It’s likely not your favorite chore, but spring cleaning is a great time to give your home a clean slate and a fresh start. You have a really good idea of what was and wasn’t used over the winter months and can use that information to sort and purge accordingly. Here are 3 areas of the home that are ideal places to organize in the springtime:
1. Your Closets! And that means all your closets including bedrooms, spare rooms, front entry, back entry and even the linen closet. First, start with the easy items. Any coats that are dated, old or worn out, get rid of them. You should also get rid of any items you didn’t wear this past season. Even if they’re in good shape, if you didn’t wear them this past winter, you’re not likely to wear them next year either. Also go through your footwear and winter accessories like mitts, hats and scarves. Once you’ve purged, if you’re still short on closet space, consider storing off season clothing on higher shelving or under the bed in bins or vacuum seal bags.
Once you’ve done all of the clothing closets, hit the linen closet. It’s often overlooked when clearing out closets. Be realistic about how many sheet sets and towels you actually need. Donate any unwanted items to your local animal shelter.
2. Your Garage. We all know what your poor garage looks like after a long hard winter. Items thrown into a heap, random bags of garbage, dust covered bins of sporting equipment and hardly used tools. Garages aren’t always the most fun place to spring clean, but if you spend the time cleaning it when it’s warm, you’ll be able to park bothcars in there come winter!
The best way to tackle the garage is on a sunny day. Open the door and use the driveway to sort everything. Also, if you can, plan ahead to have a truck to haul away any items to donations or the landfill. Once you’ve decided you don’t want something, you should get rid of it that same day. Use bins and shelving to keep everything else organized. Or, depending on your budget look at installing some customizable options like built in tool or overhead storage.
3. Storage Spaces. Again, the job isn’t glamorous, but if you do it now, you’ll be making things easier for yourself in the long run. I suggest doing the storage once in the spring and once in the fall. In each season, rotate items forward that you’ll need for the next 6 months. In spring, pull forward any camping gear, sporting equipment or gardening supplies. In the fall, bring forward all of your Christmas decorations and winter items. Once again, make sure you keep only what you’re actually using and keep it stored in clearly labeled bins. And, depending on the size of your storage room, shelving is a great option to help utilize vertical space.
Dedicating a small amount of time to Spring Organizing will pay off in huge dividends for the rest of the year. Happy Organizing!
