How To Organize Your Spices

We’re moving, and the new place has a smaller kitchen than I’m used to. We currently store our voluminous spice collection on a little set of bleachers on the counter, but there won’t be room for such indulgences in our new apartment. What to do with all those jars? A little poking around online told me there are many spice-storage options. The only question is which to choose? For a small place, a wall-mounted model is probably best. These come in a large variety to match your unique style flavor. Another option for those who lack counter space is the in-drawer rack. Some of them even expand to … [More]

Tips for Working Out in a Small Space

If you only have a small space for your home workouts, be sensible about what sort of equipment you buy and how you use it. You aren’t running a fitness club in your home, so you don’t need a full range of gear. Instead, select a fitness regimen that meets your needs and only buy equipment as you need it, selling or giving away items that are no longer a part of your routine. Avoid Uni-Purpose Equipment Just because something is “seen on TV” doesn’t mean that you ought to buy it. A lot of gimmicky exercise equipment is uni-purpose: It only works out one area of … [More]

Store or Toss: Knowing When to Let Go of Your Belongings

One of the first steps of Spring cleaning is de-cluttering. This is the time to survey your belongings and classifying which items should remain in your household, which should go into storage and which you should sell, donate to charity, recycle, or throw in the trash. While it’s easy enough to make decisions about belongings that you use on a regular basis, making the decision between putting an item into storage or getting rid of it can be a hard one. These items are typically things that you don’t use often, but do have some value. To help you with this conundrum, here are some questions to ask … [More]

How To Do a Closet Makeover

A closet makeover can be a big project, but it doesn’t have to be as extensive or complicated as you might imagine. And if your closet’s anything like the disaster mine is, any amount of time and money invested will be well worth it. Your first option is to have a professional design a whole new shelving and hanging system for you, such as those created by the Container Store with Elfa systems. This will be like waving a magic wand over your closet, but unfortunately it will have a magic price tag to match. A more economical option is to cobble together your own solutions to … [More]

5 Great Decluttering Tips

Clutter is the bane of an organized existence—it’s a constant battle to keep the mess of possessions in our lives from bursting into chaos. Here are a few good tips for keeping things straight in various rooms of the house. Store linens in drawers. Linen closets are notoriously hard to keep straight, since pulling a sheet out of the middle of a stack all but guarantees an avalanche of fabric. A better way to keep your linens from getting that cluttered, crumpled look is to store them in drawers. Subdivide your drawers. Almost all drawers could benefit from being divided up into sections to keep the contents from … [More]

How To Organize Your Recipe Collection

It’s one of the perennial kitchen problems: how to keep your recipes straight. Do you always forget which book that favorite hors d’oeuvre is in? Or always find yourself rifling through a drawer stuffed with printouts when you decide to make those awesome cookies? Well, you’re not alone. What is the best way to organize this mess and have the recipes you use most easily at hand? There are as many specific solutions as there are cooks, but most of them fall in three categories: (1) keep it on paper, (2) go digital, and (3) open an app. Keep it on paper Your first priority should be … [More]

Kitchen Organization Tricks

Having trouble keeping your cooking space in line? Kitchens are notoriously difficult to keep straight. Tips and tricks for organizing this heavily used space are a dime a dozen, but some of the most sensible are worth sharing. Check out these useful ideas. Store your cookbooks well, whether in a shelf built into the wall, in baskets in a cupboard, or on the bottom shelf of a side table. Then put all those stray recipes you’ve printed off the Internet in a binder, categorized by type. Detangle your pots and lids. Consider hanging your pots on an overhead rack and using an in-cupboard rack to keep the … [More]

How To Organize Life With Pets

Like any member of your family, pets accumulate stuff, and stuff accumulates dust. Follow these steps to get a handle on your pet’s accoutrements and streamline your life with your furry friends. 1. Purge your supplies As pets grow, they leave a wake of old toys, unused carriers, obsolete cages, and uneaten treats. And as time goes by, you might not have all the pets you once did, though their stuff may well still be in a corner of the garage. The first step in organizing your pet gear is purging all this old, unused clutter. Get rid of that chewed-up tennis ball that’s been replaced by … [More]

5 Hidden Storage Ideas

With extra stuff comes extra clutter. Overstuffed bookshelves. Bureau drawers bursting with clothes. Cupboards chaotic with spice jars. It’s no wonder that some of the best storage is the kind you don’t see. There are all sorts of inventive ways to declutter using hidden compartments and drawers. Here are a few ideas for making storage a little easier on the eyes. Storage under stairs: Use the space under the stairs to store everything from books to bicycles. Under-bed drawers: Under your bed is prime hidden-storage territory, whether for extra sweaters or your collection of old magazines. Concealed changing table: Designing a changing table that folds away can … [More]

Category Archives: Organization