9 Tips to Aid Your New Year’s Resolution for a More Organized Home

New Year’s resolution notebook
The dawn of a new year finds the holiday fanfare fading away and normalcy returning to your life. A new year also means its time to take on the challenge of some New Year’s resolutions.

Losing weight, managing your finances better, and spending more time with the family are some of the more popular New Year’s resolutions people make. So is getting your home organized and keeping it that way.

Retailers are fully aware of consumers’ appetites for getting their homes organized once the new year begins. It’s why flyers filled with sales on plastic storage bins and containers are as predictable in January as the steady barrage of ads we see for gym memberships.

Resolving to get your home organized is a great idea and one that offers a multitude of benefits if you’re successful in following through on your plan:

  • you’ll be less stressed
  • your home will be more functional
  • you’ll save yourself lots of time

Stick to one New Year’s resolution

One reason New Year’s resolutions aren’t kept is because we take on too many of them. Focus on quality, not quantity when it comes to your resolutions.

Stick to a single New Year’s resolution you can focus all your attention on. Doing so will greatly improve your odds of success.

And let’s be honest, getting a messy home in shape is no easy task. But it’s certainly not an impossible task, either. These nine tips will get you started in the right direction to fulfilling your goal of getting your home organized in 2018.

1. Establish a plan and don’t procrastinate

Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. Take that advice to heart. Establish a sensible plan for your home organization project that you can put into action sooner rather than later.

Write down a list of tasks you’ll need to complete your plan with successful results. For example, list what areas of the home you’ll be focussing on, like the laundry room or basement.

Establish a timeline of when to start these tasks and when they should be completed by. Check-in with your list occasionally and hold yourself accountable to what’s on it.

And just as we recommended not taking on more than one New Year’s resolution, don’t overextend yourself with your home organization project. Set a reasonable number of goals and tasks and just focus on one of them at a time.

Completing one task or goal will give you the motivation and momentum to tackle the next one on your list.

2. Delegate

Some New Years’s resolutions (like losing weight, volunteering more, or eating better) leave the onus strictly on you to put in the work required to fulfill the resolution.

Much of the work required to fulfill your home organization New Year’s resolution benefits the whole family, however. And let’s not forget, they’ve probably contributed to some of the disorganizations in your home.

For that reason, be sure to delegate some of the home organizing tasks to anyone in your family old enough to be responsible for cleaning up after themselves. It’ll lighten the load for you and let you focus on other tasks on your list.

3. Start small

Ease yourself into your cleaning project for the new year by starting out with a small task – cleaning out your wallet or purse.

It’s amazing how much clutter they can accumulate in the course of a year. Expired coupons, business cards you’ll never use, old receipts, expired makeup…the list goes on and on.

Empty out all their contents and toss what you don’t need. Find an easy-to-remember place for the items that are worth keeping, but don’t need to be carried around. This is one time when “having a lighter wallet” will actually be a good thing.

New Year’s Resolution purse

Start small with your New Year’s resolution for getting your home organized by cleaning out your purse or wallet.

4. Store your holiday decorations sensibly

Considering the time of year and the traditions you follow, you may have holiday decorations that need to be stored. Your newly-discovered resolve to have a tidier home is the perfect excuse to not just organize, but to organize and store sensibly.

Storing your holiday decorations gives you the perfect opportunity to carry this out. Before storing the holiday decorations you put up, declutter the ones that weren’t used. If they didn’t make the cut this holiday season, why not? Toss any broken items and donate decorations you no longer see yourself using.

You can avoid having to untangle your strings of Christmas lights next year by wrapping them around empty paper towel rolls or the discarded tubes from your wrapping paper. Old liquor and wine boxes with dividers make great storage boxes for your holiday ornaments. Store all your holiday decorations in labeled plastic storage containers.

For storing artificial Christmas trees, buy artificial tree storage bags. They can make moving and storing your disassembled tree easier by breaking it down to two or three bags with handles, as opposed to storing it in its large and heavy original box. To save storage space, you might even consider buying a real Christmas tree next year. Surprisingly, that might actually be a more environmentally friendly option.

As for all the holiday cards you’ve received, there’s no reason to have them displayed any later than the end of January. And there’s also no point keeping them. Honestly, when’s the last time you went through a box of old holiday cards? If you need to remember who sent you one so you can send them one next year, just keep a list of names in a computer text document.

5. Tackle clutter problem areas

It’s logical to tackle clutter problem areas in your home while working towards fulfilling your New Year’s resolution. This means areas that are clutter magnets like:

Junk drawers, as their name clearly spells out, are another area of your home that demands your attention when it comes to organizing. Empty any drawer that qualifies as a junk drawer of all its contents and purge the clutter.

In many of these spots, paper clutter will account for much of the space that’s being needlessly taken up. Recycle what you can and shred any documents with sensitive information.

No doubt, junk mail contributes to a lot of the paper clutter in our homes. You can reduce the amount you get by registering for the Canadian Marketing Association’s Do Not Mail Service. Make sure you’re also using e-billing as wherever possible.

Keep all the manuals in your home in one location to make them easy to find when needed. And you can reduce the number of them by downloading digital versions that are all kept in one folder on your computer. Nowadays, all manufacturers make PDF files of manuals for their products that you can download.

6. Declutter your closets and dresser drawers

Another common clutter area are your home’s closets, especially in the bedroom. Without a good closet organizer, this space can easily become a disorganized mess that makes finding specific clothing items a daily challenge.

Empty the contents of all your closets and you’ll find plenty of things you can remove to free up some valuable space. While your closets are empty, give them a good cleaning.

You can donate, throw out, or give away what you don’t need anymore. This decluttering process also usually reveals a few hidden treasures you can finally start wearing!

Once your closets are sorted out, turn your attention towards your dresser drawers. Dump all of their contents out and get rid of worn-out socks and clothing that is no longer useful to you. To save space in your drawers, you can fold clothing vertically. Drawer dividers also help you keep them organized.

New Year’s resolution white bedroom closet

You’ll find your closets accumulate less clutter when you have a good closet organizer installed.

7. Check expiry dates

Your home organization New Year’s resolution should include going through everything you own that has a best before date and discarding anything that’s expired. Set aside an afternoon to tackle this task on your list.

Start in your bathroom and go through all the toiletries and makeup in your medicine cabinets and vanity drawers. Don’t just use expiration dates as a criteria for decluttering – discard anything that you’ll probably never use.

This includes hotel soaps and shampoos (which you can donate) and sample packages that are just collecting dust. Once this task has been done, start going through your kitchen pantry.

8. Create a home for everything

Your New Year’s resolution to get your home organized involves cleaning and decluttering, but you should also be looking at how you can make it easier to maintain a tidy home.

You’d be surprised at how much less effort it can require to keep your home organized if you have the right storage and organization solutions in place.

By taking care of this, you’ll have created a home for everything in your home, which cuts down significantly on clutter. You’ll also save yourself a lot of time, as finding items in your home will now be a much quicker process.

Using neatly made labels with a handheld label maker also minimizes the chance that items won’t get stored in their proper home.

9. Maintain your organized home

Finally getting your home organized and cleaned up will require a big effort on your part. Once you’ve fulfilled this New Year’s resolution, however, you’ll be filled with pride and a sense of calm that’s well-earned.

Unfortunately, the work isn’t done. Maintaining your newly organized home requires ongoing dedication and diligence to make sure all your hard work isn’t wasted. Be sure to pay extra close attention to the clutter problem areas in your home.

Set up a schedule to take care of decluttering and cleaning tasks on a weekly basis. There are many smartphone apps available that can make this easier to manage.

And just as you delegated cleaning tasks to the rest of your family to get your home in order, ensure you do the same with them when it comes to helping with the weekly chores.

Get help from a pro to accomplish your New Year’s resolution

Getting your home organized as your New Year’s resolution is easier if you lean on the expertise of a professional who knows the best ways to help you accomplish your organizing goals.

At Organized Interiors, we’ve been transforming the closets and homes of our clients for more than 40 years to help them make space for living. We can do the same for you so that you find success with your 2018 New Year’s resolution for a tidier home.

Start your new year off on the right foot by scheduling your complimentary in-home design consultation with us.

See also:

16 Ways To Organize Your Home in 2018

You’ve decided that it is time to tackle some organization and storage problems in your home. But when you look around, all you feel is overwhelmed and it all needs work.

Take a deep breath

Relax. Just pick one room, one space in your home. Now commit to organizing that space.

By focusing on just one project, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment and that may be enough. After all, the worst thing that could happen is you get the energy and initiative to do more organizing in your home!

Which space will you organize this year?

There are dozens of spaces in your home that might have organization or storage problems. We have design solutions for each of them but you have to decide where to start.

Closets

Do you have to slowly open your closet door just in case something is about to fall out on you? Is there a knee-deep pile of clothing on your floor? It’s time to look at some solutions to keeping your closet organized.

From simple to extravagant, discover how reach-in closets can maximize your storage space.

Bedroom Cabinetry

If the last thing you look at before closing your eyes each night is a tabletop of clutter, you might want to think beyond replacing your nightstand. Bedroom cabinetry is custom-designed for your space and offer a stylish solution to a good night’s sleep.

laundry room storage

Laundry Room

Do you dread doing laundry? It may feel like it’s a chore because it’s buried in a dark and dingy spot in your home, or it’s just a dreary process. It doesn’t have to be.

Treat your laundry room like any decorated room that can use a designer’s flare. From simple solutions to high-quality custom solutions, just look at what’s available to transform that space.

Mudroom

The mudroom is another overlooked area of the home that can make a big contribution towards keeping your living space organized.

Whether your mudroom is a small room near an entrance, is combined with your laundry room, or is a dedicated space in the hall of your home’s entryway, there are many ways to enhance its functionality.

Home Office

Paper isn’t going away anytime soon and home offices still need filing space to store your hard copies. Whether it’s a corner carved out under a staircase or a full-sized room in your home, treat yourself to a home office with function and style.

Entertainment Centre

As our home screens become bigger, we seem to be plugging more and more devices into our TVs – AppleTV, Google Chromecast, Sonos PLAYBAR, and more. Maybe you received a Google Home or Amazon Echo.

Keeping all of these devices and cables organized requires more than a sturdy shelf. Choosing a custom solution over a prefab unit has many advantages. Find out why custom entertainment units are better than prefab units from big box retail stores.

Bathroom

The layout works, the fixtures are fine, but your bathroom cabinets are showing their age. Changing moisture levels and wear from dampness can make cabinets look dingy and worn.

If it’s time for an upgrade, replace them with long-lasting, beautiful cabinets. Learn more about our custom bathroom cabinetry.

Wall bed in a condo.

Wall Bed

If your holiday guests looked tired when they woke up, maybe its time to get rid of that lumpy, bulky futon. But where can you put a mattress that’s not used every day without taking up precious space?

You won’t believe how a small condo added a whole guest room without adding square footage!

Kitchen Cabinetry

Your kitchen is the hardest working room in your home. It also demands the most organization to function properly. You can achieve the most efficient space when you are part of planning the solution.

Take a look at some of the latest innovations in our kitchen cabinetry.

Dressing Room

You’ve been eyeing that spare room, contemplating its next incarnation, plotting the takeover, and this is the year. Transform a whole room into a dressing room.

Imagine wall-to-wall cabinetry for clothing and accessories, a makeup area complete with vanity and even a lounging space because dressing can be so exhausting. Prepare to drool.

wine storage

Wine Room

Collecting wine is more popular and we now see the value of devoting more space in our home to fit it into our lifestyle. Wine requires ideal conditions: a space that is dry, dark and away from movement.

A rack wedged under a staircase just won’t do. Here are some wine room for keeping your collection organized.

Wardrobe Closets

Are all your closets bulging with too much stuff? If you’re not ready to reduce clutter, redistribute it.

Instead of buying a pre-finished, assemble-it-yourself wardrobe unit from a big box store, take a look at a custom solution. You choose the finish, the interior layout, and the size to suit you, not the other way around.

bar cabinetry

Wet Bar

Aside from a wet bar requiring running water, you can set up a bar in almost any room in your home. All you need is a little imagination, inspiration, and customization. Have a look at some of these wet bar ideas from Organized Interiors.

Upgrade your closet with accessories

Sometimes it’s the smallest projects that give us the greatest sense of satisfaction. Keeping everything in your closet organized starts your day and ends it on a good note.

From shoe racks to jewelry drawers, there are many options to get you organized. A valet rod is one of our most popular closet accessories.

Decorative hardware

Quality decorative hardware that’s added to the custom cabinetry that will help keep your home more organized has several benefits:

  • the hundreds of types of pulls, knobs, and hooks we offer will better complement the cabinetry and your décor
  • high-quality decorative hardware is more durable and long-lasting
  • decorative hardware of a higher quality provides a better tactile experience when using your custom cabinetry

The garage

Do you see your garage as one big storage container? When it comes to attention to detail for organizing solutions the garage is the new laundry room. This could be your one big project of 2018.

From flooring to overhead storage, Garage Living has everything to keep your garage looking pristine and organized.

Get organized. Start planning.

Whether you decide to organize your whole home or just one space in 2018, the storage solutions are abundant and available.

Request a free design consultation to have an Organized Interiors designer come to your home and provide you with a detailed quote.

9 Smart Strategies to Get More out of Your Small Closet Storage Space

There’s no doubt that a small closet storage space isn’t exactly ideal.

Small closets typically are more difficult to keep organized, especially if they’re not designed very well and lack important features. And messy closets always result in aggravation, stress, and time wasted looking for things.

A OnePoll survey found that 3 in 10 women believe an organized closet would make their mornings less stressful. The same survey also found that 47% of women struggle when it comes to picking a work outfit from their closet.

While indecision plays a role in how much time is wasted, closet disorganization undoubtedly plays a much larger role in your day getting off to a less-than-productive start.

That’s not to say larger closet spaces are easy to keep organized, mind you. You just have more leeway when it comes to making mistakes with the storage optimization of the space.

How do you maximize your small closet storage space?

Small closets can obviously be found everywhere, particularly in older homes and small condos. So what’s the secret to making the most of such a small space?

The solution to your small closet storage woes lies with smarter storage and organizations solutions that facilitate better space management. Being more choosy about what’s kept in your closet also helps.

A small closet storage space is, in fact, capable of being well-organized and very functional. And we’ll show you how to accomplish this with these nine smart strategies for getting more out of your small closet storage space.

1. Be more finicky about what’s kept in the closet

When you have a small closet storage space, it’s imperative to be more finicky and selective about what’s kept in your closet. You simply don’t have enough space in there to store clothing that’s barely worn. Or never worn.

One study found that American women have an average of $550 worth of unworn clothing in their closets.

Pare down your closet wardrobe so that everyday and weekly clothing favourites are prioritized. Clothing gets lost and buried in disorganized closets. If an item of clothing is easily visible in your closet, you’ll be far more likely to actually wear it.

And if you’re wearing it regularly (or at least semi-regularly), it’s worth the valuable small closet storage space it’s occupying.

small closet storage classic organizer

The Classic closet organizer can make your small closet storage space easier to keep organized.

2. Add closet organizers

You’ll find it easier to keep a small closet space tidy (or any closet space, for that matter) by adding a closet organizer to it. Custom closet organizers are a better choice than the one-size-fits-all types you’ll find at a big box store.

They can be custom-designed to perfect fit within your small closet storage space. Every inch of precious space within your small closet will be considered when your custom closet organizer is designed. That maximizes its functionality.

A custom closet organizer’s variety of design options also gives you more freedom to complement your home’s décor. Our SmartLine and Classic organizers can transform your closet space.

3. Don’t keep seasonal clothing in your small closet storage space

Store seasonal clothing somewhere else besides your small closet storage space. When closet space is at a premium, keeping clothing that’s only worn for half the year (or less) just doesn’t make sense.

Turn to other bedroom storage solutions for keeping your out-of-season-clothing stored. Another option is to store some of it in suitcases to save you space.

4. Make use of every nook and cranny

The storage space in your closet’s upper reaches may not be efficiently utilized because it can be difficult to access. If that’s the case, use a good step stool (like the SlimStep ladder, available in our showroom). They make it easier to access hard-to-reach upper closet areas and also come in quite handy in other areas of the home.

When you’re dealing with small closets, it’s crucial that the storage space be maximized. If you have deep closet shelves with empty space at the back, add small baskets to hold knick knacks or less frequently used smaller articles of clothing. They’ll stay organized in the baskets, which can easily be pulled forward when needed.

When one of our design consultants is evaluating your closet space, they can suggest ways to better utilize underused areas within it.

Use a step stool to access hard-to-reach areas in your small closet space.

5. Use additional bedroom storage ideas

Try and get your closet wardrobe collection leaner by looking to additional bedroom storage solutions. That’ll alleviate some of the burden on your small closet space. Here’s a few suggestions:

  • bed surrounds – your available bedroom storage space expands significantly with this clever integrated storage solution
  • dressers – make sure your dresser drawers are filled (but still functional) with anything that can be moved from the closet
  • wardrobes – complement your small closet storage space with a stylish custom wardrobe
  • create-a-closet® – this unique storage idea lets you add a closet anywhere

6. Add more hanging rods

Add extra hanging rods in your small closet storage space, if space allows. This makes better use of your limited closet space and prevents the clothing hung on your single hanging rod from being crammed too closely together, which causes wrinkles.

A lower hanging rod for short hanging garments like pants, shirts, and skirts ensures that valuable closet hanging space isn’t wasted.

And you can even add a shorter perpendicular hanging rod to maximize your small closet storage space on a side wall. This just means the closet rod is hung from front-to-back in the closet, as opposed to the traditional side-to-side.

It’s best not to hang certain types of clothing (like sweaters), which should be folded instead. Folding your jeans (which are bulkier) and stacking them in drawers or open shelving can also save hanging space.

 7. Use closet accessories

Using the right closet accessories will produce an immediately noticeable improvement in the functionality of your small closet storage space.

Many closet accessories don’t take up much space. That’s important, considering the limited amount of space you have to work with. We’d suggest any of the following closet accessories:

  • hooks
  • valet rods
  • pullout tie racks
  • sliding belt racks

The low profile nature of these space-saving helpers also means you have the flexibility to add them just about anywhere in your small closet storage space.

Other useful accessories that are ideal for small closet spaces include pullout pant racks, shoe racks, and a versatile four position hanger.

small closet storage belt rack

A low profile sliding belt rack is perfect for a small closet space.

8. Get your other closets in order

Make an effort to sort out as many small closet storage spaces in your home as as you can. If one closet is disorganized, there’s a tendency for a domino effect to occur with the level of organization and number of things in the rest of your closets.

And remember, closet organizers and accessories aren’t just meant for the bedroom. Linen closets, laundry room closets, front entryway closets, and home office closets can all benefit from a closet makeover.

9. Add a dressing room/large walk-in closet

Even though your home’s closets may be small, there’s another option that can expand your clothes storage space in a big way. A dressing room (also known as a large walk-in closet) can be created if you have a spare bedroom.

Your small closet storage woes will disappear when you have a spacious dressing room to house whatever can’t fit in your small closets. And besides opening up your clothes storage options on a grand scale, dressing rooms also add luxurious style to your home’s décor.

Our new Monogram collection of custom closet cabinetry is perfectly suited for dressing rooms and walk-in closets. You can fully customize your large closet space with the Monogram collection’s wide range of rich finishes and plethora of built-in accessories.

small closet storage dressing room

If you’re frustrated by your home’s small closets and you have a spare room, create a luxurious dressing room.

Learn more about small closet storage space solutions

The new Organized Interiors Idea Book is filled with lots of inspiring small closet storage space solutions.

Allow one of our closet design professionals to evaluate your small closet space. They’ll show you how our organization and storage solutions can improve how your small closets function and look.

Just schedule your free in-home design consultation.

See also:

7 Holiday Home Organization Tips to Ease Your December Stress

The end of the year is a stress-causing time for many. While the holiday season is fun and gives us the chance to spend time with family and friends, there are a lot of extra demands on our time.

Those demands can overwhelm you if you’re not careful. With some smart planning, however, you can avoid the added stress that comes with poor organization.

Being more organized during the holidays will allow you to enjoy this special time of year even more. And after all, that’s the whole point of the holiday season, isn’t it?

Use these holiday home organization tips to help. Some of them can even be applied throughout the rest of the year as well.

1. Plan your holidays carefully

Any effective organization strategy involves good planning. Of all the holiday home organization tips listed here, this one should be considered the most important.

It may well be your family’s busiest time of year with all the holiday events and functions going on. There’s recitals, school plays, family dinners, work parties, and other commitments that all need to be kept track of. Set up a planner or schedule documenting all the events your family members are attending. Ensure you’re not overcommitting yourself to too many functions.

Leave enough time for other holiday-related tasks like decorating your home, gift shopping, baking, and sending holiday cards. If you’re hosting a holiday dinner, invite a manageable number of guests and plan your menu and grocery list well in advance. Prepare the kitchen by tidying up so there’s lots of counter space and an empty dishwasher that’s ready to be loaded after your meal.

To lighten the cooking load on the day of your dinner, cook anything in advance that can be refrigerated and reheated without losing much of its flavour or fresh-out-of-the-oven appearance. That’ll also save you from having extra dirty pots and pans taking up counter or sink space.

2. Plan for overnight guests

You might have space in your home for overnight guests during the holidays, but how comfortable is the surface they’re sleeping on? Air mattresses, pullout sofa beds, or futons don’t tend to provide the most comfort, especially when they’re used for a few nights.

A Murphy bed (also known as a wall bed) makes for a much more hospitable sleeping solution for your holiday guests. The mattress on a Murphy bed is every as comfortable as mattresses on traditional beds, which helps your guests get a good night’s sleep.

And Murphy beds barely take up any space because they easily fold out from the wall when needed. When the bed isn’t being used, it folds right up and can be integrated into beautiful surrounding cabinetry. When it comes to holiday home organization tips that save space in your guest room, consider adding a Murphy bed.

holiday home organization tips wall bed

Murphy beds are perfect for overnight guests during the holiday season.

3. Declutter as you decorate

Are your holiday decorations already up and bringing some festive ambiance to your home? If so, this is one of the holiday home organization tips you can use for next year before decorating. This tip can also be helpful when you’re packing your decorations away after the holidays.

The tip is to declutter your holiday decorations. Whether it’s getting rid of burnt out holiday lights, broken ornaments, or never-used decorations, your holiday storage containers can surely benefit from a little cleaning up.

Getting your holiday decorations organized as they’re being put up or stored away simplifies the task of decorating next holiday season. Use labels for each container to locate items easier.

4. Tidy up

Entertaining guests during the holidays requires you to do a thorough tidying up of your home. Don’t settle for the “stash it behind a closet door” method of dealing with your clutter, however.

Ask yourself how your home could be more organized so that you won’t need to work at a frantic pace to get it looking presentable for guests. Could you benefit from an upgrade to your front entryway or mudroom that makes a positive first impression to your arriving holiday guests?

Perhaps you’re having trouble locating that specific holiday-themed sweater that’s perfect for this time of year. Or maybe that certain dress you’d like to wear to your office holiday party is hiding somewhere in your messy closet. A good closet organizer can work wonders for a closet’s functionality by utilizing its storage space smarter.

Even just having the rest of your bedroom organized may be a concern if you planned to follow the common practice of letting guests leave their coats on your bed. Taking advantage of the effective bedroom storage solutions available (like a bed surround or wardrobe) can help.

5. Don’t overbuy (for yourself or others)

Christmas and other traditions celebrated during the holiday season place a lot of emphasis on gift-giving. But if your kids are older, there’s no reason not to scale back a little on the number of gifts you buy.

Too many gifts, while thoughtful, just never get used much (or at all) by the recipient. Buying for others also gets harder as we get older. Use wish lists so that the gifts you’re giving are actually useful to the recipient.

If you have a big family, buying for everyone can get time-consuming and expensive. Consider getting the family together before the holidays where arrangements are made to select one family member you’ll buy for. Invest all your gift money in that one gift, which results in the recipient getting something extra special.

The holiday season provides lots of shopping opportunities with great sales that are hard to pass up. And that shopping season has only gotten longer in recent years with the popularity of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Just don’t get caught up in the tempting lure of great deals for things you don’t really need. That’s one of many ways clutter accumulates in homes.

6. Make space for entertaining

Time may be running out to improve your home in 2017 with some significant upgrades that make space for entertaining during the holidays. Even still, it’s worth looking at some ways to make your home stand out to guests you’re entertaining in the future.

Any home entertaining usually involves the drinking of wine, so why not appreciate your vino in stylish, ultra-comfortable surroundings? Organized Interiors’ custom wine cabinetry solutions include designing wine cellar rooms with tables and seating for guests.

Custom bar cabinetry that provides a storage and preparation area for your libations couldn’t be more ideal for entertaining guests and taking care of all their drink needs.

A fireplace always adds ambiance to a room, but who wants to add “log maintenance” to their already-long list of duties when hosting a holiday party? An electric fireplace provides the ambiance without the maintenance a wood-burning fireplace requires. Just push a button to start it and that’s it.

A fireplace feature wall also adds a stunning room showpiece to your home, which will impress your guests.

holiday home organization tips bar cabinetry

Take care of your holiday guest’s drink needs with a custom bar.

7. Set up a holiday gift wrapping area

The last of our holiday home organization tips involves establishing one area in your home that can handle all gift wrapping tasks. Doing so will minimize the likelihood of wrapping-related clutter being left all throughout your home.

Use plastic storage bins to store all of your wrapping paper and clear off a flat surface for baskets that can hold tape, ribbons, scissors, gift bags, and tags. Or go one step better. Pick up a gift wrap storage bag or hanging organizer for around $20-30, which will take up even less space.

Minimize your stress with these holiday home organization tips

Being organized is important at any time of the year, but especially during the holiday season. Hopefully, these holiday home organization tips can help you minimize the stress that commonly accompanies this time of the year.

It’s never too early to plan ahead so your home is more holiday-ready with some of our organization and storage solutions.

Book a free in-home consultation with an Organized Interiors design expert today.

See also:

7 Tips to Make Your Fall Closet Organization Project Easier

walk-in closet with green walls
As the temperatures drop and the days get shorter, the need to tackle your fall closet organization project looms even larger.

Even with the occasional warm and sunny October day, the window for wearing your lighter summer clothing has all but closed for the year. If you haven’t already, that means it’s time to turn your attention toward your closets to prioritize the warmer clothing you’ll need for the colder weather ahead.

ApartmentGuide.com surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults and found that 80% of them reorganize their homes in late summer/early fall. We still have more than two months until the official start of winter, so it’s not too late to begin with your fall closet organization plans!

Use these tips to simplify your fall closet organization effort

The seasonal transition for your clothing storage doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult. All you need is a solid game plan, the right storage solutions, and a little bit of time to produce effective results with your fall closet organization effort.

Setting up your closets to put your warmer clothing front and centre will make life easier over the coming months. It’s also a great opportunity to declutter, which will make your closets and the rest of your home more functional.

Make use of these seven fall closet organization tips to aid you when tackling this home organization project.

1. Start by emptying and cleaning your closets

Begin your fall closet organization project by completely emptying all closets of their contents, along with your dresser drawers. Yes, this will take some time, but your efforts will be worth it.

Because closets are typically hidden away much of the time behind doors, we can misguidedly develop somewhat of an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality towards their interior. This includes not just their contents, but how clean your closet space is.

Emptying all of your closet’s contents gives you the chance to give it the thorough cleaning it likely needs. After all, cleaning areas of your home that don’t necessarily get regular cleaning attention shouldn’t be limited to just spring time.

Once your closets have been emptied, wipe down their baseboards walls and ceiling, along with any shelving and parts of your closet organizers. Vacuum your closet floors and, if it’s overdue, give any carpets in your closets a good cleaning.

2. Evaluate your closet space

Now that your closets have been refreshed with a top-to-bottom cleaning, it’s the perfect time to evaluate your closet space. An empty closet allows you to view its interior in a much different manner than you’re able to when it’s full.

Consider what areas related to closet storage and organization have presented problems for you and your family in the past. Is it a lack of space? An inability to locate items as quickly as you’d like? The need for more helpful closet accessories? Better lighting?

Make a list of what you’d like to improve and do your research on what types of effective closet organization products are available.

You can stop by Organized Interiors’ 10,0000 square foot showroom to sample what we offer. Our knowledgeable and helpful staff can also answer any questions you might have when it comes to your fall closet organization needs.

fall closet organization mirror door

3. Sort through everything and start discarding items

Even if you’ve decided that you’re ready to upgrade your closet space with the help of a professional, you’ll still need to deal with all of the closet contents you’ve emptied.

With everything from your closets out in the open, start going through every bathing suit, tank top, sundress, pair of shorts, and other summer clothing item and decide what you can cull from your collection.

As with any decluttering effort, if you haven’t worn or used a piece of clothing or accessory in the past one or two years then you can live without it.

Put the expendable items in one of three piles:

  • torn or worn-out items that no longer have any use and should be tossed
  • items you can donate
  • items that a friend or family member can use

Summer clothing tends to get worn out a little quicker than the clothing we wear in other seasons. One reason is that it’s thinner and lighter. Another reason is that chlorine, sweat, and sunscreen will degrade the clothing’s material quickly. And prolonged exposure to sunlight will also cause fabrics to fade over time.

You’ll find items for yourself that may be in fine shape but are no longer in style or appeal to you as they originally did. If you have kids, you’ll also probably be able to get rid of several pieces of their wardrobe that they’ve outgrown.

4. Organize and store what you’re keeping

Once you’ve managed to get rid of a bunch of little-used items that were taking up valuable closet space, organize the keepers according to colour and/or type. Wash, dry clean, or repair any of these items so they’ll be fresh and ready next spring.

Now decide on where and how you’ll store those keepers. If your closets or dressing room/walk-in closet are large enough, your spring and summer clothing items can be returned to your closets.

You’ll want to store them as out-of-the-way as possible, such as on upper or lower shelves. Most closets don’t fully utilize their valuable vertical storage space. Your fall closet organization project presents an ideal time to correct this if the upper space in your closets is currently underused.

Use plastic storage bins to protect your clothing from dust and keep them fresh (cardboard boxes aren’t recommended). Remember not to overpack your storage containers. Leave a little room inside for air to circulate, which allows your clothes to breathe.

Maximize your containers’ storage space by employing the “KonMari Method” of vertical clothes folding from Japanese organizing consultant Marie Kondo.

5. Sort through all your fall and winter clothing

Get all your stored fall and winter clothing items and, once again, reduce what you’re keeping by using the toss/donate/hand-me-down sorting method. This will also help you assess what you’ll need to buy for the fall and winter.

Winter can also be tough on clothing. Salt, snow rain, and highly physical outdoor winter activities (like skiing and tobogganing) will take a toll on your winter outfits. Make sure what you’re keeping is in good shape and still fits.

One of the benefits of a fall closet organization is that it can end up helping those in need. Donated winter clothing that’s been outgrown or simply no longer needed will be greatly appreciated by the less fortunate at the exact time of year it’s really needed.

Organized Interiors is proud to be a participant in The Children’s Breakfast Clubs 2017-2018 Winter Coat Drive. Clean, good quality, new, or gently-used winter coats and warm winter clothing can be donated at the Coat Drive drop-off centre in our showroom from November 2017 to March 2018.

6. Fill your closets with your warmer clothing

Your fall and winter clothing is bulkier and will take up more space in your closets. As such, you’ll be even more grateful that you took the time to take care of your fall closet organization now.

Just as your closet’s upper space can be underutilized, so too can its lower space. Consider adding an extra lower hanging rod in your closet. You’ll be wearing more long pants between October and April, so an extra hanging rod can help. A pullout pant rack is another smart option.

Sweaters that are hung up tend to leave hanger marks and get stretched, so fold them instead. They can be stored in drawers, cubbies, or open shelving in your closet. You can also use shelf dividers to help you organize.

sweaters and warm clothing

For busy front entryway closets, make sure it’s not overloaded with more fall and winter clothing items than will be needed. Coats, winter gloves and mittens, scarves, ear muffs, and hats should be limited to one or two pairs per family member.

Add hooks to provide your home with extra hanging spots for the many items that will be worn during the wintertime. Winter footwear should also be limited to a pair or two per person to prevent clutter. And be sure to use a boot tray to contain the messes they will assuredly make.

7. Add supplemental storage solutions to your home

Even with a pared-down clothing collection after your fall closet organization efforts, you may still be looking for more home storage space.

Whether you need extra space to store your spring and summer clothing, or for the fall and winter clothing you need right now, a few options are available:

  • a bed surround that maximizes a bedroom’s storage space
  • a better closet organizer
  • closet accessories to get more functionality out of your closet space
  • a custom wardrobe for a hallway or bedroom
  • a smart product like create-a-closet®, which lets you add closet space anywhere
  • a mudroom addition to minimize clutter and mess

Get a helping hand with your fall closet organization project

Taking inventory of your clothing and decluttering where necessary will make your fall and winter easier to navigate when it comes to your wardrobe.

Clean, organized closets also ensure that all your clothing is well-used and not lost within a messy space.

Get your fall closet organization project started on the right track. Schedule your free in-home design consultation with Organized Interiors today!

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