It’s likely not your favorite chore, but spring cleaning is
a great time to give your home a clean slate and a fresh start. You have a really good idea of what was
and wasn’t used over the winter months and can use that information to sort and
purge accordingly. Here are 3
areas of the home that are ideal places to organize in the springtime:
1. Your Closets! And that means all your closets including bedrooms, spare
rooms, front entry, back entry and even the linen closet. First, start with the
easy items. Any coats that are
dated, old or worn out, get rid of them.
You should also get rid of any items you didn’t wear this past season. Even if they’re in good shape, if you
didn’t wear them this past winter, you’re not likely to wear them next year
either. Also go through your
footwear and winter accessories like mitts, hats and scarves. Once you’ve purged, if you’re still short
on closet space, consider storing off season clothing on higher shelving or
under the bed in bins or vacuum seal bags.
Once you’ve done all of the
clothing closets, hit the linen closet.
It’s often overlooked when clearing out closets. Be realistic about how
many sheet sets and towels you actually need. Donate any unwanted items to your local animal shelter.
2. Your Garage. We all know what your poor garage looks like after a long
hard winter. Items thrown into a
heap, random bags of garbage, dust covered bins of sporting equipment and
hardly used tools. Garages aren’t
always the most fun place to spring clean, but if you spend the time cleaning
it when it’s warm, you’ll be able to park both
cars in there come winter!
The best way to tackle the garage is on a
sunny day. Open the door and use
the driveway to sort everything.
Also, if you can, plan ahead to have a truck to haul away any items to
donations or the landfill. Once
you’ve decided you don’t want something, you should get rid of it that same
day. Use bins and shelving to keep
everything else organized. Or,
depending on your budget look at installing some customizable options like
built in tool or overhead storage.
3. Storage Spaces. Again, the job isn’t glamorous, but if you do it now, you’ll
be making things easier for yourself in the long run. I suggest doing the storage once in the spring and once in
the fall. In each season, rotate
items forward that you’ll need for the next 6 months. In spring, pull forward any camping gear, sporting equipment
or gardening supplies. In the
fall, bring forward all of your Christmas decorations and winter items. Once again, make sure you keep only
what you’re actually using and keep it stored in clearly labeled bins. And, depending on the size of your
storage room, shelving is a great option to help utilize vertical space.
Dedicating a small amount of time to Spring Organizing will
pay off in huge dividends for the rest of the year. Happy Organizing!
