Keeping the Castle » clutter control

Sprucing up Your Living Room

Kathy Zengolewicz — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:25:46 +0000

What can I say about the living room? After the kitchen, my living room is the busiest area in the whole house. The only ones living in the house are my husband and myself, but at times it looks like there’s a whole tribe camped out here. Yes, it get’s that dirty.

Kathy Zengolewicz

I love to listen to music and dance, well it’s what I call dancing, while I dust and straighten up. I am sure that you have mismatched socks around the house so put on aside for dusting. Spray the sock with furniture polish, put it on like a mitten and dust your lamp tables, chair and table legs, knick knacks, etc. When dusting always dust from the top down.

Use a bucket of bleach water (but be very careful, you don’t want a spill) and a clean cloth, or Clorox disinfecting wipes for cleaning down you light switch plates, phones, door jambs, etc. In winter months it’s especially necessary to wipe your door knobs to rid them of virus and flu germs.

Save the vacuuming for last. Using a handheld vacuum for the chair and sofa cushions is a lot easier than dragging the larger vacuum around. Handheld vacuums are great for picking up crumbs and dust in between cleanings. Some housekeepers vacuum multiple times during the week, especially if there is a pet in the house, but once or twice a week should be enough in most circumstances.

Keep the clutter to a minimum on the coffee table, keep books and magazines in a neat pile. Fold afghans or sofa throws when you finish with them and give any pillows a quick fluff. Throw out old newspapers and put video equipment away after playing. If you do these things daily, you home will never be in a state of disarray.

Finally, make sure to have a good sturdy door mat for wiping your feet. The mats made of artificial grass do the best jobs of getting debris from shoes so you track less dirt inside.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

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Organize Your Work Space

Kathy Zengolewicz — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:29:27 +0000

Keeping your work space organized will help you to keep your work flowing. It doesn’t have to be a work space, it can be the place you go to do sewing, crafting or any hobby. If you have a blank wall in your laundry room you can use a pegboard. It will keep all of your supplies intact.

Image: Kathy Zengolewicz

Place a small table under the pegboard to hold a couple of baskets. I save any gift bags or bows that I receive, that look nice, and re-use them for gifts that I give to others. You can use the baskets to store gift bags and bows.

Group all of your like objects together. For example I group my scissors together with my hole punches. Use hooks to hang your scissors, punches and small items like rolls of ribbon and tape. To store your rolls of wrapping paper, stand them upright on the table, against the pegboard, and attach a small bungee cord to hold them together. Don’t make the cord too tight or it may rip your gift wrap.

You can attach a small black mailbox to hold things like a glue gun and extra glue sticks. I you have the kind of mailbox that has a newspaper holder on the bottom to store my craft paper.

If you keep the table top free of clutter, when you are working on a project you will have plenty of room for your tape, scissors, glue, craft paper, etc. It is much easier to complete a project when you and your work area are organized.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

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Tips to Get Your Organization Started

Karen Weideman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:27:55 +0000

Some people have an all or nothing attitude. They feel that if their house can’t be perfectly clean and organized, then there’s no sense in trying. Rather than taking the clutter one pile at a time, they let it pile up and overwhelm them. As promised, here are some tips for tackling the clutter.

1. Commit to 15 minutes. Set the timer for 15 minutes and commit to work for that amount of time. Give yourself permission to stop working when the timer buzzes. This will help get you started and the time you’re working doesn’t seem so overwhelming. This way you can conquer the clutter one small pile at a time. And it’s amazing the amount of work that you can get done when you diligently work with no distractions.

2. Make a compromise. Set realistic expectations for how you want your house to look. For me, I try to keep the common areas fairly clean. Each day I *try* to put away the things in the main areas of the house. It makes me feel like things are under control, even though there’s five loads of laundry waiting.

3. Get the whole family involved. Set the timer and have everyone work together for 10-15 minutes. Encourage teamwork, working as a family, responsibility, and end results.

What tips do you have for getting organized?

image (c) Karen Weideman

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5 Tips for Organizing Your Kitchen

Karen Weideman — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:04:29 +0000

Kitchens tend to be a dumping ground for everything. We walk in the door and drop our keys, purse, mail, and shopping bags on the counter. We put away the groceries and somewhere in our subconsciousness find it ok to leave the mail there. Next thing we know, we have a few little items scattered throughout the room.

I am guilty of disorganization in my kitchen. I am trying to get better though. Here are a few kitchen organizing tips.

1) Put things away when you’re done using them. If we did this with everything our lives would be so much cleaner and organized.

2) Buy functional organizational tools. Don’t just buy some baskets because you think you can use them. Access your needs and space. Decide what will work and then make the purchases. Yesterday, I bought some little plastic baskets for my kitchen drawers. I bought them for the scissors, clothes pins, kid’s medicine cups and syringes, and other small items. They were pretty inexpensive too; some were 2/$1 and some were 3/$1.

3) Give a new home to things you rarely use. If you rarely use the vegetable steamer and waffle maker, then consider storing them in the garage or basement. I have a little storage container that I use for storing cookie cutters and other infrequently used utensils. It keeps them from getting in my way and junking up my kitchen drawers.

4) Have a clean up time before dinner. Each night, have a short clean up time before you begin dinner so that you can put away all the little things that are lying around. This will help keep your kitchen clean and will also make for less clean up later.

5) Try the 15 minute rule. Set the timer for 15 minutes to clean, pick up, and organize. Sometimes we put off tasks because they seem so overwhelming. If we know that we only have to clean for 15 minutes, then we’ll be more likely to get in there and tackle projects.

What kitchen organizing tips can you share?

image sxc.hu

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My Ongoing Yard Sale Pile

Karen Weideman — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:23:43 +0000

Some friends of mine have confessed to me that they still have their kid’s baby toys. Some still have the baby clothes. These are people whose children are 8-12 years old. Sure, I can understand hanging on to a *few* momentos. The key word being “few”. What I don’t understand is people that are hanging on to stuff just to have it. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.

I can hardly wait to get stuff out of my house. I know that I have way too many posssessions, but if there’s something that I know I’m not going to use anymore (such as baby toys and outgrown kid clothing) then I’m eager to see it go.

Many folks have a yard sale once each year. They go through all their closets before the big sale and try to decide what they can do without. For me, I have found that an ongoing yard sale pile works best. Each time I come across something in my home that I know we can’t use anymore, I put it into the pile. I keep the pile in my garage. I try to put the items into the boxes and sometimes I’ll even take a few seconds to price the items before they go into the boxes. This makes the yard sale day flow much smoother.

What do you think of this yard sale system? Do you think it would work for you?

For more Works for Me Wednesday tip, visit We Are THAT Family. image sxc.hu

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My Favorite Organizing and Housekeeping Posts

Maricar — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 02:47:05 +0000

There are quite a few posts about clutter control and housekeeping that I go back to again and again. There is just so much information and inspiration in these posts that one reading, or two or five, is not enough.

Here are three of my favorite posts from all over the web, just perfect for your weekend reading .

Finding the Right Tool for Organizing Toys

Maricar — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:29:36 +0000

Ever since I saw this video on organizing kid’s rooms and toys, I’ve been planning to re-do my own system for my kids’ toys. Originally, I wanted to start with this:

and pair it with several of these:

But then I found this baby on clearance:

It’s $60 originally, but was on sale for 50% off. The cashier then accidentally peeled off a bit of the finish way down at the bottom, so she gave me an additional 10% off. So it’s $27 for the entire thing, and it was already assembled.

All the colors got my kids excited (and I hope they’ll be as excited about putting their toys away in this). I like the open bins and that there are 2 different sizes. I’ll share more of the before and after of my toy organizing system in a while.

images from Sauder, Sterilite and my personal collection 2008

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Ideas for an Organizing Olympics

Maricar — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:02:02 +0000

I’m all excited about watching the Olympic Games. There’s just something special about this event and the coming together of the world’s best athletes. Maybe we can channel the excitement from the Games into our homes? I find that I’m often inspired by products and ideas into coming up with a “Hey, I can do that!” moment.

Here are some items that have inspired me lately to think about how I can organize my home better:

* Book Buggy from Levenger. This is perfect for the room where you do a lot of reading. Store your favorite books on it and pull it near your favorite chair for hours of reading. It’s on the wheels to it’s easy to push back to the wall when you’re done! DIY idea: Install casters on a lightweight bookshelf.

* Cottage Locker from LL Bean. This is my absolute dream organizer for a mudroom. Individual cubbies make it easy to store and find coats, shoes and bags. DIY Idea: Install hooks on walls for hanging coats and hats. Place a low sturdy shoe cabinet beneath the hooks to have a place to sit while putting on your shoes.

* Creativity Wall System with Chalkboard Cabinets, from Pottery Barn Kids. The low shelves make it easy for kids to store and access their things. I love the chalkboard cabinets! DIY Idea: Convert any surface to a chalkboard with chalkboard paint, available at most home improvement stores.

* Trofast storage combination from Ikea. There is so much potential here. Organizing clean and folded clothes in the laundry is one.

* Mesh Wall Bureau, available at Amazon.com. This is one of the simplest ways to organize a desk or a mail/message center. Incoming papers, bills, mailing supplies, note paper, paper clips, scissors, pens and pencils can all find a home in this unit, which comes with wall-mounting hardware.

Amazon affiliate

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Homemaking Links (7-17-08)

Maricar — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:27:05 +0000

* When gifts become clutter (at Clutter Control Freak)

* Turn your clutter into cash (via Best Syndication)

* Cloth napkins can save you money (via Philly Burbs)

* Shopping strategy (at Bend Bulletin)

* Freezer cooking and frugal living (at Filling my Freezer)

* Tips for sprucing up your home (via Suntimes)

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Decluttering Reminders from Menus4Moms

Maricar — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:47:09 +0000

One of the challenges of decluttering is knowing where to start. Often, the task is so overwhelming that it’s easier to just throw up one’s hands and give up, before even starting.

I have learned that it doesn’t really matter where I start decluttering. The important thing is that I do, one small task or area at a time. I’ve subscribed to the daily reminders from Menus4Moms. The name of the website is a little misleading. They offer help in putting together weekly menus and meal ideas, but the site is not limited to that. One of their most helpful features is the daily organizing reminder that is sent by email. The daily emails have two parts:

* a reminder to do your daily routine

* a designated task for the day

These two activities, the daily routine and the daily task, are the essential tools to use for keeping the home. The daily routine may include items like 5 minutes of decluttering, dealing with one load of laundry, loading and emptying the dishwasher, and routines for personal care. Each person may have a different daily routine.

The day’s task is designed to help clean and/or organize the entire house over a cycle of 5 weeks, one week for a different area of the house. The priority is always to declutter before cleaning. For example, tomorrow, Monday, the area is the Kitchen and Porches, and the daily task is to clean the stove fan for 15 minutes only. If the kitchen or porch has clutter, those 15 minutes should be spent taking care of that clutter instead.

To receive these reminders, you’ll need to subscribe here. Even if you already have a schedule for cleaning and organizing your home, you may still find something helpful from the reminders and articles at Menus4Moms.

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