It is important to make your bed every day and teach your children to do the same. Developing the habit of making the beds daily can be helped by keeping the bedding simple and doing it as soon as you get out of bed in the mornings. You will find that it instantly makes space look neater and it actually takes under a minute to achieve this.
There is no denying that one of the best parts of waking up every morning is awakening to a kitchen with a sink that does not have any dirty dishes in it. As such, it is a great idea to load the dishwasher before going to bed so you will be greeted with clean dishes in the morning. Ashley’s technique is to clean as you go. I can never ever go to bed with dishes in the sink – it’s my pet peeve!
A few other organizing tips are:
- Start a load laundry every morning
- Do a 15-minute clean sweet through your house in the morning and the evening
- Pack lunches or snacks for yourself and or family every evening
- Get in the habit of getting your mail every day
Now I’m not the one to be giving how-to declutter advice because I love clutter – I’m an organized mess! Ashley is the pro here. She has taught me so many tips, like pulling everything out and creating a keep pile (mine is large), give away pile, throw away pile and later I *might* go back and pull 2 or 3 things back out lol! It comes down to does the item bring you joy? Here are 10 questions you should ask yourself:
- Is the item something I use regularly?
- If not, is it something that I love?
- Am I keeping this out of obligation or expectation?
- Am I holding on to this because I think I should love it?
- Am I saving this just in case?
- Could something else I own do the same job?
- Do I have multiples of the same thing?
- Am I holding on to a broken item to fix one day?
- Is this item worth the time I spend cleaning/storing it?
- Could I use this space for something else?
Quick Organization Checklist
Bedroom/Closet
- Throw away any underwear that’s got holes, bad elastic or just doesn’t fit
- Toss any bras that don’t fit, have broken underwire or you don’t wear
- Throw any clothes that have holes, or are beyond repair
- Donate clothes that no longer fit…or you won’t wear again
- Throw broken jewelry or those single earrings you lost the other set of
- Throw out shoes that are beyond repair – even if they are your favorite
- Sort out your clothes hangers and throw out broken ones
- Donate handbags you no longer use
- Throw out old pillows and bedding
- Throw out all your socks with holes
Kitchen
- Check all your spices and throw away out of date ones
- Throw out broken kitchen appliances
- Donate crockery or dishes you never use
- Donate food that you aren’t going to ever use
- Throw away chipped cups, glasses, and crockery
- Throw away odd Tupperware, like lids or containers with no lids
- Donate cookbooks you don’t use…maybe even all of them if you look online for recipes now
- Throw out take out menus…you can look online when you need them
- Throw out unsharp knives, bent cutlery
- Donate platters and cups that you don’t use or need (We all have a cupboard of 20 or so waterbottles…do we really need 5 per person in the house?)
- Check expiration dates on all the canned and dried food
- Look through the condiments and trash expired ones
- Donate appliances you never use
- Throw out kitchen towels that have holes
Family room
- Donate old CD/DVD’s you no longer use
- Trash scratched CD/DVD’s
- Trash any throw pillows/cushions with holes, or that have lost their shape
- Any furniture you don’t like, donate
- Donate any unwanted or broken knickknacks (or get rid of all the extras!)
- Donate books or magazines you don’t read – nursing homes love these!
- Outdated or broken electronics and technology get rid of
- Board games that never get played can be donated (inner-city schools/boys and girls clubs/etc)
- Games or puzzles with pieces missing can be trashed
- Any candles you never use can be given away
- Trash old or broken remotes
- Done puzzle books can be recycled
Bathroom
- Trash any out of date cosmetics
- Any beauty product gifts you will never use can be donated to women’s shelter
- Trash old makeup brushes and clean ones you want to keep. Taking care of makeup brushes is super important in protecting your investment and helping with breakouts
- Hair ties that have lost elastic can be thrown out
- Old hair brushes can be thrown out
- Out of date pills or ones you no longer use need to go in the trash; old prescriptions can be turned into police station dropboxes for free
- Towels with holes or frayed edges can be donated to the humane society
- Face cloths and towels that you never use because they feel rough can be donated to the humane society
- Throw out old shampoos and conditioners you never use
- Trash nail polish that has dried up or you no longer use
Laundry room
- Get rid of those mismatched socks!
- Clean out cleaning products you no longer use
- Any clothing that has been sitting waiting for a repair for more than six months…donate to someone that will mend them
- Trash broken brooms, mops, dusters, etc
Paperwork/Desk
- Old bills and tax returns. If these are past the keep date then shred them and throw them in the recycle trash
- Receipts you no longer need
- Trash files you no longer need
- Throw out old travel brochures
Purse
- Trash loyalty cards you don’t use
- Clear out all old receipts
- Cut up out of date bank cards
- Check any notes in your purse, make sure you have actioned them, then trash
- Put business cards you need an organized spot, throw out the rest
Basement/garage
- Donate any unused exercise equipment
- Throw out broken, rusted tools
- Trash or donate anything that has been put in the garage because it is broken, unused, etc.
- Get rid of any dried out paint
- Donate any extra furniture you have stored
Life skills laundry day! We’re working on teaching some life skills to our kiddos while we are social distancing. This can be a great activity for all ages to help with this never-ending chore. Some items we covered:
1️⃣ how to sort dirty clothes
2️⃣ checking for stains (treating if necessary) and checking pockets for any items left
3️⃣ how to use washing machine (we went through settings/buttons and what they mean)
4️⃣ how much detergent to use and where it goes
5️⃣ teaching how to use dryer (we went through settings/buttons and what they mean)
6️⃣ cleaning lint trap with each load
7️⃣ how to fold clothes and towels (my way🤣)
8️⃣ showing them how to put clothes away properly.
It went surprisingly well! I learned to let go of some of my Type A tendencies and not to underestimate my little ones – they CAN be huge helpers if I let them be!
