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Cleaning and Organizing Your Living Space

Want to enjoy a tidier, larger and more organized living space? With a little organization, you can make your home easier to clean, allowing you to spend less time on chores throughout the week.

In order to successfully take on this project, you will need to first begin with de-cluttering your home. Start with one section of your living space at a time so as not to get overwhelmed. Use storage containers, including furniture that doubles as storage units. Consider ridding yourself of unused or unnecessary items.

Once you have successfully organized, it is important to learn useful cleaning tips that you can put to use right away, allowing you to clean smarter, not harder. Finally, once your home is in an ideal state and more organized than it was, you can redecorate should you choose to do so. Consider applying new coats of paint or even painting one wall to add a sense of style to your space. To learn the best tips and tricks for cleaning and organizing your living space, review the information in the sections below.

Ways to De-clutter Your Home

While it may seem like an overwhelming task, there is an array of benefits to de-cluttering your home. Not only does an uncluttered home reduce your stress and daily cleaning tasks, but it can actually make your space look bigger and more inviting. Once you have decided to de-clutter, it is important to devise a strategy in order to make the task less daunting and to work more efficiently. There are a number of ways that you can do this, including starting small, participating in a 365 day challenge and obtaining better storage solutions.

It is recommended that you start on one task at a time or one section of the house. One of the most common forms of clutter consists of paper. Try to rid yourself of unwanted or unnecessary paper, documents, mailings, advertisements and other items. Make a habit of shredding or recycling paper products as soon as they are no longer of use.

There are different challenges that you can take on that provide a fun and exciting way to de-clutter your home. One such challenge involves giving away one item once a day for 365 days. This can help you rid yourself of unused items, especially clothing. It is actually estimated that most people only wear 20 percent of their clothing 80 percent of the time.

Another solution that can help you to keep your home uncluttered once you have de-cluttered your place is to invest in storage bins. Storage bins come in many shapes and sizes. You can even personalize your storage bins with labels, making organization even easier.

Storage Solutions for Your Apartment

Storage containers can help you to get better organized and optimize the space within your home, especially if you have a smaller apartment. In some cases, you may even be able to find furniture that doubles as a storage unit, such as an ottoman or a bedframe that has shelving units. By going from one room of your home to the next, you can view which areas of your home could use extra storage.

If you find your bedroom closet full of clutter and disarray, consider purchasing hangers that are all made from the same type of material and align your clothing to face the same direction. This can make it easier to move hangers and ensure that clothes will not fall off, all the while creating more space. If you have a lot of shoes in your closet, consider a shoe rack that either sits at the bottom of your closet or hangs from your closet wall or door.

Another common place that can become cluttered within your home is the bathroom. By adding a removable rack inside of your cabinets, you will create more space in which you can place bathroom products. Caddies are another great bathroom storage tool as they can be placed on top of sinks, inside of showers and on the sides of tubs.

Tips for Organizing Your Place

When de-cluttering your living space and utilizing storage containers, it is crucial that you group like things together in order to keep your home organized and to know where items are, should you need them. If there are items that you use more frequently, it is best to ensure that these items are in an easily accessible place. Every item should have its place, ensuring that your home remains neat and tidy. In order to determine the best place for each item, you may need to determine:

  • Who uses the item.
  • What the is used for.
  • How often the item gets used.

For example, if you have various laundry supplies or extra laundry baskets, consider storing them in the laundry room where they will be easily accessible for the task at hand.

If you are having trouble remembering where you put things, consider the use of labels on storage bins in order to always ensure that an item is returned to its proper place. If you have children, consider putting their toys within a low tote or toy chest. This can help children learn to return their toys when they are done with them.

Once you have completely de-cluttered and organized your living space, it is a good idea to go over everything one more time with a critical eye. Ensure that items that are used often, such as certain medications, should be placed in front of items that are used less often. There may be items that you would like to show in visible places such as works of art or family photos.

Tips for a Cleaner Living Space

No matter how organized you are, your home will get dirty from time to time. While good habits, such as cleaning up as you go, can lessen the amount of cleaning that you may need to do, there are a number of cleaning tips that can help you to keep your home tidy.

While you may have only used it in baking goods before, baking soda is a powerful cleaning agent that can help you to eliminate odors. Unlike most cleaning products, baking soda is incredibly versatile. If you have stained food containers or greasy dishes, a sponge and baking soda can often work better than dish detergent.

To deodorize your furniture such as couches and chairs, sprinkle a little bit of baking soda on your furniture, let it sit for a few minutes and then vacuum your furniture. You can use this same technique on pet areas such as dog and cat beds.

Cleaning the microwave can be hassle, but you can greatly reduce the mess by covering any food that you microwave with a paper towel. Any grime in your microwave can easily be cleaned by placing wet paper towels within your microwave and heating them up for a few minutes. This will soften the stains and grime within your microwave and allow for quick and easy cleaning.

How to Choose Paint Colors for Your Place

The paint color that you choose can say a lot about you and your home. In addition to color, it is important to consider the type of paint to use within your home. There are a variety of paint sheens available in oil and latex. Latex is commonly used over oil as it is fade resistant and you can generally expect to see fewer blisters on the paint. Glossy paint is another popular choice as it is stain resistant and best used for rooms that have a lot of activity and use. For example, high-gloss paint is best used in kitchens as grease can often accumulate on the walls of a kitchen. If you used a high gloss paint, you can easily wipe the grease away from the walls. However, it is worth knowing that high gloss paint is often more expensive than a lower gloss paint or other types of paint.

There is a lot to consider when determining the shade of paint that you would like to use in your home. What mood do you hope the paint will inspire? Warm colors like reds, yellows and oranges can be relaxing. Cool colors such as blues, greens and purples can make a room appear larger. Neutral colors such as tan and off-white allow more room for decoration. Neutral colors offer far more flexibility when it comes to the colors of your furniture and accessories as the color of your furniture is not likely to clash with neutral painted walls.

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