Purging

{don’t worry, we’re not getting rid of Nora!}

As you can probably imagine, January and February are busy months for anyone involved in the “organizing industry”. Just think about how many people made a New Year’s resolution or goal to “get more organized” this year!

And even though I’m normally quite organized, I find myself with an even stronger desire to declutter at the beginning of a new year. Maybe it’s because I like to declutter while I take down my holiday decorations, maybe it’s because I need to compensate for all the additional stuff we brought IN to our home at Christmas, or maybe it’s simply because I’m inside all the time during these cold winter months and can’t stand to live in clutter.

Whatever the case, I too have the urge to purge!

If you’ve had this same urge lately, I have a really SIMPLE tip that always seems to help me get rid of even more stuff in and around our house.

My tip = use a clothes basket.

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Lately, I’ve put a couple different clothes baskets in convenient places around our house and anytime I come across something we don’t need, use, want, or love, I simply toss it in the clothes basket. When the baskets get full, or when I know I’ll be near a donation center, I simply put the baskets in my car and drop off our unneeded items.

Why do I like using clothes baskets?

• They are really easy to carry
• They are super portable so I can move them to different rooms in our house — or right into the car
• They are sturdy enough to hold all kinds of things
• They are inexpensive
• They fill up quickly so I feel like I’m making lots of decluttering progress

And since I’m pretty sure almost every single person reading this has at least one clothes basket lying around… I would like to challenge you to spend 20 minutes walking from room to room and see how full you can get your basket!

Oh, and here’s another really good use for clothes baskets…

How many clothes baskets could you fill over the next year?

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It’s been a few days since Christmas, and Dave and I are almost finished with our long list of holiday parties {just one more on New Year’s Day}.

And if your parties were anything like ours, you probably left with a lot more stuff than you arrived with…right? I know I was amazed at how spoiled Nora was this Christmas {she’s almost completely covered with gifts in the picture below!}

So even though I took my own advice and got rid of a bunch of stuff BEFORE the holidays, we’ve gotten rid of even more since then… and I’m guessing you might be able to purge a few more things too!

Dave and I both went through our closets again, I purged a few things from the kitchen, we cleaned out the fridge, and I also went through our stash of gift wrap {it was getting a bit overwhelming!}

For those of you who have kids, this is a great exercise to do with them too because it’s often easier for them to get rid of their older things now that their new items are sitting right in front of them

Here are a few resources to help you organize and purge:

• Organize a reach-in closet

• Organize our accessories

• Organize a nursery closet

• Organize kid’s clothing

• More tips to organize kid’s clothing

• The 80/20 rule for purging your clothes

• Purging food storage containers

• Organizing paperwork and files

• Dealing with keepsakes and family heirlooms 

Oh, and here’s a link to a post I wrote last year about my goal to purge something every month of 2011. I’m happy to say I followed through with that goal, and our house is much “lighter” because of it!

I know I’m excited to bring our donations to the local thrift store and to start the New Year with a little more breathing room in our cabinets and closets!

What about you… what will you purge first?

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Christmas is just over 7 weeks away — are you getting excited yet?

The onset of the holiday season is such a fun time for me. I love decorating my house, finding the perfect gifts {at the perfect prices}, wrapping each gift, sending out holiday cards, doing a bunch of extra holiday baking, attending holiday parties, etc. etc.

However, one thing I almost always do BEFORE the holiday season arrives is declutter my home to make room for all the extra “stuff” that seems to accompany this time of year!

No matter how ruthless you are about bringing things into your home, I can almost guarantee you’ll end up with more stuff and less space after the festivities are over… so why not be proactive this year and make a little extra room for all that stuff that will soon be invading your space! 

Here are some of the mini decluttering projects I’ve tackled or hope to tackle int he next week or so {assuming baby stays inside long enough!}

1. Clothing and Accessories:

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Quickly go through your closet/dresser and purge anything you don’t need,  use, want, or love. Get rid of anything that doesn’t fit, anything that is stained, ripped, ruined, or totally out-dated. Then leave a few empty hangers available for new holiday items and gifts.

Encourage and help each member of your family do the same thing and then load up all the clothes and head to your local thrift store.

Here’s a little motivation to help you get started:

• How we organize our master closet
• How we organize our accessories
• How I organize our nursery closet
• Organize your kid’s clothing
• More tips to organize kid’s clothing
• Things that should NOT be in your closet! 
• The 80/20 rule for clothing
• The Family Closet Concept

2. Winter Gear:

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For those of you who also live in a cold climate, you know how much winter gear a family needs! And it’s crazy how easy it is to lose one glove, one mitten, one boot, etc. If you have kids, you also know how quickly they grow out of their winter gear. It might have been big on them last year, but now they’ve already out-grown it!

Take some time NOW {before it gets REALLY cold} to purge anything that doesn’t fit or you don’t need, and then make a list of anything you need to purchase for the coming season.

Oh, and if you don’t have a great method for storing your winter gear, that might be something to think about as well. This is how we organized our winter gear at our old house, and I’ll be posting about our new method sometime soon.

3. Receipts:

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Many of you know how much I HATE paper clutter — and that goes for all those crumpled up balls of receipts in the bottom of your purse as well!

All that paper clutter weights you down {literally} and if you don’t have a system for organizing your receipts, it’s going to be very difficult to return or exchange any of your holiday purchases.

So, since you are bound to do at least some shopping in the next two months, take time now to go through your old receipts. Purge the ones you don’t need and then set up a system to organize all the receipts you will want to hang onto until your gifts are given.

Here’s some helpful advice on how I organize my holiday receipts… but do whatever works best for you!

• How I organize my holiday receipts
• How I organize my purse
• How I save a bunch of money by ALWAYS looking over my receipts before I leave the store

4. Pantry, Freezer, Refrigerator:

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I really dislike wasting food — but I really, REALLY dislike a messy, unorganized pantry, freezer, and refrigerator! So periodically throughout the year {but especially before the holiday season} I take a couple hours and get my kitchen under control.

I rearrange and re-organize my kitchen cabinets, purge any old or expired food, totally clean out and organize our pantry, fridge, and freezer, and then try to make as many meals as I can come up with using our stockpile of extra food.

Then, I have a bunch more room to stock up on holiday baking essentials — and I usually break out my Christmas dishes around that time too!

More Motivation:

• 5 reasons to organize your kitchen
• How I organize my food storage containers
• Storing and organizing herbs and spices
• See what I found the last time I cleaned our fridge! 
• How we save money with a well-stocked pantry
• My stocked and organized deep freezer
• Space, time, and money-saving freezer tips
• Tips to help you make the most of your freezer space
• Extensive list of freezable foods

5. Decorations:

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I love holiday decorations as much as everyone else, but I’m also pretty ruthless with how much I allow myself to have. And every year, I always try to go through my decorations as I put them up to evaluate whether I really want each item. It’s amazing how many I’m willing to purge each year!

Earlier, I talked about how I used lots of disposable decorations to give our house a festive Fall look. Well, I practice the same concepts for Christmas decorating — using simple evergreen trees, berries, pine cones, branches and twigs, popcorn, advent chains, and simple white lights throughout our home. I also try to wrap my gifts very creatively so they can double as decorations until we give them away.

Many of these decorations won’t need to be stored… which means less clutter for me! 

I’m sure I’ll want to do a little extra decorating this year — since we’re finally in our new house and since I hardly did anything last year. However, as I pack up my holiday decorations, I WILL be purging some… I promise!

6. Gift Wrap and Gifts:

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Now is an excellent time to go through all your holiday gift wrap and stock up on anything you might need.

I usually wrap all my gifts in white or brown parchment paper and then use fun tissue paper, bows, ribbons, etc. to make each gift look unique. Oh, and I’m NOT opposed to reusing tissue paper, ribbon, gift bags, or any other form of gift wrap that is still in good condition. That stuff can be expensive!!

I’d also like to encourage you to start thinking about everyone on your gift list this year and see if you can come up with at least one clutter-free gift for each person. I’ve listed some resources below and I will most definitely be talking about more clutter-free gift ideas in the next couple of months… so just start thinking!

More resources:

• Clutter-free gift wrap ideas
• Simple “no wrap” gift wrapping ideas
• Clutter-free gifts for kids
• Clutter-free food gifts
• My thoughts on giving used gifts
• How I save time with “batch shopping”
• Inexpensive last-minute gift ideas
• Free gift ideas for mom
• Gift ideas for dad

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7. Kid’s Toys, Books, Games, etc.

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Yes, I saved the big one for last!

If you have children, you know how much STUFF they get every single year… and you also know that it’s nearly impossible for them to get rid of any of it!

One thing I’ve found that works very well with many of my clients is to explain to the kids that there are other children who don’t have any toys, books, or games and won’t get anything for Christmas. Encourage {and help} them to give freely of their things {don’t force them just yet} and in the process, they’ll be learning a great lesson on giving!

If that method doesn’t work, then simply explain that if they don’t get rid of anything old, they will have no room for new things… which might mean no presents this year. {yup, this usually works with even the most stubborn children!}

Additional ideas to help you get started:

• How to help your kids STAY organized
• Keep your children clutter-free

OK, I think that’s enough to keep you busy for the next few weeks!! 

I know it might seem a bit overwhelming to try and tackle some or all of these projects BEFORE the holiday season, but just think how much more overwhelming it will be AFTER the holiday season when you are already exhausted from all the festivities… and have way more clutter to deal with because you didn’t get rid of anything before.

Just pick one project to work on for 15 or 20 minutes today… and then do it again tomorrow. Before you know it, your home will be de-cluttered and ready for more holiday “stuff”!!

What will you declutter first?

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I’ve received an overwhelming number of emails asking about closet and clothes clutter.

It seems you all have “too little closet space” – or MAYBE, you just have TOO much stuff!!

Either way, I’m thinking it might not be a bad idea to do a few different posts about clothes clutter. And I’m planning to start off by bringing you on a full-blown tour of our FINISHED master bedroom closet. {You can read about the closet system installation here}.

This time of year is one of the best times to purge and organize clothing — the seasons are changing, kids are getting ready for school, and the fall months always seem to encourage more shopping But before we get started on our mini clothes clutter series, and before I show you our new closet, I want to know…

What is the biggest source of clothes clutter for you?

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Do you have WAY too many shoes, purses, belts, scarves, or other accessories?

Are you wasting space with clothes that are too small, too big, or just look horrible on you?

Do you keep buying more without getting rid of anything?

Are you struggling to find the best way to store and organize your clothes?

Do you have several items you never wear but hang onto for emotional reasons?

Are you storing anything besides clothes and accessories in your closet?

Do you just have too much of everything?

Leave your “clothes clutter issues” in the comment section — and then check out the lists of posts below. They might help you get started on your mission for a clutter-free closet!

Clothes Clutter Motivation:

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1. Check out our master closet renovations

2. See how I organized our nursery closet

3. See what my closet in our old house looked like

4. Here’s my opinion about the things that should NOT be in your closet

5. A few tips to organize your kid’s closets {just in time for school!}

6. Interesting information about saving space with a Family Closet

7. Have you heard about the 80/20 rule for your closet {get ready to purge!}

That should keep you busy reading for awhile… and make sure to leave your “clothes clutter issues” in the comments below!

Oh, and don’t forget to come back next week for a tour of our new closet!

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I’ve wanted to write a post about getting rid of old, nasty, food storage containers for several weeks now — but I figured that I should probably “practice what I preach” before I preach it!!

And since my food storage containers were getting  a little bit out of control, I decided to quickly tackle that project this weekend — and honestly, it only took me about 30 minutes from start to finish {including the time I spent taking pictures!} So you can totally do this!!!!

If your food storage containers are anything like mine, then they magically multiply without your knowledge. I think they breed with each other when the doors are closed… and then when I open the doors, I see a scary mess of storage containers and lids.

Sound familiar?

The picture above is after I pulled everything out of my cabinet and paired similar containers together. Then I purged anything that didn’t meet my criteria below…

A Few Reasons To Purge Your Food Storage Containers:

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1. They don’t have a lid — or the lid doesn’t fit tightly

2. They are chipped, broken, melted, stained, or damaged in some way

3. They are actually disposable containers you’ve been using for 4 years

4. They are old Cool Whip, sour cream, butter, or cottage cheese containers

5. They don’t stack or “nest” nicely inside  each other

6. They are too big or small and never seem to get used

While I can honestly say that I did not have any storage containers that fell under #1, #3, or #4, I definitely had a few containers to get rid of.

Below are the only containers I kept — aren’t you proud of me!

Tips for Organizing Your Food Storage Containers:

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1. Keep ONLY what you need and use. Period!

2. Store larger, seasonal containers in the basement or on a top shelf.

3. Remember that squares and rectangles take up less space than circles

4. Group smaller containers inside of shoe boxes or other larger storage containers {see picture above}

5. Keep all the lids in a separate container — this will make them easier to find and keep organized.

6. Store smaller containers towards the front and larger containers towards the back

My Before and After Transformation:

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After about 30 minutes of sorting, sifting, and purging — this is what I accomplished.

I know it’s not a HUGE transformation {and the lighting was horrible for taking pictures} but it has seriously made such a difference when we’re searching for food storage containers. Plus, it’s nice not to have anything fall out when I open the doors!

So, if you’re looking for a quick, simple project to tackle this week, maybe you should take a look at your food storage containers.

What are your best tips for containing your container clutter?

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Summer is in full swing, and depending on where you live, it might just be too hot to venture outside during the middle of the day.

We’ve had several hot, humid, summer days already and the weather forecast shows several more to come over the next few weeks. So I’m taking advantage of my time indoors {with the air conditioning on} to tackle a few organizing projects this summer.

Here are a few projects I’ve already finished or still plan to do:

1. Declutter the closets.

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Eventually, I plan to tackle all our closets, but for now, I’m focusing on installing and organizing our master closet and our future nursery closet.  The summer is a great time to purge any winter or fall items that you did not wear this past year. Plus, by donating them now, they will be for sale at the thrift stores when people are getting ready to go back-to-school shopping.

And ever since my mom found out we’re having a baby girl, she’s been shopping every garage sale she sees for adorable baby clothes — so one of my mini organizing projects will be to divide those up by size and get them situated in our nursery closet and dresser.

2. Take stock of the pantry and freezer.

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I actually started this projects a few weeks ago and was able to go almost 2 full weeks without buying any groceries!! I got creative making meals that used primarily the ingredients we had in our freezer and pantry and made more room to stock up again this fall. It feels great to have a semi-empty freezer and pantry for a bit — and it’s a great time to defrost our freezer too.

3. Clean out the garage.

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I know, this sounds like a HUGE task — and it’s not indoors!  However, if you get started with 2 hours on a Saturday, you might be surprised at how much junk you can get rid of. We did this a couple weeks ago when it wasn’t quite as hot, and it was SOOO nice to have a clean and organized garage again!

4. Clean out and clean up the winter gear.

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This might not apply to warmer climates, but whenever summer rolls around, I take an hour or so to go through all our winter gear. I get rid of anything we won’t need next year, wash everything I’m planning to keep, and then store it in our upstairs closet so it’s not cluttering up our entryways in the summer and fall months.

I’ve tried tackling this project in the spring, but I find that we still end up using some of our coats {and even gloves or hats} on cold spring mornings so it really doesn’t pay for me to do it until summer.

5. Weed out and donate extra toiletries.

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I know this might sound absolutely ridiculous to some of you, but since I’m always shopping the sales and using coupons and rebates, I get nearly ALL our toiletries for free — and sometimes I even get paid to buy them!

Eventually, I end up with a bunch of extras that we probably don’t need — so twice a year I weed through them and donate a bunch of brand new toiletries to local food pantries. I’m planning to do this in the next week or so and will probably donate over $100 worth of products that I got for free!

6. Clean out our filing cabinet.

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This is another project I usually tackle twice each year — just because paper clutter accumulates SOOOO quickly! It honestly only takes me 30 to 45 minutes to quickly flip through every file and purge any unneeded papers.

I make a “recycle” pile and a “shred” pile and am always amazed at how much paper I can get rid of! It’s so wonderful to know that we can start off the new school year with a freshly organized filing cabinet.

These are just a few of the projects I like to accomplish every  summer when I’m cooped up inside during those hot, humid days. Of course, we’re still working like crazy to finish all our house projects… but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to let our house become a disorganized mess just because it’s summer and we’re off our normal routine!

What projects are you hoping / planning to tackle yet this summer?

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If you live in Michigan and decide to move 3 days before Christmas — chances are pretty good that the weather is going to be cold.

So, when we moved into our new house just a couple days before Christmas, we were thankful that although the weather was cold, it was NOT snowing, raining, sleeting…or below freezing. I think the sun actually came out for part of the day!

Even still, we tried to move as quickly as possible and ended up shoving lots of “stuff” in our extra garage… just as a place to put it for now {who can relate to that!?!?}

But then, when we started tearing up and gutting nearly half our main floor, we needed a temporary holding space for all the carpet, pad, trim, doors, windows, etc. that we were pulling out of our house. And since it was still winter, those things also went into our extra garage!

So pretty soon, our extra garage looked like this:

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Yup, it was pretty bad!

Thankfully, we do have another 2-stall garage so both of our cars were still inside throughout this whole process

But two weekends ago, we decided we couldn’t handle the mess any more and it was time to clean out our garage. So we ordered a 10-yard dumpster.

We figured it would take us several days to clean out our garage and fill this dumpster and I was actually worried we wouldn’t be able to fit everything in the dumpster.

But, after ONE afternoon, we managed to clean out the entire garage and filled our dumpster to the brim! Dave practically “packed” the dumpster like a puzzle so everything fit perfectly and there was no wasted space.

And now our extra garage looks like this:

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Obviously, it still needs a good cleaning {and repainting!} but it is currently one of Dave’s favorite spaces to “hang out” — we actually call it “The Man Cave” right now!

He has a TV with surround sound, his weight bench, his grill, the tractor, a workbench area, etc. etc….so you can see why he likes to “hide out” in here for long periods of time!!

I was so excited about our quick, one-day garage transformation and figured maybe it might motivate some of you too. I’m sure many of your garages are much cleaner than ours was…so just think how much you can accomplish in one day; or even just one afternoon {and seriously, the dumpster was SOOO convenient and only cost about $175 for a week}

With the long Fourth of July weekend coming up, now might be just the time to call for a dumpster and have a garage cleaning party!!

Oh, and just because I think it’s so cute, here’s a picture of the outside of our second garage/Man Cave.

What are your biggest “garage organizing” issues?

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Is your garage as bad as ours? Is it worse? Can you fit your car(s) in the garage or not?

We’re planning to clean out our main garage later this summer and I’ll have all sorts of garage organizing tips to share with you then!!!

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