Starting the new year with the intention of keeping my home clean and organised has been very motivating goal for 2017 so far. A jolly good tidy-up at the start of January really helped, as did finding a home for all the lovely gifts I received over Christmas. However, I’ve found that after just a few weeks of trying to keep up with all the mess, it has become difficult to do and I often ‘forget’ about it. Then I find that even more stuff has piled up on top of the original pile. Uhoh! The trouble is that I haven’t really got round to sorting out any specific strategies or routines for organising my stuff. I can’t fight it any more. I need new storage, and that’s all there is to it. There are a whole range of different products that I could buy, systems that I can put in place and even new routines that will help me to have an organised and tidy home, yet I’ve resisted so far. But not any longer – so today I’m sharing a few ideas on how to can introduce certain things to your home to help clear the clutter!
The Kitchen
I’ve found it’s best to focus on one room at a time, as different rooms will require different processes and organising strategies. That sounds so official, doesn’t it?! The kitchen is a great room to start with, as it can often be the one room that needs the most work when it comes to getting organised. My kitchen is one of the most used rooms within the home; not just for preparing and cooking meals, but dining, socialising and even working too. One of the best ways to start a kitchen de-clutter is to give your fridge and cupboards a deep clean. Throw away any items that are past their use-by date, wipe the surfaces clean and add some kind of sorting system. Having certain cupboards for specific foods or products will make your life much easier (eg, pans in the cupboard nearest the oven), as well as making the kitchen look much neater.
Recycling is another task you can incorporate into your kitchen to keep your home organised. We go through so many plastic, glass and cardboard items every week, and having a recycling system in place will help you filter through these items neatly, whilst keeping the kitchen organised too. There’s nothing worse than a build-up of glass bottle on the side, waiting for that fortnightly trip to the tip!
The Living Room
When it comes to the living room, it’s much easier to keep things neat and tidy as you can introduce useful furniture pieces that can double-up with a couple of purposes. A coffee-table with drawers for example, or using a sideboard as a TV stand etc. In my living room, I love my teak mid-century modern sideboard – I can fit in everything I need. Light oak furniture is really good for making a room look and feel bright, and it ‘goes with everything’ so you can easily introduce additional storage such as baskets, metal boxes and ceramic bowls. If you are working with a smaller room and want to make the most of the space you have, ignore your limited floor-space and look up – adding shelving around the walls will provide the perfect storage space for items such as DVDs and books. In my last home I attached some small book shelves over the doorways to really make the most of every inch of space. And honestly, just keeping the room clean can instantly make the room feel brighter and more organised.
I love using old record boxes for storing candles, games and, of course, LPs!
The Bathroom
With hundreds of toiletries, cosmetics and bubble bath bottles, the bathroom can be a tricky room to keep organised and tidy. Ideally I want to have a showroom-ready bathroom with no toiletries balanced around the edge of the bath and just a single soap on the sink. But in reality I’ve got bits of bath-bomb, half-empty tubs of scrub, squeezed toothpaste tubes and floss all over the place, ick. I’m going to start by throwing away any unnecessary items that are never going to be used, and products that almost empty or simply gathering dust. This will open up space for the items I use regularly (and will prevent me storing on the bathroom window ledge!). Adding shelving or a bathroom cabinet (maybe behind a mirror!?) will help you keep things in the right places and prevent items from cluttering up the bathroom and making it look messy. A laundry basket is also a very good idea, preventing piles of clothing from gathering on the floor.
I de-cluttered my bathroom – check out my blog post here
Children’s Bedroom/Playroom
Of course I’m speculating here but I guess that introducing storage to a child’s bedroom or playroom is both hugely beneficial and educational. By providing your child with items such as pegs, you can teach them to hang certain items such as their school bag and coat onto the peg to keep things tidy. This will encourage them to be more organised and stick to a routine. You can then look at products such as toy boxes that are labelled specificially for certain toys, which will prevent toys from being scattered all over the floor, as well as encouraging your child to keep their toys in order and learn how to sort their toys neatly.
Let me know if you have any other tips for organising your home by leaving me a comment below. I’d love to hear how you keep your own home neat and tidy – maybe some of your solutions will be just the thing I’m looking for! Ping me a tweet if you want to chat @Cassiefairy 🙂
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