Areas that challenge us can remain in disarray much longer than we’d like. Sometimes a little collaborative thinking is all you need to jump-start the process.
Bathroom
Challenge
- Lack of storage
- Poor use of existing storage
Solution
- Review stock
- Dispose of old PX (recycle at your neighborhood drug store)
- Recycle bottles, jars, shampoos, or lotions that you will not use
- Add Storage – sounds simple and it is
Now you are ready to consider
- Installing racks or hooks for towels, mounting a wall cabinet above the toilet
- Add hooks inside your cabinets, store the bulky stock in another area
- Only keep what you need on hand, use plastic containers for toiletries, makeup, and small items
Closet
Challenge
- Clothes are disorganized
- Overstuffed drawers
- Multiple items per hanger
Solution
- Rotate your seasonal clothes – including shoes
- Store shoes in hanging shoe bags or clear shoe boxes
- Review, purge, repair, or donate your clothes at each rotation
- Install another clothing pole
- Consider a closet organizing system for your interior closet
- Stackable bins on the floor of the closet
- Store bulky items elsewhere
- Add shelving
- Install lighting
Kitchen
Challenge
- Nothing for dinner but the cupboards are full
- Can’t find the right utensil when you need them
- Drawers are cluttered
- Looking for stuff makes cooking a drag
Solution
- Use a wall sorter for mail or notes, mail, and communications
- Store like items together in the cupboard – canned goods, baking, etc
- Use stackers, move, or add shelves
- Hang pots and pans and use the door for lids
- Use drawer organizers
- Bring the kids plates to their level – same with cutlery
- Containerize, label container
Paper Flow
Challenge
- Bills get misplaced or paid late
- Mail, lists, bills scattered about the house
- Piles of papers with no place to put them
- Not sure where your “important paperwork” is
- Incoming art work taking over the kitchen
Solution
- Create a dedicated place for incoming mail
- Give each family member a place for their paperwork – envelope or container
- Create a filing system that suits your personal needs
- Contain all important documents (passport, birth certificates, marriage license, deeds, etc) in a home safe
- Allocate a drop spot for incoming art work until it gets hung on the wall of fame – either the fridge, the cork or magnet board, or art string.