For people that know me, they know I love a box and a basket. I like things in their right place. If you haven’t read Marie Kondo’s book on tidying – well you must. No lie, I read it and was so inspired to tidy, I leapt out of bed at 1am and began reorganizing my closet. There is a simple joy in always knowing where something is, to thinking ‘I need a tape measure’ and not having to rummage through multiple drawers of miscellaneous objects to find it. I also like labels, and recently became the proud owner of my very own label maker – I. LOVE. IT. So this leads me to my five top tips to keep a tidy home.
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De clutter. You cannot reorganize mess, it will simply turn back into mess in a matter of weeks if not days. First declutter. Throw away Ikea manuals – you will never ever need them again I promise. Throw away random cables and wires. Be ruthless. Unless you are ruthless, the next four steps are pointless.
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Box and basket. Keep items of the same category in their own container. Having a box saying ‘jumpers’ is no good. It needs to be more specific.
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Label. This is a personal favorite. I don’t label for myself – I know to put my scarf back in the scarf box, but my husband….well, the labels help.
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At the end of every day (if you must, at the end of every week) clear out scrap paper, old mail, receipts. Do not let them build up. For some reason the longer we keep hold of something the more precious we assume it is. If we just threw away that receipt when we first got it we’d be fine. Instead we keep it in our purses until we have no idea what it was for but assume because it’s so old we should keep it. It’s madness. Throw it away immediately.
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At the end of summer, put your summer clothes away. If there is anything you haven’t worn that summer, donate it to charity. I guarantee if you haven’t worn it this summer you won’t wear it next. Clean them all and vacuum pack them away and bring out your winter clothes. It makes my clothes look fresh each season and means you have more space in your wardrobe year round.