Cleaning House

Cleaning House

New year, new you...right?  As the dust settles from the holidays and people wrestle with the idea of actually making some changes, simplifying one’s life becomes ever so appealing.  For some people that looks like purging clothes long outdated or outgrown.  For others eliminating clutter and tossing boxes of keepsakes that will “be useful someday,” can be challenging yet cathartic.  Once you experience how nice life with less can be, you’ll never look back.

So you’ve just decided you can live with less.  Less space, less stuff, less clutter.

Quick Solutions: Reorganize. Eliminate. Reallocate.

Reorganize:

It’s hard to tell what you’re working with until you can see it all in front of you.  A great strategy is to tackle one space at a time and just organize the contents so you can take stock of what stays and what has to go.

Eliminate:

Once you have sifted through your belongings, it’s time to get very honest with yourself about what you need and what you can purge.  Haven’t worn that favorite sweatshirt from high school in years?  No you’re not going to use it for the gym. Donate it.  Back issues of Elle Decor filled with so many great ideas for the picture perfect sitting room? Recycle them or if you really need to be validated that they went to good use, donate them to an art program or school.

Reallocate:

Take a step back and admire your work.  You did it! Now that you see what you’re working with, it’s quite possible that you’ll realize your current storage solutions aren’t working.  If you’re making room in your closet, perhaps seasonal items can be folded and stored in creative, out of the way places (see storage bed or ottoman).  Maybe you finally ditched your DVD/Blu-Ray collection in favor of digital streaming.  Now your media center can house infrequently used cookbooks or specialty glassware that may have cluttered your kitchen.  The options are limitless so get creative!

Visit the Shelving section of our website for more customizable storage options...

©2016 Michael Arbuckle, Designer