Are there messy drawers in your house you would not let your guests open, stacks of papers on your desk, or kitchen cabinets that are overflowing? If you do, then it is time for some decluttering. If you walk into a room and your first thoughts are about ignoring a mess and leaving it for later, then the time to tackle this is now. There are usually two places in which people spend most of their time―home and work. Choose an afternoon or a free Saturday and select a space to organize. Be realistic about how many rooms you can face in one day, and remember to stay focused throughout your decluttering process. With a few helpful tips, you can make your spaces fresh and ready for a new start.
Closet
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For some, an excellent place to start is their closet. Take out every single piece of clothing that you own and place it in categorized piles. Make “keep” and “donate” piles. If you do not love it, if it is old, and if it does not fit, you should not let it go back to catching dust at the end of your closet. Donate what you do not need and hang everything you will keep. Find some clothes partitions or drawer cubes too. Drawer cubes keep underwear, socks, other clothes neatly tucked in their designated corner.
Afterward, get as many foldable storage boxes as you can from places like Marshalls or Ikea and store the items from your uppermost shelf in there, preferably by category. They can be colorful and have patterns, but avoid getting transparent boxes. The goal is to hide what you need stored and make the top shelf look tidy. If you already have transparent boxes, then measure the size of your box and get patterned paper. You can cut it to those dimensions. Stick it on the inside of your cube for a better look. Now the items are tucked away at the top, and the closet looks great. You can also label boxes to know what is in them and use a label machine to make it look uniform.
After you have gone through your clothes, do the same with your shoes. Find some small shelves, a shoe rack, or somewhere you can neatly store your footwear. To make the space more appealing, place boots with boots, tennis shoes with tennis shoes, and so on. The shoes you used most often should be the most accessible too.
Office
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Messy offices can have adverse effects on both the owner of the office and any of its visitors. A client may get the wrong impression about the quality of service they will receive, and some workers are likely to be unconsciously affected by the mess around them. Clean and bright rooms can promote creativity and productivity. If an office is filled with papers lying around, the first step is the same as when cleaning any other area. Throw away papers that are no longer useful for you to be successful in your work. If you believe you may need it later on, get a separate file bin for this that you can neatly tuck away somewhere.
After that, organize the papers you will keep. This all depends on your job, as you can separate files by university classes, work clients, years, projects, deadlines, etc. Get file folders and label them properly before putting them into your cabinets or desk drawers. The papers you need visibly on top of a desk can be placed on a file tray. The main tips to remember are choosing to keep or throw something away, grouping items, and giving them a specific location. Remember to detangle cables too. Run the wires out of sight by using cable organizer boxes, hooks, or cord covers.
Kitchen
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Limited kitchen space can be frustrating to deal with if there is no order. A kitchen needs to be cleaned out and organized before making an effort to keep it that way. The first step is always to remove every item from the kitchen. This includes the refrigerator, pantry, cabinets, and drawers. Once you have done so, clean it all. Check for stains, food crumbs, dust, and anything that, sadly, is there. After that, review all of your food. Check for expiration dates and storage containers with food too little for its size. Throw away what you will not keep and make a quick promise to not waste more food. Before putting the food back in the refrigerator, quickly decide where everything will go. It is best to not put in things at random. One drawer can hold vegetables, another can have dairy, one shelf can carry the drinks, and so on.
Do the same process with your pantry. Now that everything is out and clean choose where it will go. Cereals can go on one side, snacks on the other side, canned food goes altogether, etc. You may also place food in transparent containers and label them. Looking up ideas on Pinterest, for example, may inspire you when organizing this area. Next, move on to your cabinets. Those can often be overflowing with unnecessary items. Get rid of chipped plates, stained containers, and water bottles that have not been used in years. If something merits being stored at the back of the cabinets, it is probably not worth keeping! Put what you use most often at the front, and the fancier plates, for example, can go at the top.
Organizing small appliances is another step in the right direction. Put the ones you rarely use in a lower cabinet and keep your favorites on your counters. Hide cables and avoid putting those appliances in the middle of your kitchen. They should not be the first items that guests see. If your drawers need some love, consider buying dividers. Utensil trays can keep your utensils separated and easy to access. The days of rummaging for a spoon are over! Anything you can use to separate and categorize items will make your time in the kitchen less frustrating. When everything has a dedicated space, you can have peace of mind that everything is where it should be.