| Take A Load Off: Spring Cleaning Tips and Tricks By: Rebekah Maple It’s about that time again. Time to get out your organizational spirits and think about ways to de-clutter your life. The cold wintry days and nights may be giving you the blues, but spring is right around the corner, so freshening up your space will help you feel accomplished and happy. Spring-cleaning isn’t always the most fun thing to do, but with a few fun tricks and tips, your space will be cleaner and brighter in no time. The first thing you want to avoid is feeling too overwhelmed. Take your time and move from section to section instead of focusing on the big picture. Professional cleaner and organizer Carol Otcasek has been helping others make sense of their spaces for more than 16 years. As a strong supporter of the book Clutter Control by Jeff Campbell, Otcasek suggests getting rid of things you don’t need first. “Get rid of anything in your closet that you haven’t thought about or used in two years,” she said. You can donate gently used items such as clothes, shoes and jewelry to places like Good Will or the Salvation Army. Once you’ve eliminated everything you don’t need, you should focus on organizing things you are keeping. Otcasek takes her labeler everywhere she goes and has designated places for everything. She said home improvement stores carry a wide range of organizers for closets, and suggests using a cube organizer for shoes or an over the door organizer if you are lacking space. There are easy-to-build shelves that work great for clothes that don’t hang. She recommends using the folding board FlipFOLD® to make everything perfectly uniform. “You can buy cute canvas drawers that fit perfectly in the shelves,” she said. “They have all different colors for a wide range of personalities.” For smaller items in your room like jewelry, sunglasses and makeup, there are many clever ways to keep them together. Some storage compartments can be used in more than one way. For example, you can use an over the door shoe organizer for hats, gloves and scarves in the winter. In the warmer months, it can be easily rolled up and stored with the winter coats. You can also use the shoe organizer to store your jewelry. It’s a good way to keep the bracelets separate from the necklaces and sunglasses. You can also use corkboard or wire screening to store earrings safely. Makeup can be organized by color so you can coordinate quickly with your outfits. Each color combination can be put in a zipper bag or just stored directly in the shoe organizer. “My challenge is to always find a use for things you would normally throw away, like containers,” Otcasek said. “When you start needing containers for your containers, then you can start throwing them out.” She keeps pillowcase and comforter packaging, Schick® Intuition razor containers, tennis ball containers and, of course, shoe boxes to name a few. The plastic bedding packaging is good to use for opposite season storage. Winter clothing and bedding can be easily stored in these during the summer. The plastic razor containers fit bobby pins perfectly and tennis ball containers can be used for extra combs, brushes and toothbrushes in the bathroom. Shoeboxes are good for practically anything. A simple and clever way to know what’s in each one is to take a picture of all the items in it and then tape the picture on top of the box. “Be clever about the ways you use your containers,” she said. You can use purses in storage as storage themselves. Put winter socks, earmuffs, hats and gloves in the winter purses or ones you’re not currently using. “If it’s a container, put something in it,” Otcasek said. “Everything can be multipurpose.” Now that you have the tips and tricks you’ll need to organize this season, go get cleaning! |
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