Struggling With Clutter In Your Small Living Space

Many millennials’ experience with homeownership extends to their parents’ houses and a dorm or apartment with a nine-month lease. When it’s time to move into a house or apartment complete with a deed or contract, that transition may prove difficult.

One challenge that many new tenants face is clutter. Although living in an apartment or small house may feel cozy at times, it also allows clutter to accumulate quickly.

Why Clutter Appears

Despite one’s best intentions, piles of “stuff” can take up valuable territory — physically and even emotionally. Here are some reasons your living space may be in disarray:

1. Uncertainty of What Constitutes as Clutter: The definition of clutter varies from person to person. However, a good rule of thumb is that if an item is broken or not useful, aesthetically pleasing or sentimental, it might be time to donate or toss it.

2. Inability to Let Go: Many people tend to hold on to a specific piece of clothing or home item if it’s sentimental, a gift or being saved for a just-in-case event. Emotions can make belongings feel irreplaceable, but you should recognize when something is ready to go.

3. Lack of Organizational Routine: Most clutter piles get bigger simply because they become part of the general landscape. By implementing a functional routine, cleaning could become second nature and clutter won’t have time to accumulate.

4. Impulse Shopping: Impulse buying can be a recipe for disaster. Don’t buy sale items or hobby supplies if you’re not sure where to store them or when they’ll be used. Buying on impulse may give instant gratification, but it probably won’t help you in the long run.

To learn more about the psychological effects of clutter and what you can do to combat it, check out our resource.

Struggling With Clutter from Mo2 Properties

Goodbye Clutter: 4 Useful Tools for Organizing Your Home

Home organization isn’t something you can do without the proper resources. In fact, it’s the collection of tools you use that gives you the ability to maximize your available space and make this process possible in the first place. This is why, if you’re going to tackle one of these projects yourself, you must have everything you need to succeed. These are some of the most useful tools for organizing your home and the benefits each can provide you as you sift through the clutter.

Drawer Dividers

Drawer dividers are incredibly versatile items that allow us to store small objects in an orderly fashion. Whether you have tableware or little knickknacks in your drawers, these cubbies keep everything separate so that you can find what you’re looking for easily. These products can even organize your hand tools in the workshop or hygiene products in the bathroom.

Plastic Bins

We also recommend that you have a set of larger plastic bins on hand. These containers work great for keeping large collections of items in one place. For instance, they work particularly well for clothing and holiday decorations. Because of their air-tight seal, they effectively protect more fragile items from dust, humidity, and insects as well.

Storage Lift

Another useful tool for organizing your home is a mechanical storage lift system. They’re a bit more high-tech than some of the other products on the market. They consist of motorized platforms that raise your possessions up into the attic space. Attic storage lift systems have a series of benefits, including saving you time and energy, reducing your risk of injury, and allowing you to use your attic space in more versatile ways. With such a tool, it’ll be much easier to keep the rest of your home orderly.

Label Maker

Having a label maker can be helpful too. With several boxes of items to sort through, labeling each one takes the guesswork out of finding what you need. As such, you no longer need to worry about locating something, even after storing it away in the attic or garage. This tool is particularly effective for enabling you to find seasonal décor and memorabilia from years ago.

5 Remodeling Ideas for A Clutter-Free Kitchen

Tiny kitchens don’t seem like a bad idea in theory. When you think about it, how much space do you really need to cook a meal? It turns out that you actually will need more than expected. 

Many times, having a tiny kitchen can be more difficult than anticipated. After all, there are a lot of things that go in the kitchen that we don’t realize. From small appliances, a gadget for every need, plus food and dishes for the entire family. 

Having a tiny kitchen means that space gets easily cluttered, provides limited space for cooking large meals, and prevents you from being able to socialize and gather in the kitchen.

If you desire a clutter-free kitchen that is more conducive to your lifestyle, consider these five kitchen remodeling ideas. 

1. Flooring

Flooring can make or break a cluttered look. Even if everything is completely organized, if the floor is busy, a small kitchen will still look cluttered. Consider simple flooring like vinyl kitchen flooring in a solid color. We will talk about colors down below, but simple colors or patterns when it comes to flooring are best for a clutter-free kitchen. Flooring is a vital part of tying a kitchen all together, making the space usable, and easier to clean. 

2. Organization

Let’s face it-- if things aren’t organized, they are always going to look cluttered. When remodeling your kitchen, including elements of organization is key. Maybe you choose taller cabinets so that more things can be off of the countertops, or you could remodel an unusable space and make it into built-in shelves for better storage.

 Another idea is to rearrange the order of the kitchen. For instance, for maximum efficiency, the sink, the fridge, and the stove should be in a triangle shape. Having everything in the best place possible can really help with clutter because you no longer have to keep things near certain areas for convenience. 

Keep in mind to use every little space you can from additional storage on an island to the space above the fridge. Organizations can be implemented in a variety of ways. 

Regardless of the layout of your kitchen, there is always room for improvement using remodeling when it comes to organization. 

3. Fixtures

Remodeling your kitchen to have more minimalist fixtures can be a simple upgrade to make your kitchen look clutter-free. Fixtures include everything from lighting and faucets down to the drawer pulls and handles on the cabinets. Be sure that at the end of your kitchen remodel that you replace all the fixtures to update them. Choose fixtures that have simple lines and are the proper size to avoid a cluttered look. Don’t forget to have plenty of light to make the space feel more open.

If you don’t have a window, consider having a few different light sources like different combinations of an overhead light, under cabinet lighting, or pendant lighting. 

4. Colors

Colors, patterns, and textures do a lot for the look of a space. When remodeling your kitchen, go with light colors to reflect light and simple, classic patterns to avoid the cluttered look. Add a subway tile backsplash for a quick remodel project that will bring your cluttered kitchen to life. Also be sure that the look of fixtures, walls, backsplash, cabinets, and flooring is all cohesive so that the eye isn’t drawn to as many places at once giving the appearance of clutter. You could even consider going with a monochrome look where everything is different shades of the same light color. For instance, shades of gray, white, or beige. 

5. Open Up Space

One of the biggest things you can do to remodel and create a clutter-free kitchen is to open up space. If there is a wall to take out or additional space in the dining room that you can use, you should consider opening up that space. Adding more space in an area decreases the look of clutter because things can be spread out more. If you can’t gain any more space in the kitchen, then consider creating flexible spaces.

Flexible Spaces

Flexible spaces are exactly how they sound. Spaces that can be used for multiple purposes. One flexible space that is common in the kitchen is a kitchen island. Many larger kitchens have permanent kitchen islands, but even if you don’t have space for a traditional kitchen island, a prep cart can do wonders for creating more space. 

Additionally, you might add a countertop and cabinets in the dining room which can be used as a prep station, a dining bar, and storage all in one. When remodeling your kitchen, think about how you can create flexible spaces that can help declutter and open up space. 

Need Help Decluttering?

Achieving the goal of having a clutter-free kitchen can seem like climbing a mountain. If you are struggling with decluttering, call House to Home Organizing, your expert in home organization. They are ready to help!

Simple Ways To Make Your Dressing Room More Organized

Having a dressing room is a fantastic asset when it comes to organizing your home. A separate space that is dedicated to your clothes and accessories will free room elsewhere in your home as well as helping to keep everything in one place, saving you time when you’re getting ready. 

However, it can be overwhelming to know the best ways to organize your dressing room, so here are a few simple tips that will work for dressing rooms of any size! 

1. Keep The Floors Clear

One of the simplest things you can do to keep your dressing room organized is to keep the floors clear. Having shoe boxes, storage boxes or general mess on the floor can make the space feel so much messier than it normally would be, so keeping them stored away elsewhere and decluttering is the best option. 

When you get into the habit of keeping things on the floor, it will be much more difficult to keep things tidy, so doing a bit of a reshuffle and finding space for things in cupboards or wardrobes, rather than the floor, is the best option. 

2. Close Things Off With Doors

Having open wardrobes can look great when you stay on top of your organizing, however for some people, having closed doors is a much better option. This is a great way to block off anything in the wardrobes to keep things looking really nice and clean. 

With open wardrobes, it can often be tempting to organize things in a way that look good, but it may not be very functional when it comes to finding what you need. So, having doors is the best of both worlds as you will have a beautiful space and you can also organize your things however works best for you without worrying how they look! 

3. Install A Wall Shelf

Installing a wall shelf works particularly well for a smaller dressing room, as you gain so much extra space that you might not otherwise have. If you have some space on the wall, look at installing 2-3 shelves with a decent amount of space between them. 

You can use this space to display some of your most prized possessions, such as your favorite shoes or handbags. Not only will this be a design feature but it will also free up space elsewhere. This is also a fantastic opportunity to accessorize, with wall art prints, artificial flowers, plants or candles. 

Final Thoughts

Life is so much easier when your dressing room is organized. You will save so much time as everything should be easier to access, so it is definitely worth spending some time to get organized and you will continue to reap the benefits.