Clutter! No one wants it, everyone has it.
Having a clean and de-cluttered house can make everything in your life easier, but where to start? Jennifer O’Connor is a local professional organizer and owner of Disappearing Act. She says one of the first steps is to “purge, purge, purge.”
“We have way too much stuff and if you don’t keep on top of it, it really does consume a lot of your time,” she says.
Many people go by the one-year rule: If you haven’t used it in a year, it’s time for it to go. O’Connor says she takes it a step farther by encouraging the “six-month rule.”
Bonnie Holeman, owner of Storage by Design, designs and installs custom closets, but also works in other areas of the house to create spaces that suit the needs of her clients.
Both Holeman and O’Connor have plenty of tricks up their neat and organized sleeves. Here are just a few of their tips for around the house.
Living room and entry area:
Kids and adults (let’s face it, you are to blame too.) get home from school/work and chances are their shoes go one way, backpacks go another, jackets go somewhere else—and none of them go where they are supposed to.
Try installing a cubby system, says Holeman. Each member of the family gets a drawer, basket and hook (labeled of course) where all of their stuff goes.
“An organized person must have a label maker,” says Holeman.
Also, don’t forget to have a shoe rack to store frequently worn shoes, instead strewing them across the floor. Install a set of hooks for car keys.
“People throw their keys anywhere and if you make it a habit to put your keys on the key-hook than you always know where they are,” says Holeman.
Kitchen:
Kitchens are perpetually disorganized spaces, and often it is the one area where we most need some sort of order, just to find the lost bottle of basil or the quarter-teaspoon.
To keep spices organized and easy to find, Holeman suggests buying multiples of the bottle and labeling same each one. The next step? Installing a step shelf in the cabinet and alphabetizing the bottles so they are easy to find and fit in nicely together.
She suggests putting a knife block in a drawer, so each knife has its place and the sharp edges point down.
If your cleaning supply area is bursting to the brim, O’Connor says to check the bottles to make sure they aren’t expired and whether they’re worth hanging on to. Hint: if there is less than a cup of liquid in the bottle and you haven’t used it for a year, it’s probably time to let it go.
Office:
When rearranging your desk and office (and really your whole house), Holeman says to keep these three words in mind: ergonomics, accessibility and visibility. Decide what are the things you use the most and put them in the most accessible and reachable spot. Leave things that you rarely use in the closet or in drawers.
“Keep the things that you use most frequently within comfortable reach,” says Holeman.
Yes, organizing can be tedious and takes time, but just keep in mind how much easier and better everyday life will be.
“We as people spend so much time looking for stuff,” says O’Connor. “It’s kind of sad really.”
O’Connor says her house did not get organized over night and neither will yours, but keep at it and keep your goals in mind and eventually you’ll get to an orderly and clean home.
