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.

Getting Organized and Staying that Way

Everyone has to take the time to get organized once in a while. When your closets and living areas overflow with junk, it’s time to take control. Using these professional tips, you can get your most bothersome areas organized and keep them that way!

First you need to identify areas that are the most trouble. Most people have a “pile it on” spot, like the kitchen counter, an end table, or the bathroom counter. Sometimes we clean in a hurry, throwing everything into a laundry basket, bag or box, and then never get around to sorting it out. Places like these make our homes feel cluttered and disorganized. Tackle projects one at a time and come up with logical solutions to the problems.

A clean counter is very alluring to someone looking to set something down. Identify what type of items are constantly being put there so that you can provide a space for them. If it’s papers from work, try a wall file. If it’s keys, wallet and pocket knife, place a small basket there, or hang a shelf with hooks. It helps if you arrange your organizational products in the area where your family is used to putting things. We are, after all, creatures of habit. If you normally come home and drop everything in the kitchen, putting an organizational set of baskets, shelves and hooks in the living room will only work for so long.

Use this same principal for controlling other things, like laundry. If your child’s laundry basket is in their closet, but they always leave their clothes at the foot of the bed, then you need to move the basket to the foot of the bed. You can slowly move the basket closer to the wall, and even back into the closet after they get the hang of using it all the time. Getting them to have some successes in the beginning is the key to making it a habit for them.

When you get around to the biggest job, the closet, be ready to make a real plan. Don’t just go out and buy a bunch of baskets and bins without planning for the space that you have available. Sort out and separate everything that you have in your closet. Get rid of what you can, and then plan on which containers will work best for you.

Arrange things according to how often they are used. The things that you need the most often need to be easily accessible. If they’re not, you’ll end up keeping them in a more convenient spot, eventually. You want to make it easy to keep things where they go. Get some high quality clothes hangers, like a good wood hanger or coat hanger for your dress clothes. You may decide to go with some space saving hangers or specialty hangers to help improve the organization of the space. Home organization is an ongoing process, so don’t get discouraged if it takes a few tries to get it right.

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.

Gain Control with Home Organization

Keeping your home in order can be like a full-time job. However, you can get it done over time by spending only a few minutes each day organizing and cleaning. Set goals for yourself and schedule out times that you will spend tackling one project at a time. Following this strategy can help you to seamlessly transition from a cluttered messy house to an organized, manageable home.

Scheduling things helps you to gain control, mentally and physically, of the tasks that need completing. If you constantly feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things that must be accomplished, then this system will help you. You should only have to worry about the very next thing on your list, not a house full of chores that you never seem to have time to tackle. The mental load is lifted and things seem much more manageable.

Start by figuring out what you really have to do daily. This is usually something like laundry and dishes. You have to eat, and you have to have clothes to wear. So, put these down as your first priority. You may also want to add in other things that need to be done around your home, like get the kids’ backpacks ready for school, fix lunches, or other things that occur daily. Set certain times to do these things each day.

Example: Fold clothes and put them away at 7:45AM. Move wet clothes to the dryer and start the next load washing. Leave for work, 8:00AM.

Scheduling in this way will help you realize how little time it actually takes to accomplish the task. Don’t worry about the laundry mountain that you haven’t conquered yet, do the one load that you have scheduled and move on. You can schedule another fifteen minutes before bed if you feel behind. Don’t try to do it all at once, or you’ll get exhausted and feel pressured to finish. If you’re really motivated, go ahead. But, it will eventually get caught up and your daily routine will get easier and easier to manage.

The next thing to put on your list is your long-term goals. Is there an area of your home that just constantly gets cluttered? You may want to put it as a top priority. People usually have a flat surface, like a table, desk or countertop that just constantly piles up. Papers, mail, magazines, school work, keys, cell phones, wallets, and more can be piled in one place daily by your family. Come up with an organization system for these things so that they have somewhere specific to go.

Further down your list will come monthly chores. Organizing your closet is a great thing to put here. The first time you do it, you will probably want to schedule a full hour. Then, schedule a quick five to ten minute straighten-up session once a month after that.

Start by getting some good clothes hangers, like a wood hanger or coat hanger that is sturdy enough to hold your heaviest clothes. Specialty hangers can help you save space and keep the closet more organized. Buckets and bins can be used for smaller items, and don’t forget to use the space on the back of the closet door. Making a place for everything will make your monthly organization task simple.

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 Organize in a Jiffy

Getting your home organized can be a quick and easy process if you follow these simple steps. Learn how to take care of problem areas, get an easy to follow system going, and keep your home organized. People that are notoriously organized usually do a little bit at a time on a regular basis.

1) Set an easy goal. Give yourself five or ten minutes to work on a problem area and see how much you can get done. Start with five minutes on the kitchen counter, then the entrance to your house, the bathroom counters, and your table tops. Next, move on to making the beds, doing one load of laundry, straightening your living room, and so on. You’ll be surprised how much you can get done in five minutes and what a difference it will make in your home and in your view of housekeeping.

2) As you go, plan on getting rid of excess junk. Carry a bag with you around the house and throw away whatever you can for ten minutes. If you do this once a week, your home will stay less cluttered and the things that you need to keep will be easier to keep up with.

3) Go to problem areas and organize them one at a time. One day you can tackle your computer desk. The next day, go for the entertainment center. Work your way around the house spending just a few minutes in each area. Designate a time or a spot each day that you will get organized. Go ahead and spend more time if you’re motivated. Otherwise, set a timer and only do the designated item for that set amount of time.

4) As you go, you’ll determine what areas are problems and ways to figure them out. You may decide to make a monthly or daily schedule for yourself so that you can keep up with the things that need to be done regularly without getting that overwhelming feeling that everything needs to be done.

5) Getting the daily tasks in order will help you stay on top of things. Laundry is a big one. If you can wash, dry, fold and put away one load of laundry each night as part of your bedtime routine, it will seem easy and like less of a hassle than normal. If you dread this job, time it and see how long it actually takes. Most people can fold a load of laundry in five to ten minutes. When you see how quickly it can be done, it seems like less of a chore.

6) Getting your closets organized will make the task of putting laundry away a lot easier. You can even use a hanging bar and hangers in the laundry area for drying and hanging clothes as they come out of the dryer. Use some sturdy clothes hangers, like a good wood hanger or coat hanger, for drying items that may be heavy as they come out. Getting your house in order will get easier and easier as you follow your schedule.

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.

Instant Closet Storage

Creating closet storage is a great way to get your home organized and even add selling value to your home. Most people have things stored that they haven’t used or even looked at in years. Decluttering is the first step to organizing your closet and creating extra space for the things that you actually need to store.

Take an objective look at your closet contents and start to analyze what you actually need. Empty the closet and categorize each group of items. You can use your bed or floor to make space for the organization project. Make one group of things items that you know you need and use. You may have a lot of stuff that you know you want to keep but you realize that it is taking up too much room. Separate these things into another pile and set it aside for later.

When you’re going through your clothes and shoes, get rid of ones that you haven’t worn in a year. Shoes may be hard to get rid of, but go ahead and ditch them if they are scuffed, too tight, are out of style, or you just never seem to wear them. Clothing can go out of style so quickly that you may have lots of usable clothes that you are never in the mood to wear.

Do a little research and find a consignment shop or resale shop in your area that may want to buy these usable items from you. You may be able to sell large lots of clothes or name brand items online. Anything that doesn’t sell can be given away or donated to a charity. You may even decide to have a garage sale and use the money to update your closet storage.

You can now take a look at the pile of things that you have been storing that may not belong in the closet. Old paperwork, statements, photo albums, and sports equipment can be kept elsewhere. Go through those old boxes and be selective about what you keep. You may want to invest in a bookshelf for books, files, and photos. Other things can be kept in the attic, garage, or basement, freeing up lots of storage space in your closet.

The next step is to develop a closet system that accommodates what you have left. Consider little space saving options that will actually give you more room than you need. For example, if you move your hanging bar up, you may have room for a double shoe rack underneath, instead of a single one, doubling your shoe storage. You can install wire shelving that allows you to hang clothing from anywhere. You can double up your hanging space and shelf space by using a simple closet system that utilizes vertical space and the depth of your closet.

Update the closet with hooks for robes, purses, and tote bags. Install a hat rack, use scarf, belt, and tie hangers. Make a place for everything. You can even use clothes hangers that save space by allowing you to hang multiple items on each hanger. Use a nice wood hanger or coat hanger for nicer clothes that need to keep their shape at the shoulders. When your closet is organized and has more usable storage space, you can store your out of season clothing with ease, making it easier to stay organized once you get that way.

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.

Keeping Closets Organized

Many homes are built with small closets. Homeowners need to find new and creative ways of either using their space more wisely or expanding their closets to suit their needs. The closet is the space in most homes that is in the most need of organization. Since this is an area of the house that is used daily, it is important to find a system that works for you.

An ideal closet system would have a space for everything that you use daily, plus enough room to store things that you don’t need all the time. We definitely need our closets to store our clothes that we wear every day, but some people need to also store their out of season clothing, linens, socks, jewelry and more. Things end up just crammed into spaces where they cannot be easily accessed, or thrown into boxes where you are likely to not see them for a few months or even years.

You may be thinking that even when you get it organized, it will be a challenge to keep it that way. Keeping the closet neat once you get it organized can be a challenge for most folks. But, by following a few simple guidelines, you can make it easy on yourself. One way to keep it clean is to come up with a system for making sure that everything goes where it is supposed to the first time.

When you fold your laundry, do you do it in the laundry room or in your bedroom? A lot of people find it easiest to keep their closets straight if they hang and fold their clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer. You can use a rolling garment rack near the dryer to hang everything on clothes hangers as soon as they come out. They won’t get wrinkled and they’ll be ready to go directly into the closet.

You may need to mount a permanent hanging rod above your washer and dryer. Stock it with enough clothes hangers that you do not constantly have to return to your closet for more hangers. You can get an inexpensive hanger rack for easily transporting empty hangers from the closet to the laundry room without getting them tangled up.

Hang the things that you use often at about eye level. Avoid storing items that you use a lot lower than your knees or you won’t be able to see where they go very easily, and you’ll end up putting them in another place where they don’t belong.

Use buckets, bins and shelves to store other items around the outside, top and bottom of the closet and label the container. You are less likely to put something into the wrong container if the label is staring you in the face telling you that you are doing it wrong!

Use a sturdy coat hanger or wood hanger that is thick enough not to get tangled or crossed up on the bar. If your clothes hangers stay straight, your closet will have that nice organized appearance that you are looking for.

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.

Coat Closet: DIY Home Organization

Organizing a coat closet can be a real challenge. After all, there is a lot more to that closet than coats. Coat closets are usually near the front door, which means that they can quickly become a catch-all for everything from backpacks to sports equipment, keys and wallets to craft supplies. We often need more storage than our home has, so the coat closet becomes a convenient place to keep things that we want to keep close at hand. Use these tips to create spaces for everything that you want to keep in your coat closet.

The first rule for organizing any closet is to get rid of the junk. Throw out whatever you can. Make a stack of trash, important paperwork or artwork, things to give away and things to keep. With a coat closet that’s cluttered with everything, you may also want to pile up everything that needs to get out of the coat closet and be put away in other rooms.

Enlist help from the family. Kids and idle couch lurkers can be put to good use. Ask them to put away five things from the pile, take out the trash, file the paperwork or bag up things to give to charity. Before you know it, the piles will be disappearing from behind you.

Clean the closet well while it is empty. Use cedar coat hangers or cedar closet accessories to absorb moisture and odors. This is especially important in coat closets because wet boots, jackets, backpacks and umbrellas are often stored here. Moisture can lead to mold and mildew as well as foul odors if you don’t use cedar.

Now is the time to make some plans. Try to find room where you didn’t know you had it. When you hang a coat, how many inches from the back wall is it? Four inches? Eight inches? This is valuable storage space that can go unnoticed. Carefully remove the screws from the hanging bar and move it back. Coat hangers should almost touch the wall. Now you have a few extra inches in the front corners of the closet.

Most people can create enough space in the front to install 12” cubby hole shelving in the front two corners. These are very useful in a coat closet because you can put baskets, bins and containers in each cubby. Label the baskets so that everyone can quickly find what they need. Each family member can have a bin for their own gloves and scarves, wallet and keys, etc. You can build the cubby system as high as you would like. Hooks can be installed down the back side for purses, umbrellas, tote bags loaded with grab and go supplies, and hats.

Use sturdy coat hangers to finish it off. Your closet will have a place for everything and help you keep the rest of the house clutter free.

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 .

Closet Organization Tips from the Professionals

Your closet needs to hold a lot of important things. Not only do people store their clothes and shoes in closets, but also heirloom items, such as quilts and precious photos. It does not end there. People store everything from suitcases to spare change in their closets. No wonder it becomes a cluttered mess! Here are some tips to get that closet organized.

It starts with motivating yourself to tackle this often dreaded project. Clean the room around the closet so that you have plenty of space to organize. This will help keep you from getting overwhelmed. Bring some boxes or laundry baskets into the room for organizing. Make up your bed so that you have a nice flat space for getting things into nice piles.

You will need three piles to start; one for things that will stay in the closet. These items should include shoes that are not uncomfortable or worn out, clothing that fits you right now and is not out of date, and just a few precious items, such as heirloom quilts, that you would not want to store in a garage or basement.

The second pile is your give-away pile. Giving items to charity will make you and your closet feel better! If you have an attachment to some clothing that you will never wear again, take a picture of it or keep a swatch of the material for your scrapbook.

The third pile is for items that really do not have to be stored in your closet. Think of your closet as a usable space, not a storage area. After all, you do use your closet almost every single day. Things like out-of-season clothing and shoes, hats and gloves, sports equipment and the ironing board should be stored in the garage, laundry room, basement or a spare bedroom closet.

“Thinning the herd” is the first step to closet happiness. When you only have things that you use to put into your closet, the task of organizing suddenly becomes simpler. Once the other items are out of the room, you will start dividing your items into groups. Laundry baskets make great temporary storage areas for shoes and other bulky items.

Hang up your clothes on sturdy wooden hangers or another high quality clothes hanger. This will help to prevent clothing from being crammed together or slipping into the floor. Organize clothes according to length or use. For example, you may want to keep your work clothes on the left and your casual clothing on the right. Utilize inexpensive closet organization tools, such as shoe racks. You may decide to add some shelving or a small dresser for items that will not hang. If you hang all of your shorter clothing on one side, then you should have room beneath them for a small dresser or your laundry basket.

Organizing your closet does not have to be expensive. If you are going to invest a small amount into your closet, you will be best served spending it on high quality clothes hangers that will protect your wardrobe and shelving that will help keep items off of the floor.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the Manager 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 .

Speed Cleaning!

We have all received that dreaded phone call. You know, the one where someone on the other line says that they are in your neighborhood and stopping by? This can call for a serious speed cleaning, especially for busy Moms. Here are some tips to help your speed cleaning become a success!

First, clear the path. Make things look as neat as you can from the front door to the area where you will have your guests sit. This generally means the foyer and living room. Grab a laundry basket and scoop up toys. Shuttle them quickly to your child’s room where they will be out of sight, or at least not judged! Make sure that you clear any shoes, coats, piles of mail or anything else that may be cluttering up your entry-way. This will give a good first impression.

Statistics show that most everyone judges the cleanliness of your home as soon as they walk in the door. They often judge by smell as well as sight. Odors coming from diaper pails or trash cans can give a bad impression regardless of how much you pick up. So, your next step is to make it smell good! A quick trick to make your house smell like you have been cleaning all day, is to put some pine scented mop solution into the sink with some hot water. The smell will quickly fill the room and immediately send the signal to your guest’s brain that you were either cleaning earlier, or they interrupted your cleaning, excusing some of the mess!

Dishes on the table or counter can make a kitchen look ignored. If your dishwasher is not empty, at least get those dirty dishes into the sink. Rinse off the top dishes so that the pile does not look totally disgusting. Quickly pile up stacks of mail from the counters, throw toys into toy boxes and rake pens, scissors and other office items into a drawer. Spray the counters and swiftly wipe them down.

If you still have time, make sure that the coffee table and kitchen table are cleared. This may require a quick maneuver with a cardboard box, but it will give the illusion that you always keep your house at least a little tidy!

One thing that ends up in most living rooms is a pile of coats. Clear all of the seating and make sure that coats are hung. This way you can quickly lead company to the couch and they might miss peering into that disastrous front room! Using cedar wooden hangers in your coat closet will not only repel pests, but also keep the entry-way of your house smelling nice and clean.

If you still have two minutes to spare, run the dust mop or vacuum cleaner through the path of least resistance. If you do have piles of stuff cluttering the room, you can at least say that you have been organizing. The floor will look clean, so your story will be a lot more plausible!

About the Author: Ron Maier is the Manager 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 .

Creative Custom Closet

Everyone has a unique variety of belongings that they need to keep in their closet. There is not one design that fits everyone’s needs and tastes. Some people use their closet strictly for clothes and shoes while others use it as one of the only storage areas that they have available. You may use yours to keep important items out of your children’s reach. Whatever your closet’s function, you need to find a way to keep it organized so that you can make the most of the space that you have.

Shelves, drawers, bins and storage containers can help you get your space organized. Small shelves can usually be added at either side of the closet. They are great for small storage bins, jewelry boxes, socks, underwear or shoes. They are also good for keeping little extra things that do not have anywhere else to go in your house. Some people keep photos, camera equipment, suitcases, keepsakes and collectibles stored in their closet. Making a special place for each thing will help you keep the closet tidy and also help you find certain things when you need them.

Using shelves to fit your needs can be easier than you think. Remember to think outside the box. Can the top shelf be moved up higher? Can you add deep shelves down one side of the closet and move the hanging rod? One popular closet design involves moving the top shelf up higher, building or installing deep shelves down one side of the closet and replacing one eight foot hanging rod with two four foot rods. By moving the top shelf up a little, you can hang shirts and coats on one rod and pants on the other rod. You still have the eight feet of hanging space that you started with, but you now have three or four nice, deep, versatile shelves.

If you have too many hanging clothes to fit into your closet, get rid of what you can. If you still need to make more space, use specialty hangers. You can increase the available bar space by more than half by using hangers that allow you to cascade certain items. Skirt hangers will allow you to either hang about four skirts on the same hanger, or cascade the skirt from the hanger that is holding the matching blouse or jacket.

Pants hangers will let you stack pants, keeping them flat against each other. These are especially useful if you have different sizes of clothing in your closet. Almost everyone has those special jeans that they aim to get back into someday. You want to keep them in good condition by keeping them hung, but you do not need these clothes that you are not currently wearing to take up too much space. So, using hangers that hold four or five pairs of pants will let you use the space of one hanger.

Use cascading hangers, shirt hangers, coat hangers and pants hangers to really get your closet streamlined. Once you learn how to make the most of available space, you will stay more organized than ever.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the Manager 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 .