Here are the interesting links I came across on my travels around the web this week! Enjoy and have a great weekend!
I imagine, if you’ve been following along with the Get Organized challenge this month, you’ve cleaned out a drawer or two. But just in case, today’s task is to Clean out a Drawer!
It’s time to go through your junk drawer, or your bathroom drawers, or any drawer that’s been bugging you.
Here’s a bit of a how-to to help you clean out a drawer:
What will you be getting rid of today?
Although power cords are necessary, they sure can be messy looking!
Take a look around your home to see if you can find any ugly cord messes. If you do find some, get them under control with these suggestions:
Have you any other cord management ideas to share?
Getting and keeping the house organized is a challenge for most families. Two areas that tend to fall victim to the accumulation of stuff after only a week (or day!) of living life, are the front entryway and the stair landing. To help keep these areas organized, you’ll need to develop some good habits and have suitable storage solutions.
Here are some entryway and stair landing organizing tips that are sure to help keep you more organized.
There is one habit to apply when you’re battling to keep your entryway neat and tidy; put things away immediately upon arriving home. We tend not to return to hang up a coat or put away shoes once we’ve settled into being home. By forcing yourself, and creating a habit at the same time, by putting your things away immediately will restore order to the entryway. Just make sure each item has a proper place!
Coats, shoes, backpacks, and purses tend to collect in piles in the front entryway. If there is a closet, use it! If there isn’t a closet, or the closet is too small, then a coat rack or a set of hooks is the next best thing. Hang a set of hooks on the wall or purchase a free standing coat rack, if the budget will allow. Backpacks and purses should go in the closet as well, or straight to the owner’s bedroom.
Shoes, boots, hats, scarves, and the like need to go in the closet right away, unless they’re wet. Then they can be set aside to dry. Another tool for footwear is a covered bench, baskets, or storage cubes. Storage cubes are handy because each family member can be assigned his or her own. Pick up some of those storage cubes that have cushioned seats; they can double as a bench!
Habits and tools can also help keep the stair landing clear. Most people will go up and down the stairs more than once during the day, so picking up and bringing one item each trip is a great habit to get into. That was a rule my Mom liked to enforce. If we were headed upstairs and there was something that belonged to us waiting on the stairs, we had to bring it up.
Since the stair landing is a common catch-all for toys and other items, a large basket can be used. You can then assign one family member to take on the chore of bringing the basket upstairs each day. Everyone just needs to return his or her things to the proper place at the end of the day.
It takes a few tools and habits to keep the entryway and stair landing clutter-free, but it can be done!
What are your tips for keeping the entryway and stairs tidy?
Right about now, we’re probably high in the sky somewhere on our way to Mexico! We’ve been planning this trip for quite some time so it’s hard to believe we’re actually on our way! We’ll be spending a glorious few weeks with my Father in law, Sister in law, Brother in law and our two nieces in a condo that we rented!
Since this website is currently a one-man show (That’s me, Taya!), I’ve decided for my sanity, and for the sake of spending some proper quality time with my family, I’ll be taking at least one week off from regular posting. No coupons, no freebies, and no sales. If you’re having a panic attack, so am I! I’ve never taken an entire week off in my nearly 5 years of doing this! Not even when I had our baby girl.
Rest assured, I do have some pretty good content scheduled. 🙂 You’ll see some recipes, money saving articles and organizing posts since we’re still in the midst of the Get Organized in January challenge! I hope you enjoy the stuff I have planned. Be sure to follow me on Instagram where I plan to show a few peeks into our holiday! (I am simplyfrugal)
But for now, here are the interesting links I came across on my travels around the web this week! Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Decluttering and organizing are fantastic things to do on a fairly regular basis. Not only does decluttering help you save money, it helps create a comfortable living space. I like to devote January to purging and organizing; there’s just something about the new year that makes me want to simplify! A fresh start at home, if you will. I love the satisfaction I get from seeing boxes fill up with stuff we don’t need or want any more.
Though, I’ve found there can be a few downfalls to all the excitement I’m feeling at the prospect of a home with less clutter. Here are three things that I’ve learned not to do when organizing:
I’ve done this many times in the past. I have grandiose ideas of having every little thing contained in it’s own little spot. So I would head to the store and pick up a few storage containers without having a specific purpose in mind. Not only is this not a frugal thing to do, I’m often left with empty containers that I have to store somewhere because they didn’t suit my needs! (I also can’t return them for fear of needing them at a later date…)
To solve this issue, I started cleaning and purging first, then assessing what containers I really needed. I started to buy only a few bins at a time to see how they “worked” in everyday life. I could always add more later if I saw fit.
You don’t want a bunch of empty containers cluttering up your home while you figure out where you might use them!
This is a tough one, I think! You spend so much time organizing and purging unnecessary items into boxes that you’re too tired/lazy to take the boxes to the thrift store.
It doesn’t actually matter where you’re taking an item; recycling, trash, to a friend, or even the basement. What really matters is that you take it there as soon as possible once you have decided where it’s going to go. Finish the process.
I’m quite guilty of this. I’ve let multiple boxes, that I’m intending to take to the thrift store, pile up in a corner. Sometimes it can feel like so much work to get the boxes delivered when I have a toddler tagging along!
Your home will never look like the cover of a magazine, unless you don’t live there! I think very few people have drawers and closets that are perfectly in order. Order in my mind, means knowing where important things are, even if they’re at the bottom of a pile!
Really, sometimes good enough, is good enough. After all, the goal should be to set up a space that works well for your needs. I find that I have to regularly change things around because our needs are constantly changing. Or I find something doesn’t work as well as I initially thought it would.
Have you been found guilty for any of these? What are your Organizing tips?
