How to Finally Declutter Your Closet

How to Finally Declutter Your Closet

We’ve written about garage organization, basement organization and kitchen decluttering. These areas are usually where our clutter accumulates the most but there’s another one that’s a favourite hiding place for junk; our closets. Like our garages and basements, our closets are typically a dumping ground for things that we don’t have a home for. It’s another way to temporarily cloak our addiction to stuff, especially clothing.

Moreover, because clothes are one of the hardest types of items to get rid of, you’re left with bulging closets that require you to wear safety equipment every time you open their door. In today’s market of fast fashion and competitive clothing markets, low quality, high quantity, discounted clothes have paved the way to closets full of clutter.

Buried in these closets is the roughly 20% of clothing that most people actually wear. The other 80% of items are never worn because they’re too old, don’t fit or still have tags because they looked good in-store or were a great deal.

If this sounds familiar and you’re tired of staring at a wall full of clothes thinking you have nothing to wear, it might be time to declutter your closet.

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Decluttering: The Ultimate List of 300+ Things to Throw Away Today

Decluttering: The Ultimate List of 300+ Things to Throw Away Today

Readers of this blog know that we’re big fans of decluttering and organization, with articles on topics such as organizing your basement and beating back-to-school clutter.

Those articles mainly covered the how–with tips and tricks, the when–with timed decluttering sessions, and finally the why–your sanity, of course! It’s understandably challenging to take the first step in decluttering when the mountain of junk in your home is overwhelming. The only way to conquer any mountain, however, is always the same: by taking the first step.

So today we’re going to give you the last piece in the puzzle, the what. We’re firing off a list of 300+ things you can throw away so you can take the first step to conquering that mountain today.

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How to Organize Your Kitchen: Part 2 - Kitchen Storage

How to Organize Your Kitchen: Part 2 – Kitchen Storage

Howdy folks! How’s the kitchen organization coming along? Last week in part 1 we talked about the first task in organizing your kitchen: decluttering. It’s understandably a massive undertaking for most of us but a necessary one before you even start looking at kitchen storage. To be honest, we ourselves haven’t been able to set aside a big enough block of time to completely declutter our kitchen yet either. The truth is, we haven’t had the chance to ship the kids off to their grandparents.

What we have been doing is decluttering for 15 minutes every day–a tip you might know from our article on beating back-to-school clutter. It’s been pretty successful so far and we love how we’re finally able to use a cutting board on the countertop without relocating half the kitchen.

Give these timed sessions a try if you find yourselves short on time or babysitters. It’ll allow you to start putting some of these kitchen storage tips to use even if you haven’t completed decluttering yet.

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How to Organize Your Kitchen: Part 1 - Decluttering

How to Organize Your Kitchen: Part 1 – Decluttering

Are you finding yourself practicing your Jenga skills every time you’re cleaning up leftovers and need a Tupperware container? Have you opened up your pantry cupboard door in the morning and been knocked square in the nose by the box of Fruit Rollups that was precariously perched on top of your box of cereal? We know you can answer yes to both of these, because we certainly can.

Because the kitchen is the most often used room in our homes, it’s usually also the most cluttered and disorganized. Our house is no exception. Every evening, we spend a considerable amount of time cleaning up the kitchen after dinner but every morning, the hurricane of breakfast prep and morning rituals take their toll.

You remember when you were young and watched people in sci-fi movies using cool handheld computers? They were from a time in the distant future that could look up anything and have the information immediately right in the palm of their hand. Well, that time is now and those people are us.

For us, the main reason this happens is probably because we spend a significant portion of our time clearing tiny weapons of mass destruction off our floors and don’t have enough time to clean the kitchen and the rest of the house. Other reasons are more typical ones, independent of whether there are little people booby trapping your every step. The first is simply having too much stuff in our kitchen, and the second is the lack of good kitchen organization.

To tackle the first problem, we know we’re going to have to declutter and get rid of all the stuff that’s collected in our kitchen over the years. If you’re going to do the same and need some help on how to organize your kitchen, read on. This is part 1 of a 2 part series. Next week we’ll be taking on our second problem: kitchen organization.

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How To Get Your Kids To Clean Up Without Losing Your Mind

How to Get Your Kids to Clean Up Without Losing Your Mind

It was another typical weekend at our house. Outside, the birds are chirping and lawnmowers are humming. Inside, one kid’s screaming and the other’s running in circles, bumping into the other one each time he passes her. Mommy’s making a much needed coffee in the kitchen while I navigate the landmine-like field of toys strewn across our floors towards her.

“Good morning” she says, a smile about to creep across her face when all of a sudden her eyes go wide. “FFFF—udggggsicle!“, I blurt out, as I connect the reason for her expression with the stabbing pain in my foot. I look down to see that a plastic star shaped toy has forcefully mated with it. I hop around awkwardly as I continue to silently mouth words that no child under 25 should hear.

Young children are mostly destroyers, happiest when they’re sitting in the centre of a makeshift ball pit of their own creation using all the toys you’ve just put away.

When I’m finally able to speak again, I tell the kids to clean up their toys. I even throw in an “or else!” at the end. You can imagine how thrilled I was then, that after my command, I watched as my daughter continued screaming and my son kept on running. My words had no effect, maybe because my daughter’s perfectly pitched screaming was the best white noise machine ever. Or, more likely, because we’d never actually taught them to clean up and they thought Daddy was excitedly cheering them on.

Deciding it was time to put my foot down–without the fear of stepping on tiny weapons of mass destruction–I turned to Google for help. I typed “How to Get Your Kids to Clean Up Without Killing Them”, the end of which I quickly changed to “Without Losing Your Mind” as my wife walked over. A tap of the enter key and there were the tips and tricks I hoped to tattoo on my children’s foreheads–just kidding, of course.

 

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Garage Organization

21 Amazing Ideas For Great Garage Organization

Did you know that it was National Clean Out Your Garage Day on September 10? We missed it because we didn’t either! If we had known, we would have absolutely, positively spent the day working on garage organization—or at least thought about it anyway.

Admittedly, the fact that the day was created by a company specializing in garage organization products (The LeHigh Group) kind of makes you wonder whether it was created just for marketing purposes. However, considering that 25% of people with 2 car garages don’t have room to park cars inside of them (U.S. Department of Energy), it’s likely that The Lehigh Group was on to something.

It’s a perfect time to reclaim your garage so your vehicle can be warm and cozy and proud to park there again.

Like the basement, your garage usually ends up becoming a dumping ground for all the junk that you can’t find space for anywhere else. Seasonal items like holiday decorations, sporting equipment and boxes full of 2 generations worth of sentimental clutter have probably found their home there, making the thought of garage organization seem worse than a trip to the dentist.

With winter around the corner and cooler outdoor temperatures to work in, it’s a perfect time to reclaim your garage so your vehicle can be warm and cozy and proud to park there again.

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7 Ways to Beat Back-to-School Clutter

7 Ways to Beat Back-to-School Clutter

Can you believe it’s September already? The summer’s once again come and gone in the blink of an eye.  What’s made it feel even shorter is the amazing weather we’ve had here in Toronto and the GTA. It’s been perfect for barbecues and outdoor activities. Toronto families have been fortunate this summer to have such great weather to spend outdoors.

Now that summer’s drawn to a close, it’s time to take a step back. All those exciting summer activities have surely left a trail of garbage and clutter in their wake. Sporting goods as well as park and beach accessories have most likely taken over your car and the entrance areas of your home. You can’t help but cringe every time you walk by with another armful of back-to-school supplies you’ll have to find space for.

And now that school has started, you know the clutter will only get worse as your kids’ homework and school supplies are brought home day after day. That’s why it’s important to rein in the clutter now before it takes a hold of you and your home over the course of the next year. A 2012 UCLA study confirms what’s pretty obvious to most of us; there’s a link between stress levels and clutter.

Similar to knowing the dentist will stop using that horrible high pitched buzzing tool on your teeth after only a few minutes, knowing there’s a limit to your suffering makes it easier.

In addition to increased stress levels, researchers in this study tell us that the chaos of clutter restricts our ability to focus. We don’t know about you, but we’ve got enough restrictions on our ability to focus and can’t afford any more.

So what can you do about it? Read on for a list of our favourite ways to survive the school year clutter free.

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3 Simple Steps To Basement Organization

3 Simple Steps To Basement Organization

Hi everyone! As promised, we’re back with some helpful tips on our favorite subjects: garbage and junk removal! Today were going to look at how junk tends to accumulate in our basements and  some simple steps to take for better basement organization.

For most people, cleaning around the house is just another part of their daily routine. In fact most homes are usually relatively tidy and are even more so when guests are coming. But most homes also have a dirty little secret: the basement! (Pun totally intended.)

I say secret, but it’s actually anything but one. The basement’s usually where our homeless belongings go for an extended vacation. Most of our basements are dirty, cluttered and in the worst of cases, even breeding grounds for undesirable guests I’d rather not think about, much less write about.

Got your attention with the thought of unspeakable critters bunking in your basement? In need of some basement organization ideas? Well, then it’s time to get moving and deal with the war zone you call your basement once and for all!

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