Top tips for organising your space

[Huma0]

Oh, how I love my stuff! I have to admit I'm a hoarder at heart. While I want my home to be beautifully presented, I do have a problem cutting the clutter. I recently had two storage rooms converted into new bathrooms and have no idea where to re-home the enormous amount of stuff I'd managed to cram in there. Sure, I should get rid of a lot of it, but, well... it might come in useful.

I also noticed once of the criteria for the new Plus category was an uncluttered interior, e.g. no unsightly cables on show. Now, I don't qualify for Plus anyway, but it made me think more carefully about my clobber. I dream of an ordered office, sorted shelves and carefully curated cupboards.

Who out there is a genius at this sort of thing and would you care to share your tips?

PS These are NOT my shelves!

[Dawn162]

Here is the bedroom.  This room was previously grandma's room and it was packed from head to toe with 'junk'.  And saying junk is being nice.  It took me 2 weeks to get it emptied and cleaned.  I know what bedding I wanted as it was a design I had admired for a long time.  The desk I already had and sent it to someone to paint it for a shabby chic design.  I kept my shabby chic decor to a min so it make it feel at home and peaceful.

[Dawn162]

Now the kitchen was fun to purge.  I knew of a young lady who lost her husband in a care accident.  She moved back to Orlando and was needing everything for a new apartment.  I sent with her enough dishes, pots, pans, and various gadgets.  Enjoy that she can set up her own kitchen.  Then I went on to organize.  I gained 1 full cabinet to use with the pots and pants.  It was exactly what I needed.

Then I went onto the pantry.  I discovered that I had enough ingredients to cook chili for a month..lol...So guess what we had that evening for dinner.

Now I have another bedroom that is being purge tomorrow.  I have ordered all the bedding and the room will be paint while I am purging.  This will be interesting.  It may not work out with two of us working.  lol.

[Huma0]

@Dawn162

It is satisfying isn't it? Most of my kitchen cupboards are very organised, with everything in its place, but I have a lot of 'everything', partly because before I started hosting, I had various housemates over the years and many of them would leave behind a pot or something else and it has really accumulated. That's fine though as it's a big kitchen and I keep that stuff organised.

What's not okay is the larder, which everyone uses to store dried foods. It's amazing how much dried food people buy and never use. I recently did a massive purge of the larder and it's crazy how much stuff I managed to get rid of. I mean, who needs five different jars of paprika?? Some of the food in there was so out of date that I think it must have already been ancient when the housemates brought it with them.

There were so many different types of tea as well. I binned the out of date ones, but there were still lots left and I don't even drink tea (not very British of me). If they stay in the cupboard, no one ever drinks them. So, I have set up a little tea selection in labelled jars next to the kettle for guests to use. It looks much nicer than having a pile of tea boxes sitting there.

[Karen-and-Will0]

Hi @Huma0,   My kitchen looks like the pics you posted, French canning jars and all.  However it didn’t always.  A few years back I read the book by Bea Johnson, Zero Waste Home.  It was a life changer for me and my family and ultimately my guests.  Many guests have positively commented on the organization and the zero waste concept they find in our places.  Hope this info is helpful.

[Huma0]

Hi @Karen-and-Will0

Thanks for the information. I will look up that book!

[Lizzie]

I think I need this book @Karen-and-Will0 🙂

Was it hard to transform you home? 

[Karen-and-Will0]

@Lizzie, Initially it was hard to change however the excitement of something new helped to carry us through the first couple of months.  Then the following year we went back and forth with varying degrees of success.  It’s been a couple of years now and we have finally broken old habits and this clearer and ultimately easier way has become our habits and has led to success in the battle of clutter.  Looking back I can’t believe how all the clutter weighed us down.  The journey was tough but was worth it.

[Lizzie]

Congrats @Karen-and-Will0! It is great to hear all the hard work paid off. If you have gathered any handy tips a long the way, it would be great to hear them. 🙂