Tag Archive for: organizing tips for families

5 Easy Steps to Seasonal Clothing Swap

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Organizing tipIf you’re like me, your closet is tiny and can’t accommodate your complete wardrobe. So we need to preform the seasonal clothing swap. Early spring and fall are when I do my swaps.

Steps for spring:

  1. Wash winter coats, hats, gloves, scarves and pack away until next winter. Clean and condition winter boots before packing away. Don’t forget those wool socks, fleece socks, winter slippers and bathrobes.
  2. Remove all wool, cashmere and heavy sweaters from your closet. Pack up all turtlenecks and winter layering pieces.
  3. Add 3-season items and summer layering pieces to your wardrobe.
  4. Swap out winter hats, scarves, leggings, and jewelry for lightweight options.
  5. Once it gets hotter add tank tops, shorts, bathing suites and summer dresses.

Taking some time to evaluate clothing prior to packing it away is a great way to stay organized.

Encourage recycling

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Organizing tipIf you’d like to encourage yourself and your family to recycle more change your words. Use the word landfill instead of trash. Every time you’re about to throw something out say, “I’m putting this in the landfill.” This small change will make a difference in how you perceive discarded items.

Research shows the context of a word sways people’s judgment and decision making.

People Matter More

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Organizing tipSpending money on the upkeep of our homes is important. Scheduling time to take care of our things is important. As a Professional Organizer I understand the value of order and maintenance. However, the people in our lives matter more. Scheduling quality time with them and spending money on creating valuable experiences with them is more important. Devote energy and resources to both.

How many do you need?

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How many pot holders do you have? How many can you use at one time? You only have two hands. So, how many is enough? I know our society has programed us to believe that more is better, and that having a surplus on-hand is required for optimal household management. But I’d like to encourage you to challenge those thoughts, and ask yourself how many you really need. What is a manageable amount for you?

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Do you own stagnant things?

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Stagnant means lifeless, inactive. Do you have stagnant things in your home? Do you have things that have outlived their usefulness? I think we all do. The longer we live in our spaces the more comfortable we get with our surroundings. It becomes easy to ignore papers that don’t require action, gadgets we tried once, and random things that have become part of our decor.  After a while we don’t see these things any longer. They morph into the background of our homes.

After attending a conference session on Feng Shui I decided to get rid of stagnant things in my home. I’ll list 10 stagnant things I removed my home to help you get motivated to do the same.

  1. An old cardboard display that I had used for a few business presentation more than 5 years ago was recycled with my weekly town recycle.
  2. An open, partially used bottle of carbon, that is used in fish tank filters, was given away by listing it on FreeCycle.
  3. A bag of craft supplies that I hadn’t used in more than 5 years was passed along to other creative people I know.
  4. Unused food in my pantry was donated to my local food bank and Operation Shoebox.
  5. Gardening gloves that I wore only once because they turned my hands orange were tossed.
  6. Our ice maker broke 2 years ago. So I finally donated (to Savers) the scoop we had used for that purpose, but hadn’t used since.
  7. Old makeup was tossed. I haven’t worn make up in years.
  8. A soup ladle that came with a soup delivery when I was sick, but never used, was donated to Savers.
  9. Two spare, never been used, hand-me-down light timers were donated to Habitat for Humanities ReStore.
  10. An open container of Armor All wipes that were given to me a year ago, finally got used up.

These 10 stagnant things may not seem like much, but they have a way of piling up and cluttering our homes. I encourage you to take a good look at your home and reevaluate what’s in your space. If you find stagnant things, get rid of them. You’ll improve the energy of your home (Feng Shui) which will have a positive impact on you.

©June 2021  Janine Cavanaugh, Certified Professional Organizer®  All Rights Reserved