5 Ugly Truths Your Cluttered Life Reveals About You

Cluttered life showing a messy room
No one sets out to live a cluttered life. It just sort of…happens.

A family moves into a new home, unpacks their things, and there’s initially a satisfying degree of order and tidiness within their surroundings. The slow creep of clutter eventually works its dastardly magic, however.

That once-organized abode gradually morphs into a messy, stress-causing space that becomes increasingly difficult to function in.

The reasons for a home’s descent into a disorganized, clutter-filled state are many. One of the main culprits is a lack of time invested in home cleaning and organizing. This may be due to having a cluttered life in other ways, such as being consumed by work responsibilities.

Or maybe it’s more about priorities. A 2015 study by Moen (North America’s top faucet brand) found that almost 20% of respondents didn’t prioritize keeping their home organized.

Anyone looking in at your life from the outside can make a few assumptions about how your cluttered life is affecting you. Here are five examples.

1. Your cluttered life has you stressed out

The most serious way in which living with too much clutter affects us is the toll it takes on our health. Anxiety and stress are unfortunate by-products of living with a lot of clutter.

Even if you don’t think your clutter is stressing you out, your subconscious self might disagree. Whether you’re aware of it or not, the brain interprets one’s messy surroundings as something that needs to be dealt with. Clutter also impedes our ability to focus on things.

For those more troubled by the cluttered state of their home, the stress can become to feel inescapable, energy-draining, and even lead to depression. A Huffington Post survey found that the fifth most common stress trigger for Americans was worrying their home wasn’t clean or organized enough.

Whichever camp you fall into, the conscious and subconscious stress your cluttered life is causing is also probably affecting the quality of your sleep. Naturally, poor sleeping habits can contribute to other health problems.

2. You have low self-esteem

A cause and effect of clutter-related stress may also involve a decline in your self-esteem level. Depression and low self-esteem go hand in hand.

In homes where clutter problems have become particularly debilitating, the mere thought of how to address the issue can become overwhelming.

Letting the problem escalate to a seemingly unmanageable level can lead you to feel ashamed and guilty for not being more in control of the situation. 

With a messy home, you’ll be less inclined to entertain guests. Even just letting visitors into your front doorway might not be something you’re willing to do if the clutter problem is completely out of control.

After all, who wants a visitor to leave with a bad impression of your home and you after getting a glimpse into your cluttered life?

3. Your cluttered life causes friction in the home

clutter life fingers pointing

Adding two or more people to a living situation can lead to friction in the home over how much effort others spend on keeping the space tidy. It’s almost inevitable there’ll be a butting of heads at some point over this issue.

That aforementioned Moen study stat about 20% of respondents not prioritizing home organization undoubtedly has ripple effects. For those who consider themselves to be the most organized person in the home, the indifference of other occupants towards keeping their shared space clean is viewed very unfavourably.

Animosity grows and relationships can deteriorate. Even if an exasperated neatnik does make an effort to clean up someone else’s space, they might alienate the messy person by throwing something out that should have been kept.

And how many times have we heard about someone being annoyed that they can’t find anything after someone straightens up for them?

Another study of 3,000 adults in the UK for Esure Home Insurance found that 40% of respondents argued regularly with their partner over lost items.

4. Your clutter costs you money

Clutter doesn’t just have a mental and emotional cost, there’s an actual financial cost you need to consider. Organization expert Peter Walsh examined this in his book Lighten Up: Love What You Have, Have What You Need, Be Happier with Less. 

Walsh points out that living with clutter costs you money in the following ways:

  • valuable square footage in your home that’s occupied by unnecessary junk
  • duplicate purchases made because you lose items or can’t find things in the clutter
  • wasted money on renting a storage unit for items that can’t fit in your home

Walsh lays out a scenario to illustrate his point about how much money is wasted in home square footage with clutter. His example takes a $250,000 home (clearly, he doesn’t live in Toronto or Vancouver) that has 2,500 square feet.

It’s easy enough to determine that one square foot in the home is worth $100. Now consider, how many square feet are wasted in the average home with useless clutter? The literal cost of clutter can add up quickly.

5. Your time at home is less productive than it should be

Clutter’s effect on your health and finances is sobering enough. You also can’t ignore the toll that clutter takes on your time and productivity at home.

Trying to find things in a disorganized home can consume a ridiculous amount of your time. A 2017 survey by Pixie (who make an iPhone app that helps you find lost items) found that the average American wastes 2.5 days each year searching for things at home.

That Esure Home Insurance survey produced similar results. It estimates Britons spend about 10 minutes each day looking for misplaced items. That works out to a little under 2.5 days each year.

In addition to the wasted time spent looking for things, a cluttered home also limits your ability to be as productive as you should be at home.

For example, a chore like vacuuming takes more work because there’s clutter you need to navigate around. Maybe working out on your treadmill is less likely to happen because you’d have to clear off all the clothes that are draped over the machine.

Liberate yourself from the negative effects of living a cluttered life

For help when it comes to dealing with your cluttered life, Organized Interiors has the know-how and right products to restore order to your home’s organization.

Schedule your free in-home design consultation with us today.

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Too Many Clothes? Here’s How to Take Back Control of Your Closet

too many clothes

Photo credit: m01229 on Visualhunt.com

The psychology behind why we own too many clothes explains a lot about why our homes are filled with far more clothing than we ever use.

Data from a OnePoll survey of American women showed that their closets contained an average of 103 items. Other surveys reveal that the majority of the items in closets are rarely (or never) worn, however.

Most of us own too many clothes

10 Yetis, a UK digital public relations company, surveyed 2,137 U.S. women and determined they had an average of $550 worth of unworn clothing sitting in their closets.

A National Association of Professional Organizers study estimates 80% of your clothing is only worn 20% of the time.

Unless you’re in the minority who adopt the minimalist approach and keep a small wardrobe, chances are you’re one of the many people who have a few items (or a lot more) of clothing tucked away at the back of your closets with price tags still attached.

Along with the money that’s wasted buying clothes that are never worn, having too many clothes makes it much harder to stay organized. So why do we own too many clothes?

Here are nine reasons that will provide some clarity.

1. Cheap sale prices

One of the biggest reasons our homes have too many clothes is that it’s too hard for most of us to pass up a bargain. Even for strong-willed consumers, a too-good-to be true sale price on a piece of clothing that appeals to you can be awfully tempting.

We don’t even have to be completely won over by how that clothing looks, either. Great prices are always alluring, even for something you’re only casually interested in.

Our judgement can get clouded by the thrill of taking advantage of an incredible bargain. And the more prestigious the brand name is on the sale item, the more appealing that deal looks, even if you don’t really need the item.

2. We wait too long to return items

Even after trying on shoes or clothing at the store, sometimes you get the item home and your opinion about it changes. That could be because:

  • it doesn’t fit quite as well as you thought it did
  • it’s not as comfortable as you’d like when wearing it for longer periods
  • the store lighting or mirrors made it look more slimming
  • you have a change of heart about the style or colour
  • the clothing doesn’t go with anything else you own

If you’ve waited too long to come to the realization about any of the above, it may be too late to return the item. Clearance items also commonly have an “all sales final” policy that can eliminate any chance of getting a refund or store credit.

3. We picture our future selves

Another major reason we own too many clothes is that we too often hold onto or buy clothing in anticipation of who we hope to be.

This idealistic vision of our future self sometimes becomes fully-realized. Unfortunately, it often doesn’t.

A very common example is the “I know I’ll fit into it one day” mentality. Clothing that hasn’t fit for years clogs up your storage space because you hold onto the hope that you’ll manage to drop enough weight to fit back into them.

A study by Ellen McKinney and Elizabeth Bye found that 85% of the women they surveyed admitted they had clothing in their closets that didn’t fit.

We also sometimes buy clothing for a lifestyle that we want, but never attain. For example, a fancy dinner dress is purchased for social events you want to attend and never do, for whatever reason.

Or maybe you’ve bought a new outfit for working out, but just lack the motivation to do so, or never have the time.

4. The clothing is now out of style

The clothing you bought quite awhile ago that was in style then may not be fashionable when you finally find it at the back of your closet three years later.

Not every type of clothing has the timeless fashionability of the white t-shirt.

At that point, a return is out of the question and that aforementioned embarrassment about your wasteful spending causes you to hang onto the item you’ll never wear longer than you should.

Suggestion: that pair of skinny jeans you bought a year ago and haven’t worn? Get your money’s worth out them now, because you never know.

too many clothes plain white tee

Not every type of clothing has the timeless appeal of a plain white tee. (Photo credit: chuttersnap on Unsplash)

5. You’re in the wrong frame of mind when buying

It’s a common thing for people to go shopping as a way to cheer themselves up when they’re feeling down.

It’s such a common thing that the phrase “retail therapy” was coined as a shorthand name for it. Needless to say, retail therapy might provide some short-term comfort, but it also contributes to owning too many clothes.

The ease of online shopping only makes it easier to buy clothing when you’re in the wrong frame of mind. And that includes being too tipsy.

Yes, drunk online shopping also leads to bad shopping decisions made late at night when your inhibitions are a little too relaxed from drinking.

6. Shame

We hold on to too many clothes we’ll never wear because we’re too ashamed to admit we made a mistake when we bought something that was barely worn or never worn.

Unworn items bought long ago with price tags still attached are the hardest items to let go of. Tossing or donating clothing that hasn’t delivered a worthwhile return on investment for you is embarrassing and also just feels so wasteful.

You’d think that you’d want to get rid of something that was a reminder of a bad buying decision (sometimes a very expensive one)!

7. Your storage space wasn’t taken into consideration

Buying clothes without having an adequate amount of storage space for them just causes more closet clutter. A disorganized closet makes it harder to find your clothing and can lead to wasteful duplicate purchases.

According to a OnePoll survey, 61% of the women polled who had a hard time finding anything in their closet just ended up buying new clothes. Naturally, this only contributes to the vicious cycle that makes your closets even more disorganized.

Having a smartly designed closet that includes a high quality closet organizer makes it much easier to manage your wardrobe. Not overfilling your closet with too many clothes is still your responsibility.

A good closet organizer and some helpful closet accessories can definitely make life easier, though, and help you maximize your closet storage space.

too many clothes closet

An organized closet helps you easily visualize what‘s stored within the space, allowing you to get more use out of your entire wardrobe.

8. Sentimentality and obligation

That favourite pair of jeans you’ve had for years can’t last forever. Every piece of clothing has a shelf life and at some point it’s just time to let it go if you can’t wear it any longer.

You might also feel the obligation to hang on to something you never wear because it was a gift. That ugly, uncomfortable sweater your aunt gave you in 1998 that was worn exactly once?

Get rid of it and lighten your closets and drawers of the burden of too many clothes.

9. Fashion peer pressure

Buying things you think you should have just because of fashion peer pressure can lead to owning too many clothes. Maybe all your friends are buying the thing that’s all the latest rage, so you do, too.

The problem is, that in-style piece of clothing just isn’t really you and subsequently never gets worn.

There are certain “fashion staples” you’re always hearing or reading that you should have in your wardrobe. Examples include black pumps, classic white tees, wrap dresses, and ankle boots. But maybe none of these items fit your style or fashion taste.

Try and stick to buying clothing and footwear that reflects who you are.

Liberate yourself from owning too many clothes

Being more choosy with the clothes you buy and making an effort to declutter what you already have will simplify your daily routine.

A decluttered wardrobe makes it easier to find things to wear, which saves you time and from getting frustrated.

Having a smart closet storage and organization system also helps make your closets more functional.

If you’ve decided you’re tired of owning too many clothes and could also use better closet organizers in your home, schedule a free in-home design consultation with Organized Interiors.

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Looking for a Confidence Boost? Start Clearing Your Clutter

confidence boost
Physical clutter and mental clutter go hand in hand.

Being surrounded by a lot of things you don’t need causes disorganization and chaos in your life.

That can undermine your confidence because one of the negative effects of clutter is that it makes you feel less in control of your life.

How can decluttering be a confidence boost?

Regaining control of the organization in your surroundings, whether it’s at home or work, will provide a confidence boost and other positive ripple effects. You’ll put yourself in the position where you can enjoy a healthier state of mind.

A confidence boost can come via a number of methods, such as getting in shape, receiving a compliment, or getting a promotion at work. The common denominator with any of these is that the confidence boost is fuelled by the feeling of empowerment.

Decluttering your home and creating a cleaner, tidier living environment that looks more respectable can be extremely empowering. And accomplishing that goal is easier than it may appear when you’re first confronting the big task in front of you.

The harmful effects of clutter

It’s a well-established fact that clutter takes a toll on our mental well-being. It’s just one of many reasons Canadians are now experiencing a “stress epidemic”, as one doctor recently referred to it.

Clutter robs you of the ability to feel good within your surroundings. That’s no wonder, considering the ways in which clutter undermines your happiness:

  • you feel guilt and shame for having clutter
  • the prospect of dealing with clutter can feel overwhelming
  • clutter is a distracting presence that makes it harder to focus

All of this contributes to elevated levels of stress and anxiety. That prevents you from getting a decent night’s sleep and the sleep deprivation only ends up fuelling the whole never-ending cycle of unhappiness.

If the root causes of your stress aren’t addressed, the problem can worsen and lead to bigger concerns, such as depression and heart disease.

Clutter makes it harder to clean

When your home is overly cluttered, you’re far less likely to make an effort to clean. Nobody enjoys having to clean their home.

And having to move stacks of junk scattered all over your home to run the vacuum makes only makes a normally mundane task even more tedious.

On top of the stress that clutter causes, failing to deal with your clutter contributes to your home being less sanitary. And that can also end up affecting your health, as clutter contributes to poor air quality in your living space.

Having an unclean home makes you less willing to have guests over. If you’re embarrassed for a friend or family member to visit your home because of its unclean state, that’s definitely going to take a toll on your self-confidence.

Clutter makes you indecisive

Being overwhelmed with the clutter in your home causes you to be indecisive. Because it’s harder to focus when you’re surrounded by clutter, your ability to make decisions isn’t as finely tuned as it should be. The clarity and drive we need to make each day easier to navigate through just aren’t functioning at their optimal levels.

Clutter is the cause of a lack of organization. A neatly organized closet or dressing room makes it much easier to find something to wear quickly. A closet that has no organization system in place and has clothing thrown anywhere will get cluttered in a hurry.

Trying to pick an outfit or even just an item of clothing to wear from a cluttered closet is simply more time-consuming. Often you’ll end up just settling on something to wear, which may not have been your first choice.

The time wasted looking for things causes stress. You’ll also be more stressed because that time wasted can cause you to be late for work or an appointment. Naturally, that added stress will, to some degree, undermine your self-confidence.

Declutter your home and a confidence boost will follow

The unhappiness and poor self-confidence that clutter contributes to has a simple fix – decluttering. Yes, that’s easier said than done.

However, ridding your home of unnecessary clutter and creating a tidier, cleaner, and more welcoming living environment leads to nothing but good things, including a confidence boost.

Your mind will be less burdened with the nagging feeling that there’s always something to clean up or organize. Naturally, your home will still need regular cleaning and decluttering to keep it organized. You just won’t feel the obligation to do so every waking moment of the day, as you would when you’re surrounded by clutter.

That reduced level of stress helps you get a better night’s sleep, which helps you to function much better during the day.

confidence boost closet

How much less stressful would the start of your day be if your closet was as organized and aesthetically pleasing as this custom closet space?

Be more productive

Part of the reason you’ll feel a confidence boost after decluttering is you’ll find you’re more productive. Having less clutter to contend with means it’ll be easier to make decisions, stay focussed, and get things done in a timely manner.

At home, daily or weekly tasks like cooking, getting dressed, and cleaning can be more enjoyable and less time-consuming. That can leave you more time for hobbies and fun activities.

Being more productive also makes you more willing to tackle those other projects that previously felt too imposing. This could include a home improvement project or something like getting in better shape.

Decluttering doesn’t just provide a confidence boost at home, either. Cleaning up your office or work area also leads to better productivity and clarity at work, along with less stress.

We specialize in confidence boosts

Your home life, work, health, and even relationships can all benefit from the confidence boost that comes when you reclaim control of your life and eliminate your clutter.

For more than four decades, Organized Interiors has been helping our customers get the confidence boost that comes with getting organized. They truly feel empowered from how much tidier and cleaner their home is after we’ve improved their living space with our home organization and storage solutions.

We can provide the same confidence boost to you. All you have to do is begin by booking your free in-home consultation with one of our design experts.

See also:

7 Must-Have Qualifications to Look for in a Home Organization Expert

The marketplace has many different choices available when it comes to businesses that specialize in improving a home’s organization.

What criteria should you use when deciding which home organization expert to hire?

Making the right choice for your home organization expert requires you to do your homework. There are a lot of horror stories out there of less-than-reputable contractors who “provide” sub-par products, craftsmanship, and customer service.

Know what to expect from your home organization expert

Knowing what to look for when picking the best professional to improve your home’s storage and organization functionality requires looking at a few essential criteria.

Remember, cutting corners when it comes to paying for any high quality professional service only leads to regret and frustration later on. Don’t settle for any less than these seven must-have qualifications from the home organization expert you hire.

1. A good reputation

One of the first things you’ll likely research when narrowing down your lists of potential home organization experts is their reputation.

There are many crowd-sourced review sites available to get some insight into the reputation and work practices of any company you’re considering doing business with.

Yelp, Google, HomeStars, Houzz, and Facebook are just a few of the more prominent online review resources you can use to help you make a more informed hiring decision. Just Google “Organized Interiors” and you’ll find that our satisfied clients have left overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Organized Interiors has worked hard to establish and maintain our position as an industry leader in the area of home organization and storage solutions. We take great pride in the fact that many of our projects are a result of customer referrals and positive word-of-mouth.

2. Experience

You’ll want whatever home organization professional you choose to have plenty of experience. Experience doesn’t always guarantee you’ll get high quality work, mind you, but it’s still an important consideration.

Some home organization projects will require electrical work and other complicated tasks that not just anyone can do. When a design consultant is designing a dressing room or closet organizer, they’re drawing from years of schooling and work experience to bring their concept to life.

With experience comes wisdom, so a home organization expert will be able to problem-solve faster and also have more of an idea of what will work best for the client.

Organized Interiors has 40+ years of experience as a home organization expert. Over that long period of time, our highly trained professionals have worked on projects both big and small and have seen just about everything.

home organization expert

Organized Interiors has been a home organization expert for more than 40 years.

3. Excellent customer service and a personal touch

Sub-par customer service is one of the easiest and most common ways to alienate someone who’s hired you for your professional services.

Ideally, your home organization expert should be attentive to your needs and welcome your feedback throughout the project’s duration. A strong level of communication between the client and service provider will result in a higher chance of customer satisfaction.

Some other important factors that play a role in excellent customer service include getting the project done in a timely manner and being reliable.

One reason Organized Interiors’ reputation speaks for itself is our tireless dedication to providing exemplary customer service.

4. Great products

Excellent customer service only gets you so far if the products you’re using in your projects are of an inferior quality. Your home organization expert should be using products that are durable, have appealing aesthetics, and provide easy-to-use-functionality.

A home organization expert with more experience will be more likely to be using products that deliver high marks in all three of these categories.

A newer company will need to go through somewhat of a trial-and-error period to determine which products hold up well and provide a high level of satisfaction for their customers.

When you’ve been around for as long as someone like Organized Interiors, though, you’ve been able to refine your product line more. Even something as seemingly insignificant as the type of hanging rod used in our custom closet projects has been given careful consideration.

All of this goes a long way to ensuring a customer ends up being fully satisfied with the products that were chosen for their project.

5. The ability to customize

Anyone calling themselves a home organization expert should know that the ability to customize to fit their client’s needs is essential.

This is one huge advantage that custom home organization specialists like Organized Interiors have over companies that use stock products for their projects. It’s also another advantage to choosing to DIY your home organization project.

The high quality custom cabinetry we use in our projects has been created specifically for the diverse needs of each individual client. The customer can have input into just about everything, including cabinetry finishes, configuration, and decorative hardware used.

We manufacture our custom products on-site at Organized Interiors. That means no detail is overlooked. The finished product will exactly match the original design, barring any changes that get made while the project is unfolding.

And that’s another advantage to the way we work – our professionals can more easily adapt to the evolving needs of any project.

home organization expert showroom

Your home organization expert should be able to customize your choice of products to fit your specific needs.

6. A guarantee of quality

When you enter into a business relationship with a home organization expert, you want to feel secure that they’ll stand fully behind their work.

The last thing you want to contend with right after having, say, a new home office installed is to come across a problem with it and find that the company is less than eager to resolve the issue now that they’ve been paid.

You also want the peace of mind to know that the products and services you’ve invested in will have a guarantee of long-lasting quality behind it.

This is one area where it pays to shop around and find a home organization expert that provides warranties that suit your needs. We think you’ll be more than pleased with what Organized Interiors offers:

  • a 1 year no-hassle warranty on all installations
  • a 10 year warranty for all of our products covering defects in material and hardware

7. High standards

When a business strives for high standards and employing people who have a real passion for their work, the results are obvious.

This can’t be said of all home organization experts, but you can rest assured you’ll know if you made the right choice shortly after you begin working with someone.

At Organized Interiors, we believe the high standards we set for ourselves is what makes us stand out amongst a crowded field of home organization experts.

Make sure your home organization expert ticks all these boxes

Now you know what to look for in a home organization expert. You can be confident that Organized Interiors ticks all the right boxes when it comes to what you need from the professional you’re trusting to improve your home’s organization.

Schedule your free in-home design consultation with us to get your home organization project started.

See also:

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.

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