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Having a tidy home is crucial in setting the atmosphere for the upcoming holiday season! From hosting family and friends to enjoying peaceful weekends alone, knowing that everything has a place in which it belongs is greatly beneficial in being able to quickly knock out the clutter and get to relaxing! You deserve a peaceful home this winter so let’s tackle some of the items standing in the way with a few simple steps. 

Before we dig into the actual work, it is best to assess what small areas you want to knock out first, or maybe what places would have the biggest impact once they are sorted through. Some rooms or cabinets will have a much larger effect on your life than others and starting the holiday season with a sense of accomplishment and efficiency will help set the tone for these final few months of 2023. 

• First we need to decide what we are keeping and what is getting sent out of the house. After doing this beginning round of separation, we can divide these two main categories into smaller, more approachable sections. There are a million ways to sort through your items however, so let’s take this one step at a time and begin by discussing some easy criteria for each of our leading categories. 
  1. Keeping: When something fits your lifestyle well, would be purchased again if it got damaged, or is absolutely sentimental then that item definitely belongs in the store, display, and organize grouping. 
  2. Tossing: If an item is a duplicate, is not worth repairing, or hasn’t been used in a long time it is probably time to join the trash, sell, or donate pile.

• Now that we have our two general categories, we can begin to break these down. Statistically speaking, 80% of the time we use about 20% of the items in our home. This 80/20 rule counts for the clothes that we wear, the items in our kitchens and bathrooms, and even the toys that our kids play with. Keeping that in mind, we don’t need to be afraid to clear out most things in our homes and, more importantly, what we do choose to keep can be sorted even further into things we just need to organize for easy access and things that can be stored for their future necessary uses. Clearing space immediately makes your home feel larger and cleaner!

• In order to see what can be put up for the time being and what needs to be conveniently within reach, we should start tracking our household usage. Each home runs differently so this will take some attention to be making note of what gets regularly utilized and what the common reach and drop areas are, such as certain chairs, couches, and tables. Once you have these things in mind, we can separate out our categories a little more clearly and find ways to store what we can and neatly organize what is remaining.

• Cycling items that we are keeping, such as clothes and children’s toys, can seem daunting but is one of the biggest ways to simplify life and make your home feel more put-together overall. While clothing can be rotated seasonally, periodically switching out similar pieces in and out of use can keep your closet fresh which will help with impulse purchases that can clutter up the home. Splitting up toys and crafts into two to three bins will also make it easy to quickly alternate what is available for use while simultaneously clearing up space while the stored options are kept out of sight.

• Once we get the majority of our “keep” pile sorted out, finding the right place for those miscellaneous items can be one of the hardest steps. Utilizing the cousins/co-workers method of organizing may be the perfect solution for all your odds and ends,so let’s talk about what that looks like. Instead of piling everything in a designated “junk drawer” or tossing it on those dumping areas we found earlier we can place something like a lint roller with its cousins – other items with a similar purpose such as other adhesives. Alternatively, you can store it with items that have a different function but are typically used alongside each other. In the example of the lint roller, that could be with other items you may want to grab on your way out the door or with other laundry products. By using the cousins/co-workers method to organize hard-to-place items, you can be sure to make your items work into your daily flow and ensure you know exactly where those random products are when you need them.

• Moving onto our pile of things to get out of the house, we can break these items down to what can be sold, donated, and which pieces have lived a full life and are ready to be tossed. After taking care of these final steps, we should be left with a home that feels more peacefully inviting to work well with your day-to-day life as well as being a comfortable setting for all that the upcoming holidays have to offer. 

Organized and tidied areas feel clean and clean spaces create the perfect atmosphere for wrapping up these last couple months and ringing in the new year. No matter what this season brings for you and your family, taking a few steps to focus on the order of your home can make your home cozier than it has ever been – and everyone deserves a happy home for the holidays!