Having a cluttered home makes it very difficult to find what you are looking for. Living in clutter can also cause stress and other health problems. It is not uncommon for individuals to purchase furniture to help them get organized. For example, a bedroom vanity can help someone who wants to organize his or her bedroom, and it can enhance the décor of the bedroom as well.

Purchasing furniture to keep your rooms organized is a good idea; however, individuals who have excessive items in their homes tend to clutter up the shelves and top surfaces of their furniture as well as the floor space around it. This diminishes the look of the furniture, ruins the décor of the room, and causes the home to look unkempt and be unsanitary.

Many individuals have a strong desire to collect things. When buying collectibles, people do not think about the day they will have to part with these items. In fact, most people have difficulties parting with material items, particularly those with sentimental value. The inability to get rid of things that are no longer being used is the primary reason for clutter in many homes around the world.

When people fail to throw away items that are no longer in use, they tend to store them in areas of the home where there is extra space. Extra bedrooms, basements, attics, and closets are just some of the areas where people store clutter. Once these spaces fill up, individuals generally begin storing items in visible areas, including living rooms, dens, porches, and backyards. Some individuals may even purchase extra furniture for the sole purpose of stuffing them with things.

When individuals continuously purchase new items and never get rid of old items, clutter starts to build, and it builds quickly. Excessive clutter in the home often causes anxiety, and ongoing stress. Disorganization is a major cause of stress, according to many experts. The time and effort that it takes to look for items that are not easily findable can cause your heart rate to increase and making you feel flustered. According to a study performed at Yale, individuals who hoard items (or live in cluttered environments )have much higher risks of depression and can develop attention deficit disorder during adulthood.

Pests and bugs tend to gravitate towards clutter as well. Mice, rats, cockroaches, silverfish, spiders, and ants hide in cluttered areas to escape from predators. They often build nests and reproduce in these cluttered areas. Individuals exposed to their excrement can develop allergies, rashes, and unknown illnesses. The excrement created by small pests is often microscopic, making it impossible to see. Many individuals who knowingly live with these pests set traps and spray insecticides, which can lead to respiratory issues. The best way to deal with this problem is to clear the cluttered area completely to get rid of the bugs and pests.

Staying organized and periodically getting rid of excess items is the best way to keep a home free of clutter. Keeping a clutter-free home is a surefire way to ensure that your home is a beautiful and healthy environment to live in.

Miguel is an avid blogger, father of 2, and recent proud homeowner. He loves studying architecture, home design and decor and plans to one day buy a custom house plan to build his dream home.

It’s easy for a bedroom to become disorganized. As one of the most lived-in rooms in the house, it is a natural magnet for all types of paper, books, toys, and knick-knacks. Since your bedroom is where you sleep, it’s important you keep it as neat as possible to encourage relaxation at night.

Arrange the Clothing in Your Closet
Your closet was not designed to be a refuge for every article of clothing you have ever owned. Go through your closet and remove anything you haven’t worn in the last year. With the exception of some types of formal wear, if you haven’t worn it in the last 12 months you probably won’t wear it in the next 12 months. Donate the clothes to a charity, and make room in your closet so you can find what you’re looking for quickly and easily.

Reorganize Your Drawers
It’s so much easier to shove an article of clothing in the back of a drawer than decide whether or not to keep it. If your drawers are so packed that you can’t find what you need when you need it, then it is time to weed out clothing you don’t wear. This goes double for items you don’t wear because they are stained, don’t fit, or don’t look good on you.

Take Advantage of the Space Under Your Bed
Evict the boogieman and put a few large plastic storage bins under your bed. Choose wheeled bins for easy access. Storage bins are ideal for items you use infrequently, like uncomfortable shoes.

Use Baskets
Baskets are a good way to make your bedroom look neat quickly. A laundry basket is a must, and so much better than a pile of clothing on the floor. Put a wastebasket next to your nightstand so you can easily throw out tissues and other bits of garbage.

Hang Art
Don’t clutter every surface with framed photos. Instead, hang your photos in small groups around the room and free up your tabletop space.

Put Things in the Right Room
If your bedroom has become home to wayward items that belong in the playroom or garage, then put them where they belong.

Get a Covered Desk
If your desk is in your bedroom, it’s easy to get sidetracked by work at bedtime. To prevent this, invest in a desk with a solid cover to prevent you from being distracted by work at the wrong time.

Use a Shoe Tree
Organize shoes on a hanging shoe tree in your closet. This frees up floor space and makes it easy to find shoes when you need them.

Put Personal Care Items on a Vanity
Vanities are a convenient way to keep your personal care items organized. A bath vanity can go in the master bathroom or in your bedroom.

Clear Your Nightstand
Keep your nightstand free of anything you will not use immediately before bed or upon arising. For most people, that means having only one book, a clock, a bottle of water, and a box of tissues.

Miguel Salcido is an avid blogger, father of 2, and recent proud homeowner. He loves studying architecture and home design and decor and plans to one day buy a custom house plan to build his dream home.

Have you ever battled to get your fashionista daughter dressed and out the door in time for school? In a recent interview with Woman’s Day Magazine, I was asked for a few tips to get the frenzied mom and kids out of the door in the morning in a more harmonious way.

Too many clothes  combined with a fashion oriented child makes for a slow ‘getting out the door and off to school’ morning process. I recently received a new product sample that can definitely help with this challenge. It does take pre-planning BUT, just like any other organizing tactic, the time you spend pre-planning each weekend  will pay off in spades throughout the week.

This is how it can work: Every Sunday night, you and your fashion savvy child can select and accessorize (of course!) outfits for the entire week. One for each day! The Organizables Team has created cool hanging bags that will keep every choice for each day contained and waiting for the morning routine, including shoes, socks, and accessories!

Not only will your morning routine go faster, your endless arguments about fashion will be consolidated into one day, the day you decide together what to select for school attire. Additionally, the closet will be less cluttered and chaotic. Purging at the end of each school year will also take less effort because you will be much more aware of what was actually worn throughout the year! Each bag is marked with the day of the week – Monday through Friday. Each bag also has two pockets to hold the small accessories for each outfit including undies, socks, and shoes.

These bags can also be folded up and used as travel bags to keep overnight weekend trips and family vacations better organized. You can get a set for each child. The boys set comes in blue. You can find these bags online at www.Organizables.com.

So, once again the moral to this story is, a little pre-planning with the proper tools will keep your better organized and less stressed as you proceed throughout the week. If you want to read more solutions to get you out the door faster from my Woman’s Day Article, click here!

Many of us experience the need to downsize or help others downsize. The tips below will help you become a downsizing master!

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