Hey, guys! Your friendly neighborhood cleaning lady is here once again!
So normally I talk to you about cleaning and why you *need* Bella Cleaning in your life, but today, I thought we’d go a difference route. Let’s talk about organization for a second, shall we?
As a cleaning lady myself, I can personally attest to the difficulty of cleaning a cluttered home. You know how people always say, “I have to clean the house because the cleaning crew is coming tomorrow”? That’s because a clutter-free home allows us to really get every little nook and cranny when we’re cleaning.
There’s a lot of little things you can do to begin living a clutter-free lifestyle, but, in my opinion, throwing stuff in drawers and closets only puts a temporary band-aid over the problem. My biggest recommendation to successfully de-clutter your home (thus de-cluttering your mind and your life) is to take it slow. Focus on one area at a time. Work from one room to the next.
I put together a little list with some of my best tips for you guys. Start enjoying a clutter-free, organized lifestyle today!
- Shelves are your best friend. If you have too much *stuff* and don’t really like throwing things out, consider hanging up some shelves. You can display collectibles or even use the shelves for storage. Place the items you want to store in baskets and put the baskets on the shelves. I swear by the shelves in my kitchen, which display my glassware because I have absolutely no cabinet space, as well as the shelves in my bathroom above my toilet, because I also have no cabinet space in there.
Above-the-toilet shelves are perfect for bathroom storage - Organize every single drawer. This includes your junk drawer, people! It actually helps to buy drawer dividers (or small baskets, which you can find at your local Dollar Tree, and categorize all of your belongings. Your receipts should not be buried around in a drawer with lose change, kitchen utensils, and other random odds and ends.
- Bins, totes and boxes, oh my! I will be the first to admit that I hate throwing stuff out. However, if you reeeaaaaally can’t bring yourself to discard things that you never use, invest in some bins and totes (you can find these at Walmart) and store your old stuff in them. Stack them up and tuck them away in your garage, shed or storage room, and if you don’t have any of those, simply stack them in a corner where they’ll be out of the way. You can also buy shelving units for easier access to said totes.
- If you haven’t used it in six months, throw it away. This is a simple tip and it kind of speaks for itself. Here’s a list of things to toss, in case you’re not sure where to begin:
60 Things to Toss Out in the Next 60 Days - Invest in magazine racks and folders for your paperwork. I personally feel like paper is the biggest offender when it comes to a cluttered home. Mail always seem to pile up on coffee tables, kitchen counters and end tables, and it really creates a aesthetically unsatisfying look. Invest in binders for your financial records and store them away in bookshelves. Consider purchasing a wall-mounted basket for your mail that cannot be tended to immediately. Buy a magazine rack to store your favorite mags (and throw the old ones away).
I could go on and on about the art of de-cluttering, but I’ll leave it at this. Be sure to check out our Pinterest page for more ideas on organizing and de-cluttering your home!
I look forward to chatting it up with you guys next time!
-Holly