DIY Organizing Solutions

Do you feel like your home is like a holding ground for everything you’ve ever owned? Does it seem like the junk just seems to grow and grow? You’re not alone! Most people have a hard time keeping things organized. It can be even more of a challenge if you’re dealing with limited space or a limited budget. Use these tips and ideas to come up with organizing solutions that work for your home.

1) First, you need to tackle one area at a time. Trying to take on the whole house in one day can be a real nightmare. Getting frustrated generally leads to giving up. Letting things stay disorganized can lead to a lot of stress, anxiety and even depression. Try to set yourself up for success instead of failure. Decide on one area or one pile that you will tackle. Give yourself a time limit so that you don’t wear yourself out. For example, if your computer desk is littered with old mail, magazines, receipts, notes to yourself, dishes and junk, take on that one area first. Don’t worry about getting the whole room clean in one fail swoop. The smaller the task, the better your chances are of finishing it.

2) Concentrate on the areas that affect you most. If you work at your computer at home, then that should be where you begin. If you wake up to get ready in the morning and have to face a disorganized messy bathroom, it’s time to get it in order. You don’t want to wake up to disarray, or go to bed at night staring at it. Clean your bathrooms, your night stand, your coffee table, your computer desk, and your kitchen counters as often as possible, because these are the areas that are typically hot spots. Getting one or two areas completely clean and organized will give you a positive outlook, reduce stress, and motivate you to do more.

3) Don’t backslide. Once you get an area clean, focus on maintaining it. Do this before you tackle new areas that need cleaning. You can create new habits for yourself that help you to keep things organized once you get them that way. For example, if you’re bad about leaving the cap off the toothpaste and leaving it on the counter, concentrate on keeping that area clean. Make a special place for your toothpaste to go that is really easy to access. If you have to go half-way across the room or open an organizer, you aren’t very likely to use it.

4) When you get more and more areas organized, it’ll get easier and easier. Those first few piles are the hardest because you have to come up with places to put things. But after you get to your fourth or fifth area, you’ll be a pro. You will find yourself going faster and doing a better job.

5) Use your closet. Closet space is great for storage because it keeps things out of sight. Waking up to an organized closet is a great way to get your day started. Use special hangers to get everything where it should be. A wood hanger or coat hanger is best for heavy items, while specialty clothes hangers can help you to coordinate outfits or hang things like ties. Get your home organized and your life will get that way, too.

About the Author: Joe Granville is on the staff of Only Hangers, a leading online resource for wood hangers, coat hangers and all types of clothes hangers which is recognized for the excellent quality and value of its wood hanger and coat hanger offerings. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyhangers.com.

Get your Closet Ready for Summer

Well, the weather has warmed up and the shorts are coming out! It’s time for some spring cleaning and your closet is a great place to start. You can make sure that your laundry rotation isn’t interrupted by summer and winter clothes getting mixed together. When that happens, it’s just so hard to find a place for everything. Make your closet a neat and clean area by organizing it at the same time that you switch out your winter for your summer wardrobes.

First, you need to take all of those winter clothes out of the closet. You can use a rolling garment rack with a cover for storing your winter coats and suits. Or, you can store them in another closet, like a spare bedroom closet. Keep them from becoming musty while in storage by using a cedar hanger or cedar closet accessories when you pack them away.

Make sure that you have durable containers for your clothes. If you are going to keep them in the garage or basement, make sure that they have a lid that seals well. You wouldn’t want moisture or pests to invade your investment! Cedar helps to absorb moisture from the air, deodorize, and repel insects. So, use cedar in your storage and you should be good to go next winter.

Now it’s time to clean the closet. While you have it completely empty, go ahead and vacuum, dust, paint, whatever you want. Now is a good time to add shelving, hooks, shoe racks, hat racks, extra hanging bars, or even line the walls with cedar planks. Right now, it’s probably fresh in your mind what didn’t work about your closet with your winter clothes, and you have your summer clothes ready to go in, so you can assess what extras you may need for your closet.

Categorize the summer clothes and take a look at what you have. If you have more shorts than you remembered, you may want to install a deep drawer or invest in some new clothes hangers, like pants and skirt hangers, that will allow you to keep your shorts organized. Tank tops and shirts with spaghetti straps can even hang on hangers that have notches or clips.

Make sure that everything has a special place to go. You can have a special drawer or bin for pajamas, special hangers or bins for organizing smaller items, like swimsuits, and maybe even a towel bar for drying beach towels. When your closet is ready for your summer clothes, you’ll be ready for summer!

About the Author: Joe Granville is on the staff of Only Hangers, a leading online resource for wood hangers, coat hangers and all types of clothes hangers which is recognized for the excellent quality and value of its wood hanger and coat hanger offerings. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyhangers.com.

Getting Help with Housekeeping

When your home runs smoothly, you run smoothly. However, most people are not very good at keeping up with their housework. With today’s busy lifestyles and schedules, it can be almost impossible to keep up. Throw in a family that doesn’t help out, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster! Keeping up with everything really should be a group effort, and you deserve a little help. If motivating your family to clean is like motivating an elephant to jump in the air and spin around, then you need help. Use these tricks on your family and see which ones work for you.

1) Lead by example. You may be thinking, “Yeah, right, like that’ll work” but just wait. Simply cleaning in front of everyone all day may not move them off the couch. However, if you go into your teenage daughter’s room and start going through things, you’d better bet she’ll be in there with a swiftness! Hand her something to put away and innocently ask, “Where do you want to put this?” By asking and putting it directly into her hands, you are passing on the power. Instead of being defensive, she should answer you and put it there herself. Immediately follow up with the next item and then make a statement like, “If we can finish this in time, we can go rent a movie tonight.” Just give her a little something to think about without ever saying “You are going to clean your room.”

2) Delegating is a parent’s best friend. If you have some less than helpful family members in the house, you will have to tell them specifically what to do to make anything happen. Let them know that if they complain, you will give them another thing to do. This usually gets them in the habit of complying the first time every time!

3) Point out how fun it is to have everything clean. Make suggestions like, “If you could help me do this one thing for five minutes each day, then we could have more time to go out and do something fun.” Don’t make generalized final statements, like “I do everything around here and you never do anything!” This will only start trouble and defensive action. Make your non-motivated family member feel appreciated for the little thing that they did do. “Oh, you just don’t know how much help that was when you took out the trash. I think I’ll make you your favorite dessert tonight.”

4) Planning ahead will save you the most time. Make a set schedule. Make a fifteen minute block for everyone to get something done. If you put the time limit there, it won’t seem so bad. Reward whoever gets the most done in their fifteen minutes! Have them run a load of laundry and hang clean clothes on clothes hangers. Provide an easy to handle wood hanger or coat hanger for larger items. Hanging things on hangers is a lot easier than folding, so you are more likely to get some help in that department.

Keep at it and eventually you’ll have a family that likes to help you out!

About the Author: Joe Granville is on the staff of Only Hangers, a leading online resource for wood hangers, coat hangers and all types of clothes hangers which is recognized for the excellent quality and value of its wood hanger and coat hanger offerings. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyhangers.com.

How to Choose Your Hangers

Knowing how to choose the right hanger can help you stay organized while making your closet beautiful and stylish. Using high quality clothes hangers also helps you to protect your wardrobe from damage, stretching, and wrinkling. Each type of hanger is unique and is designed for a specific function. Choosing the right one for you can be difficult if you don’t know how to choose. Use this guide to help you decide which hangers will suit you best, protect your clothing, and fulfill your closet organization needs.

1) Wood hangers can give your closet that sophisticated look that you crave. Their warm texture and beauty are unmatched by any other. These not only look great, but they are a sturdy option for home or retail. They help clothing, like coats, suits and dresses, keep their shape and hang nicely without wrinkling. Wooden hangers are available in a variety of styles and finishes, so you're sure to find the ones that suit your needs.

2) Bamboo hangers are ideal for the environmentally conscious. They are lightweight, yet very strong. Because bamboo is the fastest growing plant on Earth, reproducing itself every 5 years, it is the eco-friendly choice over wood, and in turn, helps to sustain local economies throughout the planet. By utilizing renewable natural resources like this, we can make a difference in the future of our world. Additionally, the wood grain is just beautiful and would make a great addition to your closet.

3) Cedar hangers are a classic choice preferred by high end retailers and boutique hotels everywhere. They possess a refreshing aroma and look beautiful in any closet. Cedar has natural deodorizing properties. It repels pests and absorbs moisture from the air. By absorbing moisture, cedar helps to prevent mold and mildew from forming in your clothes and stored items. No more musty smells! If cedar begins to lose its aroma over the years, you can simply swipe it with a fine grit sandpaper to bring back that great scent that you love.

4) Keep your clothes fresh and creaseless by using our high quality, virtually unbreakable, plastic hangers. Choose ones with smooth edges so they don’t snag your delicate fabrics and garments. Look for ones with plenty of notches for hanging a wide variety of items. High quality plastic hangers are the a good economical choice for home closets or retail settings.

5) If you’re looking for a contemporary, space saving type, metal hangers may be for you. Today’s metal hangers are not at all like those old wire hangers that you’re used to. They do not snag your clothes, bend, or get tangled together like flimsy wire ones. These are strong, durable, and feature a flat design that helps keep your clothes from wrinkling while saving closet space. You can get vinyl covered metal hangers that are perfect for delicate fabrics and prevent clothes from slipping. These clothes hangers are perfect for anyone looking to save space while keeping a sleek look in their closet or retail store.

About the Author: Joe Granville is on the staff of Only Hangers, a leading online resource for wood hangers, coat hangers and all types of clothes hangers which is recognized for the excellent quality and value of its wood hanger and coat hanger offerings. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyhangers.com.

How Hangers Make a Difference

Believe it or not, your hanger selection can make a big difference in your closet. You have made an investment in your wardrobe, so it is important to protect it. Choosing the clothes hangers that are designed to meet your specific needs can seem like a daunting task. There are wood hangers, cedar hangers, bamboo hangers, plastic hangers, and metal hangers. The styles are all different and basically, each hanger is designed to meet a specific need. Choosing the hangers that work the best for your closet and your wardrobe may take a little time, but the effort you put forth can pay off for a lot of years.

Choosing hangers is nothing to take lightly. You don’t want to skimp on quality, or you’ll just end up investing again before you know it. Choose a company who has customer reviews for you to check out. Check for the quality of the materials that the hook and body are made of. Check thickness or weight of wood hangers to get an idea of how well they’re made. Sometimes wood hangers will look okay online or in the store, but then you get them home and the weight of your coats pull the hook out, or the wood snaps in half damaging your expensive coats and suits.

You can often research which company you want to go with online. You can save money by getting your hanger collection from a manufacturer who also does their own distribution. Buying from a retailer can be more costly. Look for shipping deals and try to buy in bulk. You won’t end up paying nearly as much as you thought if you do a little research before you buy.

When you start looking, check for styles that match your taste. Wood hangers come in all different finishes that will suit your style. For a more contemporary look, try velvet hangers or metal hangers. Metal chrome hangers are a lot stronger than those old wire ones that you’re used to. These new designs use a heavy gauge metal that can support the weight of most coats and suits. They don’t have the wire twist at the top that used to snag and tear your clothing.

Choosing slim hangers like these can help you save space. By fitting your clothing close together in the closet, you can save more than you think. You can also use other hanger accessories, like hooks and clips, to cascade your clothing together on one hanger. This will save you time when you are trying to find what you want to wear. You won’t believe how much space you can save doing this one simple trick.

Choose your clothes hangers wisely, and you won’t regret it!


About the Author: Joe Granville is on the staff of Only Hangers, a leading online resource for wood hangers, coat hangers and all types of clothes hangers which is recognized for the excellent quality and value of its wood hanger and coat hanger offerings. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyhangers.com.

Clutter Management

If you’re not careful, clutter can take over your life. Taking control of your clutter will give you a sense of pride, independence, and relief. It can seem like a daunting task. There are a few ways to make it easier while making it more of a lasting adjustment. Getting things all cleaned up will only last for so long if you don’t make it easy to manage in the future. Clutter control starts with a plan. You have to plan for the future so that your efforts are rewarded with constant organization afterward. You don’t want to get completely done cleaning fifteen things in your house only to find out that the first thing you cleaned is already disorganized and cluttered once again. Follow these steps to getting your home clutter free and keeping it that way.

Concentrate on being efficient. With every task, ask yourself, “What is the fastest way to get this done correctly?” For a bedroom, it could be that you should make the bed, pick up dirty laundry, put away clean clothes, remove trash, organize junk, and then vacuum and dust. If you start with organizing your bedside table, then the giant mess will be looming over you the whole time, draining your mental energy, and making it less likely that you will finish the job. Getting the big and easy things out of the way first will motivate you to keep going.

When everything is pretty straight, evaluate what you have. What are the key problems with the areas that get the messiest? Does the laundry go all over your room instead of in the hamper? What’s the easiest way to solve this one problem? Make your solutions as simple as possible so that you are more likely to follow through.

It may seem silly, but having a hamper with a lid will deter most people from putting their dirty laundry inside. If the hamper is in the closet, you’re more likely to leave the clothes in a pile outside of the closet, just to avoid opening the door every time. Replace the closed or hidden hamper with an open one or a laundry basket. Put it where you can easily throw clothes into it from where ever you normally get dressed. Make sure that you have another laundry basket to replace it when it’s being used to bring laundry to the washer and dryer, or to bring clean clothes back into the bedroom. You want a laundry basket or hamper there at all times.

Make sure that you have a place for all of your clothing, preferably in your closet. Try to make putting laundry away a “one stop shop”. Use the right hangers for the different types of clothes that you have and it’ll keep your closet and your clothes looking neat. Choose clothes hangers that serve the purpose that you need them for. For example, a coat hanger or wood hanger is best for heavy coats and suits. A cascading hanger can let you hang multiple pairs of pants on one hanger, saving you space in your closet.

Use these same techniques of concentrating on your habits and making the solutions more efficient throughout your home. Your clutter will shrink and your messes will be more easily managed. Remember that if it changes your routine too much, you are less likely to follow through. Having a place for everything and making that place easily accessible will help you control clutter in your home.

About the Author: Joe Granville is on the staff of Only Hangers, a leading online resource for wood hangers, coat hangers and all types of clothes hangers which is recognized for the excellent quality and value of its wood hanger and coat hanger offerings. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyhangers.com.