Fiddly Bits

Tips for getting your home organised

Living room:

• Clear all end tables, coffee tables, bookcases, shelving units, cabinets of any clutter.
• Toss old newspapers and magazines and keep current ones in a basket or in a magazine holder.
• Have only those items on display that are useful or make you happy.
• Add in some new plants or fresh flowers.

Dining room:

• Organise your china cabinet so that it holds only those dishes, glasses, serving dishes, silverware, linens and other dining accessories that you use when you eat in the dining room.
• If you never eat in the dining room, consider turning this area into an office, playroom or hobby room instead.

Kitchen:

• Stow away any appliances that you seldom use such as your blender, indoor grill, mixer, food processor, or bread maker. These take up valuable space on the kitchen counter.
• Refresh your tea towels and pot holders.
• Invest in some fresh herb plants for your window sill.

Bathrooms:

• Discard any expired medications, old cosmetics, personal care products or containers or anything you no longer use.
• Return only the essentials, keeping similar items together.
• Buy some colourful new towels, a new bath mat and perhaps a new shower curtain.
• Treat yourself to some pretty scented soaps, gels or bath oils for a moment of indulgence.

Bedrooms:

• Clear out and organise your closets, under your bed, on top or your bedside tables or your dresser and inside your drawers.
• Dress back in your favourite music, fragrances books and imagery.

Children’s rooms:

• Install wall shelves or cabinets for storage instead of deep toy boxes. Be sure most are at heights that your child can actually reach.
• Contain smaller toys in baskets or clear plastic containers before storing them on the shelves.

Family room:

• Organise your media collection on bookshelves or on shelves you attach to the walls.
• Keep all DVDs together, all CDs together. Organise first by genre and then by title (movie) or artist (music).

Home office:

• Weed out your filing cabinet. Get rid of anything that is outdated or no longer necessary to keep.
• Keep your shredder nearby to shred any paperwork that contains personal information such as social security numbers or bank account numbers.
• Clear out your computer desktop and files as well. Make sure the systems you have in place are still suitable for your work load. If not, revise them.