Seven awesome tips to clear away the holiday clutter

Posted in Blog on 01/07/2012 03:06 pm by Sarah

Perhaps you have already put away all of your holiday stuff. Perhaps all of the Christmas presents have been accommodated into your house and all the decorations are up in the attic and you already vacuumed all the confetti up from your New Year’s Party, and the turkey has long since been eaten.

If so, congratulations! You are really cool!

On the other hand, perhaps your Christmas decorations are still halfway up, and starting to look a little dusty. Perhaps you still have leftovers from Thanksgiving in your fridge. Perhaps you have no idea where all your kids’ new toys are going to go because they have so many already. If that is you, then read on.

Step 1:

Give away some of your stuff. If you got a lot of new books, find some books to give away. If you got new games, give away some old ones. We got about 5 new games this Christmas. I just went through my game closet and found ten we had outgrown.

 

The games we really want to keep!

Step 2:

Give away some of your decorations. When you re-pack your decor, check the bottom of those boxes for the crumpled star, the broken lights, and the ugly ornaments. Toss ‘em. Trust me, you can do it. If you started the holidays with five boxes of decor, end the holidays with five boxes. Don’t buy new storage for your ornaments unless you really are just starting out in life and don’t have enough. If you are like me, though, you have enough. Set a limit (3 or 4 or 5 or 20) and stick to it. Your husband (or other attic-ladder-climber) will thank you.

Clean out your boxes and only put back the things you really like.

Step 3:

Start each day with filling one grocery bag of trash. This will get you moving and get you to see what is bugging you the most so you know what to tackle next.

Even a small bag of trash is better than none!

Step 4:

Clear out that fridge! If you have any leftovers that are from before New Year’s, now’s the time to toss them. Unless it’s chocolate. Then send it to me.

Yes, clean out the fridge.

Step 5:

Slowly catch up. Don’t spend 15 hours cleaning at a time. Do one more extra box, or one more extra area, than you would normally do in a day. I promise you (probably) don’t have an inspector coming by on January 15 who will kick you out of your house if there’s still a Christmas tree in the corner. Take your time, do it slowly. Especially if you have babies or toddlers running around. They need you more than the clutter needs you.

This kid is a good reason for me to take a break!

Step 6:

As you pack, try to make notes of what you wish you could do differently next year. If you have cards that you bought on clearance, rather than packing them in the attic with Christmas stuff, put them with your Thanksgiving stuff, so you actually have time to write them. Make a note on your calendar for next year about when you want to start working on projects and cards and gifts.

Make a list. Write your goals for next year.

Step 7:

As you clear an area of the holiday decor, check for other things that you don’t love anymore, you don’t use anymore, or you wish your kids wouldn’t play with. I know you have some toys lying around that make you trip and yell every time you see them. Pack them in your Salvation Army box and take them to the thrift store ASAP! And if it’s broken, just throw it away. I promise the people who shop at Salvation Army don’t want puzzles with 3 pieces missing or ratty jeans any more than you do.

Get your old stuff out of the house!

 

Mimi’s Closet

Posted in Blog on 04/04/2011 06:35 am by Sarah

The saddest part about losing weight is that you have to go buy new clothes. The best part about losing weight is that you’re skinnier! And for most of us, that’s a good thing! Our client Mimi is in the process of losing weight. She therefore knew she had some clothes she could give away, so before I got to her house she sorted and got rid of everything she didn’t want. This left ample space for us to organize and arrange the things she did want to keep. We brainstormed a way to store her shoes, a way to make the closet more accessible, and a way to store the clothes that weren’t hanging clothes. It was a lot of fun and in just two hours we changed the look of the closet completely.

Before: There are shelves hiding that can't be accessed very well...

After: Lo and behold! The shelves have breathing room and are easy to get into!

We are excited for Mimi to reach her weight loss goal and fill up her super-organized closet with some beautiful new things!

Time elapsed: two hours

 

Candace’s Closet

Posted in Blog on 10/12/2010 01:01 pm by Sarah

The client:

Candace has moved into a new house and she is busily trying to make everything fit. She has a great sense of style and order already. She was getting overwhelmed with the last few boxes that she needed to fit into the closet.

The problem:

Candace got a great start on her closet and then stalled. She had too many boxes left to fit in nicely, and ended up with a pile of stuff on the floor. We all know how frustrating it can be to have stuff all over your floor! It steals your joy and is visually overwhelming. Candace was willing to use items she already had as containers.

Before- stacks on the floor

After- floor is clear

Before- shelves are used inefficiently

After- All space is used wisely

The solution:

We took a good look at all the shelves in her closet and figured out how to fit everything in nicely. We found containers in other parts of the house and made labels for her boxes. Sometimes something as simple as having matching labels on everything makes all the difference. We were able to clear the floor pile and arrange all the things in her closet to Candace’s content. This project took about 2 hours of organizer time plus a few hours of Candace working on her own.

 

Valerie’s Closet and Bedroom

Posted in Blog on 10/08/2010 12:28 pm by Sarah

The Client:

Valerie is a very sweet teenaged girl who is trying to make her room more functional for an adult. She has many wonderful mementoes from her childhood and she’s in the process of figuring out what she wants to keep forever and what she’s ready to let go of. She’s also in a new space that is smaller than her old room.

The Problem:

Valerie’s closet is smaller than her old closet, and she was feeling cramped. Valerie also had a lot of things that she would like to keep for the future but she doesn’t necessarily want to display them right now.  She had two drawers, jewelry, and clothes that were really frustrating her because she didn’t know what to do with them.

Before- sagging shelves and cluttered surfaces

After- clothes have room, clutter is diminished

The Solution:

We spent two hours in her room, sorting through some boxes and rearranging her closet space to be more functional.  We found temporary solutions for her jewelry, with a plan of something better in the future. We also filled a box with things to sell at a garage sale.

This solution turned out to be very helpful for Valerie. Though we only had two hours, we were able to give her some immediate solutions that didn’t cost anything. Sometimes our budget and timeframe don’t line up with what we can afford. In those cases isolating the most frustrating areas is helpful; you get immediate results and you also get plans for the future. In this case just a few small tweaks really helped Valerie’s room to work better for her.

 
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