By Shelby Robinson
When it’s cold out, and you are stuck inside, a cluttered home is that last thing anyone wants to deal with. Here are some easy tips for corralling the daily chaos of your home ahead of spring cleaning.
Playroom/Basement
Any room predominantly occupied by kids can quickly turn into a disaster. Transparent containers or large labels are great because they can often be found around the house and they help kids find what they’re looking for without pulling out the contents of every container. *Try glass/clear plastic kitchen containers or mason jars for small things.
Kitchen
Get all of your to-do lists, receipts, notes, grocery lists, and kids’ schedules, all in one place. The kitchen is often one of the easiest places to organize because it’s the one room in the house that comes with a cabinet for everything. Without too much effort you can find a place for everything except all of the important papers in your life. Try a kitchen organizer with an erasable calendar and clips for every kind of list or receipt.
Garage
Every garage can be simplified and organized with the proper distribution of hooks and shelves in your garage. When thinking of whether to make or purchase new shelving and trying to decide which things should really go on a shelf, take a close look at your garage.
If you have the wood and tools to make a new shelving unit, go for it. But if you don’t have those things, you can purchase a safe, sturdy shelving unit for around $40-$70, depending on what you need.
Consider putting the things you always trip over on a shelf. It may sound obtuse but getting things like recycling bins, roller skates and lawn equipment off the floor of your garage is a great place to start getting organized.
Entryway
A towel rack at kid’s eye level and some “S” hooks can change the “dump zone” into a meticulously organized entryway that even kids can keep clean. A few simple changes to your entryway can make it both more inviting and easier to keep clean.
By limiting furniture you can limit places that coats, backpacks, or purses could get dropped. Choosing bright colors of paint, accessories or furniture make your entryway more inviting and make it look less like a dark closet to dump stuff.
Finally, make sure you have a hook or cubby for each piece of clothing that should come off at the entryway, like coats, hats, and shoes. If they have a spot, they’ll most likely stay in that spot instead of landing anywhere between the door and the kitchen.
Office
Finding a way to untangle your chords can make the whole room look more orderly. Try something as simple as using wide paperclips to hold the ends of your chords to your desk. Also considering purchasing or making a file organizer to hang on your wall or stand on your desk. Whether you work from home or use your office to organize your personal records and bills, every home office can use a good file organizer.
