If you let your belongings accumulate and disorganization take hold, it will only get worse the longer it remains undealt with. Once you declutter, work to establish a routine to keep the mess at bay. Make it a habit to put your clothes away right after you take them off, sort through your mail when you have the time, and throw away unneeded paper immediately. Also, donate any books you finish to your local library, and give away any clothes that you haven’t worn in a year. Furthermore, plan to spend about 20 minutes a day cleaning up.

You don’t have to be an expert organizer to have a tidy home. Establish a plan of action to achieve it room by room. Reward yourself when you accomplish little victories, and encourage yourself to keep going. Master the art of tidying just by purging what you don’t use and love, and keep yourself on track by tidying a little here and there every day. In no time, your home will become that stress-free oasis you desire.

Author Bio: Alice Robertson recently created Tidyhome as a place to share the great cleaning and organizing advice she has developed over the years. Alice loves helping others, and she knows having a clean, organized home can do wonders for stress and mental health.

Guest Post - Simple Ways to Achieve a Super Clean, Organized and Clutter-Free Bedroom

Clutter can make anybody anxious and stressed. It throws us off balance and doesn’t let us enjoy our living space the way we’re supposed to. So, keeping your home clutter-free is very important, which especially applies to your bedroom. It’s the space that’s supposed to relax you and lull you to sleep, but if it overwhelms you, you might have trouble falling and staying asleep. Here are some suggestions for keeping your bedroom tidy, organized and free of all that horrible clutter.

Go through your closet and drawers

One good place to start is sorting out your clothes. Once you start going through them, you’re likely to come across a whole bunch of things you haven’t worn in ages, and probably never will again. Plus, some of those things might not even fit you anymore, and having too many clothes to choose from can confuse you, so you often end up wearing the same few pieces over and over again.

So, make the best of the situation and pass the things you don’t wear along to your siblings, friends, or donate them to charity. The same applies to your shoes. If you have too many of them and you’ve only put some of them on once, on a special occasion, it may just be that you don’t really need them in your bedroom. That way you’ll have more free space in your closet and your drawers, which will make the whole room seem tidier.

Organize your clothes

When you’ve removed the clothes that you don’t need anymore from the equation, you should organize the ones that are left. This will allow you to get dressed quicker, which can give you that extra minute you need to compose your thoughts in the morning, before you go to work. All it takes is some matching, so that your short-sleeved shirts are together in one place, the long-sleeved ones in another, your trousers all in one pile, etc.

Choosing an outfit for work will come down to picking the color that reflects your feelings on any given day. Also, the clothes that are out of season can be put in a vacuum bag at the back of your closet, on top of it, or even underneath your bed, and you can put them back in their place when the seasons change again.

Be smart about furniture

There is a lot you can do in terms of keeping your bedroom clutter-free if you simply invest in the right furniture. For instance, you can now find quality beds for sale, with plenty of storage space underneath them. This means that you can find the perfect place for all those extra blankets and pillows you have, or you can even use that space to store your winter jackets throughout spring, summer and fall.

If there isn’t enough space in your closet for all your clothes, you can invest in a few clothes racks and some nice hangers, which you can put in one of the corners of your room. These are quite fashionable right now and can also give your bedroom a bit of an eclectic look. However, be aware that too much furniture can turn your room into a cluttered chaos as well, so only invest in the pieces you need, and make them count.

Keep your nightstand clear

A good nightstand can provide you with enough space to put away your smaller possessions, which would otherwise make your room seem messy. Choosing a nightstand with drawers means that you can put your belongings into those drawers, instead of piling them up on top of the nightstand itself. This is something that commonly happens in bedrooms with not enough furniture. Of course, there can be some things on your nightstand. After all, it’s the perfect spot for a lamp, a small jewelry box or even just a bowl for keeping your rings, earrings and watch safe, and maybe some tissues in case of nighttime sniffles. However, if your nightstand drawers haven’t got enough room for everything you want to put in them, you can install a floating shelf or two above your bed, and even put your bedside lamps up on the wall as well.

With a bit of creativity and good organizing skills, your bedroom can become an oasis of peace and calm. So, unclutter it and enjoy the clean and organized space you’re left with.

About the author: Mike Johnston is a lifestyle blogger and DIY enthusiast from Sydney. He’s a regular writer at Smooth Decorator and Divine Magazine. His articles can also be found on numerous family-friendly, real estate and green living blogs. Mike’s goal is to create and share meaningful content that helps and inspires people.