Tag Archive: de clutter tips

Declutter Your Kitchen Drawers

Now is the time to declutter the kitchen drawers. Lets start with the junk drawer. Each of us has at least one “junk drawer.” This is the miscellaneous drawer that isn’t big enough to hold a utensil tray or wide enough to contain all our miscellaneous cooking tools like wooden spoons, spatulas and various measuring cups.

Most of us convert it into a dumping ground out of necessity. It becomes an “I-just-don’t-know-where-to-store-it” stuff drawer. Matchbooks often get thrown in here, along with lone screwdrivers, thumb tacks, elastics, and pens that usually make their way into this drawer. It seems convenient, especially when you think that you do not have time to put the item back where it belongs.

The first thing that you need to do is to decide what you really need and what you do not. And only you can be the judge of that. But keep in mind, if you are throwing stuff in this drawer just because you are too lazy to put it back where it belongs, then that is just making more work for yourself later.

It is best if when you are finished with an item, that you put it right back where it belongs. If you do not have a particular place for an item, then figure out where the item is most commonly used and store it there. For example, if you are storing that screwdriver in the drawer because you find yourself using it often in the kitchen, then it is ok to store it in a kitchen drawer, But if you are just keeping it there because you don’t want to take the extra steps to put it in the tool box in the garage, then do NOT store the tool in this drawer. Put in the tool box where it belongs.

As you go through the drawer, have a trash bag and empty box handy. If you have any old rusted thumb tacks, worn out elastics, pens that no longer write or any other items that are no good then throw them away. Use the box to hold the items that need a new home. Now take that box and go room to room putting the items back where they should be. For instance, any office supplies should be put away in your office, tools in the garage or basement, etc.

Once the drawer if cleaned out, you’ll probably discover that you really do not have may items left in the drawer, But before you put any additional items in this drawer, you should ask if there is a better “home” for that particular item.

Proceed to go through all your drawers. If your house is anything like mine, you probably have one more monster drawer to conquer. And that is the one that is full of wooden spoons, spatulas and miscellaneous kitchen tools that do not fit in the silverware tray or in that container on your counter that holds most of that kind of stuff.

Ask yourself how many spatulas do you really needs. Do you need multiple sets of measuring spoons and cups, How many manual can openers and veggie peelers do you you really need? Do you really need to own three potato mashers? Unless you are cooking for an army of men, I doubt that you will need that many.

I’m sure you’re beginning to get the idea. Now on the other hand, if you find you need different sizes of spatulas, then by all means keep one of each size. But otherwise, it is a good time to get rid of them.

Take each of those items that you decide not to keep and considering donating any items. that are in good condition, to a thrift shop or rummage sale.
 

 

Easy Ways to Organize Office Desktops

Decluttering your office and desktop may be the best thing that you could ever do for your career and yourself. Having an organized work space will allow you to avoid the chore of sorting through the clutter to locate any necessary information that you may need. It is also a great way to impress clients. People usually feel more comfortable working with someone who is organized.

Pay special attention to the layout of the office and be sure that you have a clear walking area between and around the furniture. Make sure that the desk is the appropriate size for the room. If your desk is too big, it will make the room seem crowded. Search for the right office desk for you.

Since you will likely need to house not only a computer, but a printer and a fax machine too, you will need to have enough space to accommodate all of these items. You will be able to increase your work space and better organize your office, if you place your office essentials in their own separate area.

For instance, your printer should be set up on a printer stand and should not be placed on the desk. This will give you more desktop space and you can then place the stand next to the desk for easy access, Plus, this will give you some extra room to store printer paper and accessories.

Also, positioning your desk so that it is easily accessible to the other office equipment is extremely beneficial. If you find that you do not have enough room for all of you files or books, then you may consider buying a book shelf.

It is easy for a desk to become disorganized and cluttered. Begin your desk declutter by determining which items need to remain on the desktop. Organizing paperwork is one key to creating a clutter free desktop. Start out by labeling all the files and folders that may be on your desk.

You may want to get a step file holder for your desk that will allow you to quickly see what may need your immediate attention. You might also consider using stacking trays, they are great for sorting “inbox” and “outbox” items. They also conserve space and are an additional way to keep your desktop tidy. For more tips on decluttering your paperwork click here.

Next, focus your attention on the drawers of your desk. There is a variety of plastic trays and caddies available in you local office supply stores that will assist you in organizing your desk drawer items. Some of them are actually made specifically to fit into a desk drawer. You can utilize them to organize your loose pens, paper clips, staples, etc.

Another thing you should do is to check the floor of your office, make sure that you have not begun to dump items there that you don’t have any room for.

When you are finished decluttering the office, it is quite easy to keep it that way. The best thing to do is to take about ten minutes, at the end of every day, to put everything back where it belongs. This one simple strategy will prevent things from getting out-of-hand once again.
 

Great Tips To Organize Your Paperwork

Discover how easy it is to declutter your paperwork and other paper items. First of all, you need to get a filing cabinet. At the very least, get a filing box. Or maybe even several boxes. You can buy them online or at just about any office supply or discount store.

If you have a home office, it’s very important at some point that you purchase a filing cabinet, Even with the age of digital forms and cybersaving sites you still need to have a filing cabinet. I doesn’t matter what anyone says, the “hard copy” of many documents, warranties and contracts will never totally disappear from the face of this earth. Also, keep in mind that every major appliance you buy includes with some type of operating manual. From that hot water heater to your refrigerator to your car, there are papers that need to be kept from each of these. It’s best to have them all stored together, rather than spread out all over the floor and cluttering up the drawer space in your home.

Instead of thinking about all the clutter that you currently have, begin visualizing your home as clutter free. Seriously, visualize it as clutter free. You’ll realize that as you go through your day that you’ll not only notice the clutter more, but you’ll slowly start to do something about it! It sounds weird, but after a while you have a mental picture of your home as (it should be) clean and organized. And the next thing you know, you’re taking steps (maybe just baby steps) towards your vision.

A lot of the clutter builds up in our homes simply because we refuse to deal with it “in the moment.” This concept is best demonstrated by the daily mail delivery. Every day your mail person drops mail off in your mail box. What exactly do you do with that mail? If you’re like the majority of people, you browse through it and then put it aside. Maybe you planned to deal with it after dinner or after the kids are in bed. However, you forget all about the mail and instead you end up reading a book or watching television.

Then you discover that a particular sales flyer for your local grocery store, that you set aside, is actually two weeks old and the sale is over. It either ended up being buried under a huge stack of junk mail or it fell under the couch. Yes, that is the nature of clutter. Instead of setting everything aside for later, you should have dealt with it in a more efficient way. You could have spent a few minutes separating the bills and placing them on your desk in a specific container, where you would then have them ready for the next time you need to pay them. Next, take the junk mail and start to prioritize that. Mail that you do not want should be thrown out immediately.

Sales ads that you may want to look over later, such as supermarket weekly sales ads, set aside in a basket where you can look at them later. Place this basket close to where you sit in the evening, that way you will remember them and at least glance through them. Now, at least you know where it is when you decide to write out this week’s shopping list.
 

 

How To Declutter The Garage

Learn how to declutter your garage on a regular basis. Why do people leave their vehicles parked in the driveway, exposing them to the elements 24/7 ? It is usually because their garages are filled with a bunch of junk they cannot bear to part with.

Of course, the junk that has piled up in their garage, probably is not worth anywhere close to the value of their vehicle. So where is the common sense there? Now is the time to declutter the garage and make room to park your vehicle there, where it belongs.

OK, so lets start the process now. First of all, ask yourself how long each item has been sitting in the garage. If it has been in your garage for two or three years without being used, then toss it. You should try to either donate it to a charity, sell it at a yard sale or throw it away (if it is in poor condition).

One of the worst things, that many people keep, is cans of partially used paint. Well, get rid of all of those old cans of paint. The next most common item that get stored in the garage is sporting goods. It any sporting item is broken and cannot be easily repair, then get rid of it now.

Other things, to contend with, may be auto accessory items. If you got rid of the vehicle that the accessories were purchased for, then it is time to toss them. If the item is damaged then, of course, dispose of it properly. The next thing is ladders, which can sometimes be more dangerous than helpful. Make sure your ladders are safe and in good condition.

Next, go through and inspect your tools. Get rid of any tools that you never use. Any tools that are damaged and cannot be fixed, should be thrown it away. Although, the tools that are used all the time, should be stored in a tool chest or on a pegboard with hooks. You could also label the pegboard to indicate exactly where each item belongs, that way you can quickly put them away.

The end result will be to get these items up off the floor and put away in the appropriate place. This will give you the room, that you need, to park your vehicle inside the garage(away from severe weather conditions).
 

 

Five Quick Bedroom Declutter Tips

Today is “declutter day” for the bedroom. Pick a bedroom, any bedroom. It can be one of your childrens or if you’re brave enough it can be yours. Every bedroom seems to be a natural magnet for clutter.

If you wonder why, just think about it. It is out of the way of guest traffic and easy enough to close the door instead of declutter or clean. A hallway with the doors to the bedrooms closed looks quite nice.

That being said, you just may be in need of the “turbocharged” decluttering system. Here is a quick way to make any bedroom look a little bit right from the very start.

Step 1: Empty the waste basket.

Yes, it’s that simple. Of course, even you can see that it is already overflowing with trash.

Step 2: Straighten up those piles of books and magazines.
If you don’t have time to put them away properly, then just pile them up neatly and place them along the wall. This will instantly make the room appear much neater. Especially if they were scattered all over the floor and the bed.

Step 3: Get a basket and use it for temporary storage.
This is especially helpful for a girls bedroom. Take all that stuff from makeup to earrings and necklaces and place it in a basket. Now you can actually see the dresser top (and you won’t step on any earrings lying around the floor). You actually haven’t solved the problem yet, but you’ve certainly tamed it some – and sometimes that’s all we can hope for.

Step 4: Make the bed.
A bed that is actually made helps a room look more organized and well, civilized. Even if you replace some of those books that your children are using back on the bed (perhaps you can arrange them a little nicer),it will still appear to be more organized.

Step 5: Run The Vacuum Cleaner
Performing this one single task can make the room look vastly more decluttered and clean. It is truly amazing. Of course, this isn’t so easy to do if there are a 100 items laying around the floor!

If unexpected company calls and you can do nothing else with a bedroom, run the vacuum quickly through the room (and by all the means, the rest of your house). Then stand back a moment before that doorbell rings and check out what a difference that one small thing made.
 

Organizational Tips For Your Living Room

I am going to offer you some suggestions for the organization and declutter of the living room. For most of the people that I know, the living room is usually where everybody gets together to watch TV, play video games and hang out time together. Therefore, this room usually end up being cluttered.

Resolving this issue is not as difficult as you may think. It just takes a little bit of work and planning. Before you know it, your living room will neat and organized.

The first thing that you need to do is to determine what you would like the primary use of the room to be. Narrow your focus of what you really would like the end result of your living room to be. If you don’t have that end goal in mind when you start, you’re not going to be going anywhere.

Now that you have a good idea, in your mind, of what items you want in your living room; The next thing to do is to remove absolutely everything that doesn’t belong and find a place for it in another room. But don’t just toss it in there, either – we’re not looking to create more clutter – find an appropriate place for it.

Get rid of any items that you no longer use. Gather them together and give them away. The ultimate goal of decluttering a room is to get rid of the clutter, after all – and there’s nothing wrong with giving something to a friend, or donating it to your local Goodwill. Somebody else may be able to use it.

Many people try to fit as much furniture as possible into their living rooms. I have no idea why, or how this started, but having oversized furniture or just too much furniture in a room (that it doesn’t fit) just makes the whole room seem more cluttered.

If you have any furniture pieces that you are not using, then consider selling them on a websites like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. Even if you don’t end up sell everything, by getting rid of furniture pieces that are just taking up space and are not used, can make your living room seem more open and comfortable. And an extra added bonus, of course, is some extra cash in your pocket.