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New Year, New Home

Are you ready to get rid of the clutter in your life? Here I am, signing in to tell you what exactly to do with common items from the top places in your home that you may have overlooked.

10. Bathroom
TRASH: Did you know that your bath and body care has a use by date after you open it? RealSimple magazine breaks it down pretty simply here. There is a special symbol on the back of your product with a number on it. That is the expiration date! From now on, write the date you opened it on it so you know when to toss!
DONATE: Women’s shelters will take unopened products from hotel stays! Recent fun fact courtesy of my sister after I complained to her about my husband’s toiletry hoarding habit when he travels for work. I will be making an effort to do this in 2020. I made a pretty serious pledge last year to create less waste and one purchase that significantly helped with that was a reusable menstrual cup. After donating tampons and pads to a women’s shelter, go out and buy the Saalt Menstrual Cup. They last 10 years, are cost effective, and can be worn for up to 12 hours. Seems like a no-brainer and I’m so glad I made the switch last year!

9. Bedroom
TRASH: Stained pillows should go! I have a cost-saving tip for future pillows so you don’t have to toss them every year… Buy a waterproof/bed bug protection pillowcase. They will save your pillow from drool, greasy hair, and keep it fresh much longer.
DONATE: Old blankets and towels can go to animal shelters! They are usually in desperate need for these items to comfort the crated animals. Bonus: Take over a bag of food for them too while you’re at it!

8. Office
TRASH: Do you need 50 pens all collected from hotels, restaurants, your office? I really don’t think so and honestly, half of them probably don’t even work. Toss them now!
SELL: Did you promise yourself you’d use that fancy camera you bought last year but never did? List it on Facebook Marketplace for that lucky photographer. I’ve had some serious luck on that page.

7. Living Room
TRASH: Nothing. Seriously. You should be able to find a home for your furniture and/or storage bins & baskets. If you can not then….. SELL (again) on Facebook Marketplace. I really prefer this to craigslist btw. Think outside the box with rearranging your furniture and get creative with storage bins. I am constantly moving my bins from the pantry, to my closet, to the living room depending on need. If we get a new toy for the kids, likely I already have a perfect bin for it’s storage.

6. Playroom
TRASH: Toys that are broken. I also use this as a lesson to get my children to play with their toys nicely. If they break it and it can not be fixed, it goes in the trash and they know it. Sorry kids…

DONATE/SELL: Toys that are not age appropriate and video game consoles that have not been used in a year.

5. Pantry
TRASH: Expired food – duh! Also, plastic containers without lids and broken chip clips. You know, go through your cabinets real quick and toss useless items!

DONATE: Did you get extra canned corn for the holidays? I’m sure you can find a way to cook with it but you probably won’t. So go ahead and drop it off to a food shelter.

4. Wardrobe
FIX: Do you have pumps with a worn out heel? Take them to a shoe repair now! If you don’t know of a local one, there are also some dry cleaners that will repair these. Also, watches that need new batteries should be repaired. They’re going to waste in your closet and watches are very much so fashionable these days.

3. Garage
SELL: It’s been a while since I got on a bike and I don’t think it’s going to happen any time soon. This means I should say goodbye and sell it to someone who can use it. Also looking at some surfboards that are collecting dust from our “just moved out here” days.

2. Backyard
TRASH: Moldy outdoor cushions! To save yourself some money in the future, buy yourself a nice outdoor cover. We bought these after our old cushions were ruined by pine sap.

1. Car
TRASH: Last but not least – do a quick scan of your car. Get rid of the gas station receipts and food wrappers (don’t worry, I’m guilty of eating and driving too). Toss those old detail wipes you kept in your car because you were >definitely< going to keep your car clean with them before they dried out.

Let me know in the comments below if I’ve missed anything or if you need any more help decluttering your life!

roxanaabdollahi Blog

Clear Out/Clean Out

Today’s project was pretty simple and straightforward and I just had to share my success with you! My client was a (my) very independent 3 year old. She needed to be able to reach her every day essential articles of clothing and I needed to get rid of a lot of the junk I was hoarding since she was born. Head over to my instagram page @easily_organized to check out my closet organization highlights to see the progress report!

Lets start with my tip of the day…

Tip 12: Start decluttering by completely emptying and cleaning out the space. I threw every single thing out of the closet. Sure, it may have made the bedroom look extremely scary and the project kind of daunting but I find it’s good to get a glimpse of everything that’s taking up space in there. Also, when you do this, it’s so much easier to get a good deep clean. So grab your swiffer and collect all the dust! Just so you know, I didn’t throw everything onto the floor without order… I kept the dresses together, the shoes in a pile…etc. I’m not totally crazy.

Tip 13: Frequently re-evaluate the items in your closets/cabinets. I only found about 3 or 4 articles of clothing that didn’t fit June anymore because of how often I purge. Donate anything you don’t use. This may seem cliché but I’ll add a slight spin and recommend you let others borrow these items until you may need them again. Maybe make an arrangement with a friend that you’ll pass on your child’s clothes if they promise to do the same when/if you decide to have another one. Stop holding onto things you do not need! Fine… I may not be as sentimental as most people but I really enjoy knowing someone else is making good use of something we used to love.

Tip 14: Categorize the pieces in your space. If it’s clothes then sort by season first and then by color. Closets like this with a lot of hanging space can accomodate for holding your seasonal gear year-round. I had previously kept the sweaters all together when, in fact, a few sweaters were only for winter weather or snow and most were meant for SOCAL mild weather. Now I have snow gear and cold weather items together and out of the way since we hardly use them.

Tip 15: Maximize the use of your current storage baskets. I was so proud of the fact that I didn’t have to go shopping to create this look! It really just took me dumping out the baskets I had and finding a proper home for everything in them. For example, I had bathing suits jammed into a basket when they should have been easier to find since we use them all year. Now, the basket on that shelf holds goggles, small pool toys, and her floatie. I strongly believe in a common sense organization method. You don’t need to add every bin or basket to a space to make it easier to navigate. Make sure you’re using the bins you currently have before buying any new ones! That might just create new clutter.

Check out the before photo below! What a simple yet pleasing transformation! What do you think?