Hunt for home furnishings (without the meatballs)

It’s 2014 and here are some handy and healthy tips we think will get everyone started off to a Clean and Happy New Year:

Make the bed as soon as you get up.

A neatly made bed quickly makes the whole room seem more orderly and starts the day off in a nice, organised way.  You may find for some reason, when your bed is made you are more likely to want to tidy up the rest of your room. 

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Whenever you leave a room, take something with you.
Try to never leave a room empty handed especially if you have many rooms in the house. Take only what you can put away. Moving your clutter from space to space isn’t very helpful and can add to the stress of cleaning up! Try and look around before you leave a room to see if there is anything you can take that doesn’t belong in that room, away to its rightful place. Or put away one or two things in its storage before you leave a room to get into a habit of keeping a clean room at all times. As they say, a little bit goes a long way.

Keep a donation box.
This is a great one. Keep a donation box, or a sell box. Or two or three. Keep one in the garage or storage for knick knacks, and one in the closet for clothing. When it is full, take it away. Find out where the donation bins are, there are always plenty around when you look for them. For bulkier items like furniture, there’s always Couchelo. To donate, you can call our buddies at Reverse Garbage or The Bower.

Set up a realistic cleaning schedule that you can follow.
Some cleaning schedules are just impossible to keep up with.  As a full time employee, athlete, student, business owner, or full-time mum, some things just don’t get cleaned as often as we all would like.  And that is okay. Having a rotating cleaning list that you can just check off as you go is a good idea.  When you get to the end, you can start over again.  It is much easier than a weekly time table, or leaving it all ‘til the Sunday afternoon, when you’d much rather be spending time with your friends and family.

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Recognise your home’s ”Hot Spots”.
We all have those places in our homes where the clutter tends to accumulate.  Often times, it is the front entrance or kitchen counter. These are often good areas to start your organszation magic and will probably be areas that you should check regularly for quick “tune-ups”.  Figure out what items end up there and create a new home for them.  If it is not needed, get rid of it!

Take time for yourself.
This is crucial to living an organised and clutter free life. Yet, sometimes this seems to be the hardest thing for many of us to do. Find something that you love to do at home that is just totally for you and make the time to do it. It could be as simple as carving out 20 minutes to have a relaxing bath or read a book that has been collecting dust on your shelf.  Give yourself 30 minutes per day to do something that you enjoy {oh, and this does not mean watching a television show while folding laundry, dusting and doing dishes during the commercials!} This makes a happier, more well rested, productive, energy-filled you!!! Also you will find, that when you take time to enjoy the home you live in, you will also take time to make sure the home you live in is enjoyable- clean, organised and a delight to look at. Take pride, pamper yourself and you will do the same for your home.

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If you don’t love it or use it, it has got to go!
You can only organise so much.  If you have not used {or worn} something for one year, the chances are you will not be using it.  Yes, there are exceptions, but in general this is a good rule to follow. Toss it or donate it - think of it as one less thing to worry about!

Do not buy something unless you know where it will go.
This one may be hard for some of us, but before you buy anything, think where you will put it and what function it will have.  Even if you love an item {and marked down to 80% off!}, if there is no where for it to go or you will not end up using it, it will not be helpful to you.  Instead, it will end up in a junk pile somewhere in your house or buried deep in a cupboard.  

Be Realistic
When you are setting goals for yourself, start with small, specific tasks. As you see yourself crossing off items on your goal list, you will start to feel like you are actually accomplishing something. Feel proud of what you have done and use that to motivate you to continue on.  Focus on what you have done and not on what you still have to do. Thinking about too many tasks often just sends us into shut down mode.

Be mindful of time overspent on Technology!
Between the Browsing the Internet, Social Media, Texting, Playing App Games, Streaming TV Shows and/or Television, etc., your time can quickly evaporate!  Often you can get sucked into the computer and don’t even realise how much time has already passed.  Try and limit how many hours per day you spend on the computer and set a timer. You may find that by doing this, you will actually enjoy your computer time more as you prioritise what you browse, how you spend your time on the Internet rather than just looking at things that don’t really interest you or add any value to your day and you begin mindlessly clicking away. Giving yourself a time limit allows your time spent on the computer each day to be more productive and meaningful. This applies for those who need the computer for work after work hours too! Sometimes less time spent, means more work done!

Realise that complete chaos is sometimes inevitable.
As much as we try, life just sometimes gets the better of us. It is easy to say “you should always follow these guidelines on a daily basis” but life gets in the way and the fact is, sometimes we are too busy, too tired, or just in need of a break. We must give ourselves permission to just let it go {this can be a hard one for some!} and then get back on the saddle again the next day!

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So hopefully you will find some of these ideas useful and remember that little changes do make a big difference.  It may take some effort to adapt your ways, but it will be well worth it in the end! Have a Happy and Organised 2014.