The art of downsizing - expert tips for clearing the clutter in your home

Spring is a great time for changes and new beginnings. Maybe this spring you could finally make some changes in your home. The COVID-19 pandemic left us all with little or no choice for outdoor activities and socializing. Instead, we became more oriented to private, stay-at-home entertainment. Since this is the case, we might as well use this time to make our personal space, where we spend most of our time, more pleasant. Whether you are relocating your home or just redecorating, the art of downsizing can come in handy. Of course, not everyone practices this art regularly, so we bring you some of the expert tips for clearing the clutter in your home quickly and easily.

Choose a starting point for clearing the clutter

Every endeavor needs a starting point. Similarly, if you are preparing your terrain for clearing the clutter in your home, you need to know where to begin. You could, of course, start decluttering randomly as well. In fact, some people believe that the most important thing is to start as soon as possible and that coming up with the right strategy in this kind of work doesn't matter much. One can even perceive it as an unnecessary waste of time. However, that depends on the amount of your clutter. If you only need to clean one room, cleaning randomly might work. But, if we are talking about complete home organization, you are risking losing track of what you were doing, when, and where. So always choose a specific room to begin with.

Expert tip: If you have an attic or basement, this is an ideal starting spot. You can clear and clean it first and then utilize it as temporary storage until you take care of the rest. Alternatively, start from the most spacious room in your home.

Make an inventory list and precise selection of all items

Besides being in control of where you are decluttering, you should also be careful about what you are throwing away. Or even more importantly, what you aren't. Making an inventory list of all your belongings can help you a lot with this, especially if you are organizing for seniors, or anybody else, as a favor. You may not be aware of what are items they possess and how important any of them are. But once you put everything on paper, the selection becomes more straightforward. It is even better if you can divide your inventory list into categories for easier reference.

Some suggested categories are:

• Jewelry, art, and other  valuables

• Electronics

• Personal effects

• Items suitable for charity or give-away

• Clutter - the only category of things to be disposed of

Don't get too emotional when it comes to disposal

Once we start browsing through our dusty collections of god-knows-what all kinds of scrap, suddenly all the memories rush back. Unfortunately, this feeling doesn't last long. As soon as we continue with our everyday activities, we again forget about those items. And so, piles get larger and larger. Just imagine what a waste of space this is. Of course, this doesn't mean you should throw away all your memories. Instead, try to select them the best you can and keep only the dearest ones.

Expert tip: There is no point in keeping your emotional valuables in the basement away from everyone's eyes. Alternatively, you can give them some life back by using them to personalize your bedroom.

Use all the help and tools available

One of the most common beginner's mistakes is underestimating your opponent. In this case - the clutter. Yes, you are a real hero if you manage to take care of the whole clearing process alone. But is it worth the trouble? Especially nowadays, with so many tools and professional cleaning services available. Virtual organizing is one of the latest break-through in this field, and it is certainly worth considering. Think of the time and effort you could save. An alternative, more old-school way is to get your friends and family to help you. This may not be the most effective way, but at least, it is the cheapest. And at least you don't have to do everything entirely by yourself.

Expert tip: If you don't want to deal with the heavy lifting when moving out your items, you can call a local relocation crew for help. Reliable movers can be great allies in the process, as they have the tools and the skills to handle this task without damage or injury.

Organize your home in a way to prevent piling of clutter in the future

Maybe you are done clearing the clutter in your home, but your job is not over yet. The next thing is to clutter-proof all your rooms. Only this way will all your effort pay off. What are all the sweat and sore muscles worth if your house looks the same as before after a week? Once the first pile of clutter reapers, it is already too late, so start thinking about this on time. 

Here are some practical and creative ways to promote downsizing from the first day of your new life: 

• Place bins around your home - many of them, everywhere, and in different colors. This can motivate you to recycle and be more responsible about clutter.

• Get new boxes, crates, and labeling material for easier categorization of stuff.

• Dedicate a part of your basement or house for uncategorized items. Everybody needs an organized multipurpose space in their home.

• Select one day a month for decluttering.

• Stay disciplined. Motivate yourself from time to time by imagining a spotlessly clean home. 

Even though the minimalistic way of living and decorating has been around for some time, not everyone is practicing it. Some people dedicate a lot of time to create a perfect downsizing strategy, while others prefer a more free and spontaneous approach. Still, for those who are about to embrace this new lifestyle, we hope that our expert tips for clearing the clutter in your home will be of great help.

Organizing Mistakes Making Your House Look Cluttered

What Makes a House Look Cluttered?
Have you ever walked through your supposedly clean house and gotten an uncomfortable creeping feeling? Despite your best efforts to keep things clean, it can still sometimes seem like you’re drowning in clutter.

Clean and uncluttered are two similar ideas that may come from the same book but are not on the same page. Clutter is an organizational mistake that loves to hide in plain sight.

Here are some common culprits that might be making your house look cluttered:
• Your entrance is the first thing you and others see when entering your home. It’s easy to let your entrance become a clutter trap for shoes, coats, keys and mail. A cluttered entrance can put a cluttered tint on the rest of your home.
• Those neat little piles you put things into when you’re organizing can end up swallowing your home. A nice pile is better than a tornado, but even the neatest of piles is still a pile of clutter.
• These days, everything comes with a cord. The plugs and chargers belonging to your appliances and devices may not be clutter, but they can look like clutter if you let them run wild in plain sight.

Should You Clean or Declutter First?

Decluttering before you clean will make cleaning much easier. If you put your mind to sorting through your clutter first, you’ll probably end up donating or throwing out a lot of things you don’t need. The more junk you get rid of, the less there will be to clean.

Once you’ve gone through your open-air junk and sorted it into things you want to keep and things you don’t, you will have eliminated much of your future cleaning work. Instead of looking for a way to keep all those things clean and organized, you’ll simply have fewer things. Fewer things means fewer piles, more space for your eyes to rest and less work for you.

How Do You Organize Your Household?

Start by designating a place for all the kinds of things that tend to pile up around your entrance. Use a crate for all the shoes, or train your family to keep them in rows against the wall. Use a coat rack for the winter wear, a tray or wall hooks for the keys and a pretty little basket for the mail.

Next, you may find it useful to come up with a system for the kinds of piles that tend to accumulate around the house. If bills tend to pile up on the counter, designate a bill drawer to keep them out of sight. If random clothes seem to materialize everywhere, assign a closet space for lost and found clothes.

I like to keep a chaos cupboard where I put anything that I regularly use but would otherwise leave out in the open. This can include sports gear, headphones, pet toys and even small tools. If you like organized chaos but despise clutter, keep it behind closed doors.

This also applies to all those devices and their cords. Assign a drawer where random mobile electronics belong so they don’t clutter up the couches or get lost between the cushions. Keep all the cords from your entertainment or work stations together in one place using a cable hider. Strategically placed cable hider sleeves can help you avoid tangles and lost chargers as well as reduce visible clutter.

Why Is It Important To Be Organized at Home?

Living in a mess can cause you stress. Piles and tangles can force you to constantly think about minor things that don’t deserve your attention. The less junk you keep in the open demanding your attention, the more you’ll be able to focus on the important things.

Coming up with storage systems and sticking to them also makes it easier to find things. When you designate a place where shoes go, you won’t have to spend another second thinking about where you put your shoes. Knowing where things should be is a great time saver.

Conclusion

You can usually hide in plain sight anything you don’t want to throw out or can’t move. These awesome zip-up cord concealers can consolidate all your wall and floor spaghetti. Imagine going from a mess of chargers, extensions, audio wires, Ethernet cables and USB cords to just one neat jet black line. 

When decluttering, we recommend using trash bags rather than storage bins. Storage bins signal to your brain that you might be keeping the items, which isn’t really decluttering. Trash bags tell your brain that the stuff in here is definitely leaving the house.

The easiest way to get a handle on your clutter is to start from zero. Take everything out of the room except the furniture, and then only let back in the items you use and love. This can give you a fresh perspective on both your rooms and your things and help you see the forest instead of just the trees.

How to stay organized when unpacking your new home

We partnered with a home improvement firm for this post. The opinions in the post are honest. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on our personal views. We are excited because we know you will love it.

Arriving in a new home is a fantastic feeling. Everything is new but ready for you to make it your own. However, settling in is a process. It takes time and effort, and it’s something you can’t do overnight. Still, just because the whole ordeal is demanding, it doesn’t mean it has to be hard. If you stay organized when unpacking and use proper home organization techniques, you’ll settle into your new home in no time. 

Prerequisites for organized and easy unpacking

To stay organized when unpacking, it’s essential to be organized before unpacking. And we mean way before. Ideally, you want to think about settling in during the early stages of your relocation. 

Here are the factors that will impact smooth unpacking:

• Your choice of movers;

• Whether or not you make an inventory list;

• Efficient decluttering;

• Propper packing and labeling of moving boxes.

If you do a good job handling these tasks, you’re looking at swift and easy unpacking. 

Having great movers can make all the difference

Your choice of movers will define your relocation experience. Trained professionals can make your life so much easier. They can help you with every moving task, from planning to unpacking. Therefore, having them by your side is something you should definitely consider, especially if you’re moving long-distance or interstate. 

For instance, let’s say you’re moving to Connecticut from Florida. That’s almost 20 hours by plane. 44 if you decide to make it a road trip. After such a long journey, you’ll want to jump right back into a familiar routine. Reputable movers can immensely speed up this process. They’ll take the most difficult and tedious tasks upon themselves. Hence, you can focus on enjoying your new life. So, when you research interstate moving companies, don’t just pick the cheapest one. Instead, choose the best option – a team that will guide you through the process and cater to all your needs.

An inventory list will help you keep track of your belongings

Taking inventory is something no one looks forward to. It’s tedious, it’s boring, and it takes a lot of time. Still, it is something that will help you stay organized when unpacking. An inventory list doubles up as a checklist. Therefore, you will have a perfect way to verify if all your things are present and accounted for when you finish unpacking.

Decluttering has many benefits

This one is pretty obvious. The fewer things you have – the less time you’ll spend unpacking. So don’t avoid this part of the process. Take the time to declutter and get rid of unnecessary belongings. Not only will you make unpacking faster – you’ll significantly cut the cost of the relocation. 

Propper packing = easy unpacking

Packing is much more than stuffing things in boxes and taping them shut. This part of the moving process will define whether you unpack in days or months. With that said, three crucial things to be mindful of are:

1. Do not overfill the boxes. This will make them hard to move and can lead to injuries. Furthermore, it can compromise their integrity, leading to damage to your belongings during transport or loading/unloading.

2. Do not mix things from different rooms. Dedicate each box to a single area of your house only. This will allow for focused and, thus, quick unpacking.

3. Take the time to label the boxes. It will let you avoid rummaging to find things you need. Ideally, you want to list the contents in the label. But, if you don’t have time, at least mark up the room where the box belongs.

Onward to unpacking!

Now that you took care of all the prerequisites, it will be all too easy to stay organized when unpacking. But there’s still room for improvement. You can make unpacking even easier and faster with the guidelines below.

Children are the priority

The hectic environment of moving can be taxing on your little ones, especially for toddlers and pre-teens. Their needs take precedence above everything else. Therefore, set up the nursery and/or their room immediately upon arrival.

If they are old enough to unpack themselves, it’s excellent to encourage them to do so. That way, they will feel included and have the opportunity to make the place their own. 

Lastly, it’s a great idea to have something to keep them occupied, too. So, if they love cartoons (what kid doesn’t?), be sure to plug in the TV and cable. It will keep them entertained and out of the way while you unpack. 

Set up essential areas first

You want to make your home functional ASAP. Getting back into the familiar routine is excellent to help you accommodate to the new environment. With that said, the best thing you can do is make essential areas available for living. This includes the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.

#1 Kitchen

Even pizza gets boring if you’re having it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for a week. Therefore, make sure to secure at least the basic functionality of your kitchen. It doesn’t have to be perfect or to look nice. You’ll get to that. But make basic utensils readily available, as well as essential appliances, because nothing says “home” as a warm, home-cooked meal.

#2 Bathroom

The good thing about the bathroom is that you’ll spend the least time unpacking it. It’s practically functional the moment you arrive. All it takes is some finesse to be ready for use. Shower curtains, towels, hygiene products, and you’re good to go. Later down the line, you’ll make your bathroom both stylish and functional to the maximum. For now, it’s enough that you can take a long, relaxing shower after a long day.

#3 Bedroom

Settling in is an arduous process. You need to be well-rested to take care of it efficiently. Therefore, the bedroom should be one of your top priorities. So, have your movers assemble the bed upon delivery. That way, all you need to do is break out the linens and have a revitalizing shuteye after daily chores.

#4 Living room

The living room is the centerpiece of your home and one where you’ll spend the most time. That’s why it’s next on our list. Your primary focus here is to make it available for some much-needed R&R. So, stage the furniture, and plug in the TV and sound system. When you have a place to take a break, you can move on to finesse and choosing decorating aesthetics.

#5 Home office

In the wake of the ongoing pandemic, a lot of people switched to working from home. If you are one of them, you should set up your home office next. Sure, getting back to work is not a relaxing activity. However, it is an essential part of your daily routine. It will help you get a sense of normalcy in a hectic environment and slide right back into everyday life. 

Your new life can begin

As you can see, it’s not too difficult to stay organized while unpacking your new home. With proper preparation and a good plan, you’ll settle in virtually without effort. Of course, there’s more work to be done. But once you’re functioning unobstructed, the pieces will fall into place on their own. 

Spring Cleaning Tips for Your Messy Closet

Closets are some of the most difficult parts of your home to clean and organize. You can find nearly anything in a cluttered closet, from decades-old clothing to documents that you forgot existed. If one of your goals this spring is to clean your closet and bring it back to a usable state, prepare yourself and keep yourself from becoming overwhelmed before you begin. Our spring cleaning tips for your messy closet will prepare you for anything you might find.

Take Small Steps

If your closet—or your child’s closet—has become less of a storage room and more of a landfill for miscellaneous objects, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed at the sight of it alone. Set smaller goals for yourself each day. These goals can include:

• “I want to be able to easily open the closet’s doors again.”

• “I want to see the floor.”

• “I want to be able to hang clothes again.”

• “I want to fill two trash bags.”

Starting small will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed, no matter how messy your closet is. You can sort the contents of the closet into piles and it might seem messier than before—but as you make progress, you’ll start feeling satisfied with the work you’ve done.

Sort Your Clothes

Take time at the end of each season to sort through your wardrobe. Keep the essentials that still fit and remove anything that no longer fits or that you don’t wear. It may be difficult to dispose of some clothing, but it’s necessary if you want to make room for new favorites. Donate clothes or reuse the material whenever possible to give your old favorites new life!

Use Organization Tools To Keep the Closet Clean

Once the closet is clean, your next goal is to keep it that way so you have less work to do in the future. Make it easier on yourself by organizing spaces for all the things you want to keep in the closet. You can place a small dresser in the closet for seasonal or situational clothes and utilize storage bins for other objects.

Setting yourself up for success is one of the most important spring cleaning tips for your messy closet so you won’t have to work as hard once it’s time to clean. Utilize your organization tools so you can accomplish the project quickly.