When your home seems a bit messy, trying to tackle a mountain of stuff can be quite overwhelming. Books and school supplies are everywhere, junk mail is piling up on your kitchen counter and dirty clothes are spilling out of your hamper. At some point or another, this has likely been your home (If not, kudos.) Fortunately, there are simple ways to stop clutter in its tracks. ‘Tis the season to get the boxes and trash bags ready and plan a trip to a local charity to drop off donated items.
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Start with the kitchen: When attempting to declutter the house, the biggest battle can often be where exactly to start, enter the kitchen (pun intended). The kitchen is often one of the most difficult areas to truly declutter, as no room has a higher volume of items moving in and out. One way to better organize is to hang your pots and pans either up off the ceiling, or just off the wall using s-hooks and a pegboard. Everyone knows the struggle of digging through your cabinet to find the pot or pan you are looking for, so putting them out in the open can ease your cooking experience. Another quick fix is to buy a spice organizer, which will open up drawer/cabinet space, and again, make it easier to find what you are looking for.
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Onto the bathroom: You can picture it - you woke up late and now you’re scrambling to get ready. You are not concerned about properly placing everything back after using it, you’re worried about getting to work, so all your items end up strewn around the sink. Your “powder room” looks more like the tornado room. Really the first thing to do to declutter the bathroom is to just throw away the products you know you don’t use, and we all have them, so don’t be ashamed. Write down a list of all the products you have in your bathroom, and if you go a few weeks without checking it off as used, just toss it. To bring a bit of style to your bathroom while opening up closet space, consider putting your extra towels in large wicker baskets, if space allows.
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In the bedroom: Bedrooms can get chaotic pretty quickly, if you miss a day of organizing, all of a sudden there are clothes on the ground, an unmade bed and - wait is that the sock that’s been missing for months?? The easiest trick to decluttering your bedroom is to get great storage for under your bed. Is this just hiding the problem? Maybe a little bit, but with the proper planning, it can be a useful technique to keep everything accessible (usually seasonally) while remaining hidden. Vacuum bags can condense your items down to maximize your space.
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Office space: With so many people working from home now, taking care of your office space is more and more important. Having an organized desk has been shown to increase productivity, so when your boss compliments your work, you can give yourself a pat on the back for taking these tips to heart. Organizing your cords and wires can give a much tidier feel to your office, and a simple cable box can do the trick by compacting your cords into one area. If you have shelving in your office, try to follow the rule of threes and limit non-book items to three on a shelf. Adding more can quickly cause the space to look full and unorganized.
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Living room: In the room that many people tend to kick off their shoes and relax it, it’s easy to get lax in your organization too. If you can avoid falling into that trap, your space will look much cleaner, especially in a Shea Homes’ open concept floorplan. Keep your coffee table clear of the clutter it tends to accumulate and aim to keep it 75% cleared off. Steer clear of having an excessive amount of throw pillows, and if you’re wondering how many is too many, feel free to reference this experiment.
After all the decluttering is done, sit back, relax and enjoy your holidays!