Designers Decluttering Tips & Hints

Whether you are a busy parent or just always on the go; those home task can start to pile up quickly. Decluttering and organizing are one way to eliminate those issues. It takes a long time to go through everything and before you know it, things are out of place and hard to find.

In order to manage clutter you have to focus on one area at a time. The most common places clutter starts are kitchen and bathroom cabinets and drawers. Another area where clutter happens is kitchen pantries and bedroom dresser drawers. Start with the area you are more active in on a daily basis. When your surrounding area is clean and clutter free, it allows your mind, body, and spirit to think clearly and focus.

DESIGNER TIP#1: Make sure to remove all items out of cabinets or drawers and wipe the shelf/surface clean before putting them back.

Kitchen and bathroom cabinets and drawers are used on a daily basis. Whether it's for cooking or preparing for your day, these areas should be the first of your decluttering project.

DESIGNERS HINT: Pick one room and focus on that task until completely finished. This will help manage time and allow you to finish.

Kitchen cabinets should be organized by categories such as pots & pans, containers, cups, plates, baking ware, etc. Each cabinet should have its own category with kitchen essentials. It's okay to share with other categories, as long as you keep all same items together.

Kitchen drawers can be organized by utensils, silverware, knives, towels, oven mitts, etc. Bathroom cabinets can be organized by towels, body essentials, cleaning supplies, medicine, hair electronics, etc. Bathroom drawers follows as tooth paste, hair brushes, hair accessories, etc. Once you have finished organizing all of your kitchen or bathroom cabinets and drawers, you should feel much better. Hopefully you cleaned them all out first.

DESIGNERS HINT: Clutter creates stress: Decluttering relieves stress.

DESIGNERS TIP#2: NO JUNK DRAWERS ALLOWED!

Junk drawers are nothing but clutter. If you have one or more immediately clear them out and go through everything. Toss away what you don't use or need and if you have no place to put it; that means you really don't need it. GET RID OF IT.

Depending on how long it takes you to finish your first decluttering project of cabinets and drawers. You may have to pick another day and time to move along to the next phase. If you still have daylight and time you should move along to the next phase. If your too tired and worn out, stop and rest. Take a break and decide when you will be able to start again.

Moving forward to pantries. We use pantries everyday to store food and kitchen essentials. This area can get overcrowded and unorganized very quickly. To declutter a pantry we must organize food into categories and groups.

1. Can Goods- HINT: Stack up to save space.

2. Boxes-by size

3. Bags- use baskets

4. Jars- stack these too, only two high though.

5. Containers- can keep cereal fresher longer.

DESIGNERS TIP#3: REMOVE ALL EXPIRED DATES FROM AT LEAST 3 MONTHS OLD. YOU CAN DONATE THEM TO CHARITY. GATHER THEM AND BRING THEM TO YOUR LOCAL FOOD PANTRY OR CHURCH.

DESIGNERS HINT: Check which local ones will accept expired foods. Most of them will- Some of them won't. DO YOUR RESEARCH.

Once all expired items are removed and everything has been organized by categories you should have a clean, organized, and clutter free pantry. This will allow you to successfully prepare food without the stress or hassle of searching for lost items.

Now you can move onto the dreadful bedroom dressers. They maybe overloaded, unfolded, or full of junk. DESIGNERS HINT: The best way to start will be to start from top to bottom- left to right. Remove all items one drawer at a time. Place them on your bed, floor, or flat surface. Go through them to check for sizes, holes, rips, or stains. Toss any that has those bad qualities with holes, rips, or stains. If they don't fit by being too small or big, you should give them away. Once all items have been checked & folded, it's time to put them back all nice and neat back into the dresser drawer. This process should be done to each drawer.

REMEMBER: NO JUNK DRAWERS ALLOWED!

"Who knows, you may create extra space for something new, yay"!

After all task have been completed you should have clean, organized, and most importantly clutter free cabinets, drawers, and pantry. You will be able to find and locate items that may have been hidden, lost, or just simply misplaced.

I hope this will help you with all my designer tips and hints to live a clean and clutter free home.