Storage Cabinets

Do you look around your house and feel unsettled? Can you relax in your home without always feeling like you have to tidy up? Are you constantly looking for items you’ve misplaced?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then it’s time to reduce the clutter in your life and get organized. If your house is on the market, reducing clutter is the first step in staging a home for sale. After all, you’re selling a product and you want it to look its best. If you’re not selling, getting organized will just make you feel better, more relaxed and content with your surroundings. It will give you the feeling of being in control of your world. Life’s events will not feel so haphazard and random.

I can honestly say, I enjoyed my last home the most when it was up for sale. Everything was so clean and I was never apprehensive about letting friends see behind closed bedroom or closet doors.

Getting organized in all areas of your life will make you a happier person. Today, let’s start with your house and see how you can reduce clutter, step by step.

Kitchen:

Countertops are valuable work areas, don’t fill them up with things you don’t use on a daily basis. I don’t know about you, but I hate preparing a meal in a messy kitchen.

Find a spot for everything so you’ll know where to look for it.

Organize items in your drawers and cupboards with dividers. You may want to store your utensils in a caddy instead of trying to make them fit in a tray.

Use shelf hooks to hang measuring cups, and install pull outs to get to the back of your cupboards.

The kitchen seems to be the easiest place to dump your mail, purse or other personal items. Each day, make a habit of clearing off the counters by the time you’re ready to sit down for dinner.

Get rid of items you have duplicates of, or that are rarely used. Store those once-a-year items such as canning pots or Christmas cookie tins on a shelf in the basement or the back of a cabinet.

The Dreaded Mudroom:

Line a wall with shelves with coordinating baskets to hold all your stuff. Label the baskets so that you know where to look. Neither you or your friends should enter a room that looks like it’s been hit by a hurricane.

Assign a basket to hold things you don’t want to forget as you rush out the door, such as letters to be mailed, grocery lists, library books or school packs.

Get decorative hooks to hang coats, hats, keys, purses, dog leashes, etc.

Find an easy way to keep all the shoes in one place. If you have a bench, you may want to store them underneath on a tray. The wire mesh, tiered stands also work well.

The Family Room:

Consider how the room is used by all family members and plan the best ways to organize based on this. For instance, in addition to TV watching, this may also be the area for video game play or doing crafts. Find a cupboard or storage solution for all your activities.

Just as in the mudroom, line shelves with labelled storage baskets or boxes to hide your video games, movies, magazines, etc. Go through your magazines, keeping only one or two issues. Rip out pages you want to keep and store in a separate file.

Sneaky storage containers can be hidden behind a couch or big chair. Large hampers or baskets are attractive and store toys nicely. Coffee tables or ottomans with lift tops are also great for hiding stuff.

The Bedroom

Get a laundry hamper that should be filled with that day’s laundry by the end of every day.

Store seasonal clothing in clear plastic boxes under the bed. They work even better if they have wheels.

Blank walls are perfect for shelves for all those smaller items that soon overflow from nightstands.

If the same items are being piled up each week, you need to create a permanent home for them.

In kid’s rooms, use labeled baskets, hooks or wooden cubbies, installed at their height, to store items. They’ll put their things away if it’s easy to do.

Give them a place to do what they enjoy. Create activity centers such as a craft table with storage for glue, scissors, paper, etc. If they enjoy painting; set up an easel with paints, paper and drawing books nearby so that everything is ready to go when they are, and equally easy to put away.

Make sure your children understand where things go so that they can be responsible for tidy up.

The Bathroom

Tidy your linen closet and medicine cabinet for expired or unused items.

Store similar items in small baskets in your drawers. For instance, a make-up basket, first-aid, hair products, etc.

Where you’re not using baskets, use acrylic separators to keep items in place.

Place a roll of paper towels, a container of treated cleaning wipes and toilet cleaner in every bathroom for quick clean-ups.

Lauren Kline
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/get-organized-and-feel-great-748098.html

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