Reasons To Declutter Your Home This Winter

There are many reasons to declutter your home this winter. With more time inside due to the cold weather, now’s the perfect time to start a new decluttering and organizing project. Don’t believe us? Keep reading to check out all the reasons to declutter your home this winter.

Helps Reduce Stress

The holidays are a busy time of year for many; you don’t need the added stress of a cluttered house on top of it all. Take the time early to go through your belongings and sort through the clutter. Decluttering can also help your home feel larger, which is great for entertaining and hosting since many homeowners have family and friends over for the holidays. Help your home feel less cramped in time for the holidays, and take one more thing off your list by decluttering now.

Discover Donations

Another benefit of winter decluttering is all the potential items you can find and donate. Clothing, especially cold weather clothing, is one of the most useful things you can donate this winter. Why not go through your family’s coats, scarves, mittens, and clothes and set aside whatever you’ve outgrown or don’t need? More charities need donations during the winter than ever, and donating a little something extra will help give you the warm fuzzies this holiday season.

Make Spring-Cleaning Easier

One more reason to declutter your home this winter is to make next year’s spring-cleaning easier. Are you already stressing out over the idea of next year’s spring-cleaning? Why not break it up into winter- and spring-cleaning sessions? The more decluttering you do now, the fewer tasks you will have on your plate this coming year. The future you will thank you for planning ahead!

Now that you know all these benefits of a good winter decluttering session, what are you waiting for? Start decluttering now to spruce up your home just in time for the holidays.

Ways To Organize Your Kitchen Like a Professional Chef

If you love to cook, you must have been spending most of your spare time in the kitchen. That must have brought to your attention the fact that your kitchen can be better organized. Unlike organizing other areas of your home, organizing the kitchen is a tedious and complex task. 

You must have seen cookery shows online. Have you observed how chefs work in the kitchen? Have you noticed how they can find the things they need quickly without having to look all over the place? That doesn’t happen just like that. It takes a lot of ‘behind the scene’ planning to showcase a professionally organized kitchen where chefs can quickly conjure up the tools and ingredients they need as if by magic.

Would you love to enjoy the luxury of an organized kitchen that you see on your favorite cookery show? Here’s how to do it just like a professional chef.

Chefs are always short of time and must find things quickly. Their program can be a success if conducted smoothly minus any glitches. And the most crucial element for achieving this is a well-organized kitchen. The top chefs focus on the following areas:

The Kitchen Tools Drawer

A kitchen tool drawer contains every single tool you need to whip up a fancy preparation. These include graters, peelers, spoons, knives, spatulas, and many others. But can you find the right one when you need it quickly. The simple solution – create organized drawers for different tools. All the spoons in one, the knives in another, and the spatulas in yet another compartment so that you can find the ones you need quickly without rummaging through the drawer.

Arrange Spices In A Specific Order

This is a trick that can be quickly completed, and it will give your kitchen a well-organized look too. You will need spices for nearly everything you cook. Use transparent or labeled containers placed on a shelf above the counter to find the herbs you need. Knowing where to find the jar of paprika when the recipe calls for it will help you save time and effort. You can number it, name it, or color-code it. Regardless of whether you are using simple glass shelves or designer kitchen cabinets, what matters is that you must find it fast, and it must also be arranged neatly, if possible, in jars of the same size and design.

Keep Countertops Clutter-Free

You make dozens of dishes every week. If you have a clean space to work, the motivation to be creative in your cooking is high. A clutter-free kitchen starts with a clean countertop. They are the key to maximizing your cooking efforts. It has a way of making your feel-good factor come to the fore. Experts suggest keeping what is needed only on the counter. For easy access and use, use squeeze bottles for oils and salt. Use transparent bottles for items like sugar, salt, chili flakes, spices, etc. 

Managing Your Refrigerator and Freezer

Keeping the refrigerator organized can be one of the most challenging tasks. The fridge environment keeps changing and quite dramatically too. Top chefs know how to keep it simple. They follow very basic rules. Eggs must always be kept in the shelf/tray. Meat should never be put anywhere else but in the meat drawer. Cheese and butter must never leave their designated spaces in the refrigerator. Veggies and greens will obviously go in the crisper drawer. 

Label the meals and clearly mention the expiration date to prevent any accidental use of spoilt food. Nuts must always be kept in airtight containers to prevent them from getting stale. 

Pots And Pans Must Be Kept Hanging

In any kitchen, residential or professional, space crunch is always a common factor. You will have to use dozens of pots and pans to whip up dishes fast, but the problem is where to keep them in an organized manner. A simple solution is to use hooks to hang pots, pans, utensils, spatulas, and more. Make sure the hooks are large and strong enough to hold the heavier pans and skillets.  

Conclusion:

Planning a revamp of your kitchen like a professional chef? Start early and from ground zero. Cleaning your kitchen is the first step. Pull out everything you are not using, or you don’t need without hesitation and dump them. It will give you the necessary space to reorganize the things you need and in the proper manner. Remember, cleaning is a regular process. Don’t just attack the floors, tiles, and visible areas. Go deeper with the cleaning and reach out to the drawers, inner side of the cabinets, and clean everything end to end. 

Looking for the best kitchen renovation and makeover services in the Bahamas? Consult the innovative kitchen remodeler for free designs, free estimates, and free consultation.

Ways To Make More Space Within Your Home

Regardless of your home’s size, it’s possible to feel like you’re claustrophobic if your home becomes too cluttered. Luckily, with clever uses of lighting, furniture manipulation, and storage, there are many ways to make more space within your home. Let us show you a few of the best methods you can take advantage of.

Use Mirrors and Lighting

Without adequate lighting, much of your house can become obscured in shadows, especially in the corners. Consequently, even the emptiest of rooms feel smaller because you can’t physically see all of them. By allowing more natural lighting into your home, you can fill out the dark corners and make it feel larger. To help facilitate this light, you should use warm and bright wall colors and mirrors. Doing this helps reflect the light around the room. Furthermore, mirrors create the illusion of space even if they’re simply reflecting the room at you.

Balance Your Furniture

Another way to make more space within your home is to rearrange your furniture into a more pleasing balance. Before you worry, we’re not referring to the practice of feng shui, but rather the simple fact that rooms look more spacious when furnished well. The key is to devise a layout that makes it easy to move through the space. At the same time, it should keep the entirety of the room captivating.

Create New Storage

Maybe you feel like you have too much stuff. Or perhaps you need a storage place for tools and equipment that are important but unnecessary in everyday life. Tool sheds are old solutions to such problems. But these days, prefabricated sheds allow for quick and easy construction. They also look nice. In fact, building a prefabricated shed adds value to your property in addition to being an elegant solution for your storage needs. Other slick ways to add storage include creating a closet under staircases or having the living room ottoman double as a storage place. These storage spaces won’t be intrusive to your home and property.

Must-Know Downsizing Tips for Your Move to a Smaller Home

If you are looking for downsizing tips for your move to a smaller home, you've come to the right place. Whether you're moving to a condo, apartment, townhouse, or a family home with less square footage, we fully understand how stressful and challenging this process might be. Therefore, we've gathered helpful information to help you prepare and go through this significant transition more easily.

Downsizing tips for your move to a smaller home

Moving to a smaller living space is a major transition that will impact your lifestyle and probably cause a rollercoaster of emotions. To help you deal with it in the easiest way possible, we've prepared useful tips and advice. 

Start preparing early 

A last-minute move is never a good idea. So, as soon as you know that you will be moving to a new home, start preparing both mentally and physically.

Mentally prepare for downsizing to a smaller home

As moving to a smaller home can be a huge change and a stressful experience, it's essential to mentally prepare for what's coming:

• Know why you're downsizing - Whenever you feel overwhelmed and emotional about the change that's awaiting you, remember the reason why you're doing it. Whether you are retired, want to save money, or lower your environmental footprint, let it be your primary motivation to handle the emotional side of the process.

• Focus on the positive sides - Whenever you feel unsure about your decision, a good way to increase your level of excitement is to remember the benefits of downsizing. You wouldn't decide to downsize if it wasn't for your best interests, right? Moving to a smaller place will give you an opportunity to save money, create a healthier home, help the environment or spend less time on maintenance.

Set your budget

There is no question about it - you will indeed be saving money when moving to a smaller home. However, you still need to keep in mind that downsizing comes with expenses, both obvious and hidden ones. 

First of all, think about the potential expenses related to your new home. For example, there could be repairs you need to handle, or property taxes might be higher. Additionally, as you'll be downsizing your living space, you might need to rent storage to keep your excess things. 

You also have to factor in the costs of your relocation. The relocation team from movage-moving.com advised that setting the proper budget for moving can save you a lot of headaches during the process.

Consider the available space

Before packing anything from your old home, consider the available space in your new one. This way, you'll know exactly how much you can pack without the risk of moving into your new home and not having enough space for everything you brought. The key to successful downsizing is always having in mind the square footage you have available.

Declutter

As you'll be moving to a smaller living space, you won't have enough room for all of your things. So to prepare for the move in the best way, you should go through your belongings and declutter.

There are many decluttering methods you can use to make the process quicker and easier. In our opinion, the simplest option is to sort your things into four piles:

• Keep only things you truly need and have space for in your new home.

• Donate or sell anything that's still in good condition but that you don't want to use anymore or can't fit in your new living space.

• Toss or recycle everything that's unusable, broken, or stained. 

• Store the things you want to keep but have no room for in your new home (for example, camping equipment or luggage). 

The most challenging part is probably decluttering your furniture. If something definitely can't fit in your new home, make sure to sell or toss it, depending on its condition. Some pieces of your furniture can be repurposed, so make sure to thoroughly think of ways to use them before putting them for sale.

Many people find it very difficult to declutter their kitchen appliances, especially if they were very expensive. However, if they're collecting dust and not being used regularly, they will only take up room in your new, smaller home. Selling them or donating is probably a better idea.

Maximize the space in your new home

When moving to a smaller home, you want to maximize every square foot of space. Here are some of the options you can consider:

• Wall-mounted storage or floating shelves are a great choice because they don't use any floor space. 

• Think vertically and use the space above the doors for additional storage. You can also order custom closets or shelves that go from floor to ceiling.

• Boost kitchen storage by using simple tricks. For example, you can add hooks to the bottoms of your cabinets to hold mugs. Also, don't forget to use the space above your fridge or the tops of your cabinets. 

• Buying multifunctional furniture can help you save space. For instance, you can buy a Murphy bed or invest in an ottoman with storage space below the seating.

• Think about installing sliding doors as they don't require as much floor space as traditional doors. 

There are also plenty of tricks to make any small space seem bigger. For instance, if you paint the walls in a light color, you will not only make your rooms seem wider, but you'll also liven up your new home. Or you can strategically place mirrors as they can make any room look larger and more open.

Final thoughts

We hope you found our downsizing tips for your move to a smaller home helpful and that we could make this transition easier and simpler for you. Best of luck with your move!