It never fails. Every year, I can count on two things. I will have a consuming desire to get organized each January, and a similar desire to deep clean my home each March. (I think my internal clock must be synchronized with each calendar year.)
Now that January is here and my planning/goal setting/resolution making couple of days are coming to an end, deep down I know it’s time to get organized.
Unfortunately, this is impossible for me to do right now – we’re still living with my parents until we can close on our new house, and most of our belongings are in storage. (So, no. This photo was not taken in my house. It’s simply a stock photo. Whew.) Until we move, I think I’ll be haunted by the fact that I know I’ll need to spend about a third of 2012 cleaning, unpacking, and organizing.
Anyway. Whenever I do get time, I’ll be able to organize my home with many green ideas. Here’s a few:
Be ruthless.
While I want to be resourceful and use the things I have, I also want to cut down clutter and anything unnecessary. It’s really hard, though.
I like to use the three box approach: label three boxes (or bags) with save, give, and toss. Tackle one small area at a time – whether it’s your junk drawer or a closet or just one shelf – and examine each item.
- Do you want to keep it? Stick it in the save box.
- Do you want to get rid of it? If it’s in good condition, add it to the give box and donate it to a charity.
- Is it broken or just plain trash? Then put it in the toss box and throw it away – or recycle, if possible.
Repurpose old containers and boxes to help organize items.
Forget about buying storage containers – unless they truly would be helpful. Consider storing things in shoe boxes, canvas bags, cool plastic shopping bags, and even sturdy plastic or glass food containers.
For example, before the popularity of digital cameras, I used many rolls of film. For whatever reason, I kept the old plastic film containers. I’ve labeled and filled them with my desk supplies – paper clips, tacks, etc.
Here’s another example: Metamucil is packaged in a big white plastic cylinder with an orange screw-top lid. (My husband uses this regularly, so we have a lot of these containers around.) Wash the container after using all the Metamucil, and use it to store pencils, pens, paintbrushes, stickers, or small toys.
When I organize my kitchen pantry, I recycle glass food containers by washing well, removing the paper labels, and filling with my pantry items.
Purge paperwork.
Paperwork is seriously my major form of clutter. It’s like I can’t get away from papers – I hold on to far too many papers, whether it’s old letters from friends, newspaper clippings, or receipts just in case I need to make a return.
While the solution is theoretically an easy one – be ruthless and throw away anything that’s not necessary – it’s much harder for me. I struggle to find the time to sort papers and purge. And it’s tough to pitch memorable letters. I definitely need to work on this area of my life in this coming year.
The good news, environmentally speaking, is that much of the tossed paper can be recycled – either by using blank pages as scrap paper, or taking the rest to recycling bins.
Talk back
What are some of your favorite organization tips? What containers do you like to reuse for storage? Can you please help me out with my paper piles – how do you tame your paperwork?
Photo credit
Bill Longshaw/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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Paperwork! Ahh! Everywhere!
I’m sure I’m not nearly as organized as you Hilary, but I do get the bug at the beginning of each year too! With 6 grands age 6 and under we obviously recycle a lot of clothing. A lot of them have ended up at my house for storage! So I use the 50 cent cloth bags from Marc’s and organize them by boy/girl and age, i.e. 0-3 months, 6-9 months, etc. by making a tag from an index card and tying it on with a ribbon. Then I store them on a shelf in a spare room closet where I can easily get to them as needed. As items are outgrown, I can add to the appropriate bag. I’ll be looking on here for others to chime in regarding the paper work clutter. I have absolutely no room to talk on that subject. What it is so hard!!
I spent yesterday putting my Christmas printable lists etc into binders. I use my kids old school binders for school papers, holidays, blogs stuff. It works great but I need to keep up with it. I love this month for cleaning out! I also got motivated from your gift wrap post. I cleaned out a ton of stuff. And have not bought very much for next year! I have a gift wrap counter so it’s easy to wrap. I has a lot of extra that I passed along. Thanks for the motivation!
Oh, I’m so glad you found some motivation with the gift wrap post, Alison! Thanks for the binder idea!
Paper is my nemesis!!
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Went through all my recipes last month and organized them in a binder-since I had ones on recipe cards, print outs, clippings, etc. found an old large binder, and got photo pages for the recipe cards, page protectors, and dividers. (I’m not ready to store them on an internet site yet, though that would be greener!) That got rid of a lot of my clutter in the kitchen. As for the old letters and cards you mentioned-I finally re-cycled mine. But maybe if you are not ready for that you could scan into the computer first? Receipts-I have a section in my coupon holder for those-do you have room there? or in a pocket where you keep the bills/budget? Paper clutter always an issue! I’ve researched it on the internet and haven’t come up with much! I don’t have a mudroom for misc. So when the mail comes in, I sort, toss, recycle, etc. and put it in a canvas bin to go upstairs. Then for now I have a two small shoe boxes- one for bills to pay or to “deal with” and the other to file. Works okay for now. Mostly been re-purposing bins and baskets I already have around the house for organzing. this is my favorite subject year around! -Tori
My favourite organizing tip is for your freezer! We have two chest freezers and I use reusable cloth grocery bags to sort them. That way if you want something from the bottom, you can just lift bags, not 50 items! I have bags for venison…fish…chicken…soup stock…fruit, etc! It’s the BEST.
Such great organization tips!
Thanks for sharing the freezer organization ideas.
And, I love the recipe card binder idea, Tori. I think I’ve finally figured out a way to tame my letter and card clutter … like you, I think I need to recycle them.
I struggle with the piles of papers too, but maybe my advice on what NOT to do will help you!
Reusing containers is such a great idea! Here is my big list of ways to reuse things. One of my favorites for home storage is the clear vinyl bag with zipper that some types of blanket come in; it is ideal for making a subcategory in a drawer (I have all my tights and pantyhose in one) or for the many parts of a set of toys, and you can see what’s in it! Vinyl is not safe for food storage, though.
You are so resourceful, ‘Becca! I really appreciated your big list of ways to reuse things. Using the clear vinyl bags to organize your drawers is such a brilliant idea … I have all kinds of those bags, and now I know just what to do with them. :)
thanks