Project de-clutter: Tips for organizing and refreshing your space in 2019

It’s winter in Kansas, but with the start of a new year, it seems my brain thinks it’s spring. When the year switched to 2019, it’s like I flipped a switch and went in to Spring cleaning and organizing mode.

OK. OK. I watched an episode of Tidying Up.

ONE episode. And the cleaning and organizing bug bit me. There. I said it.

And I secretly love it. I mean, who says spring is the only time for clearing out clutter and getting organized ?!?

First, it was all the t-shirts - all folded into

small, perfect, tiny, little rectangles. Then, it was the master closet. coat closet, spare bedroom closet.

before

after

before

after

before

after

And I'm still going :) But if you're not ready to go all Marie Kondo just yet, here are several simple ways to refresh your space in the new year:

•         Change out your bedding/comforter/duvet cover
•         Fresh coat of paint
•         Change out the throw pillows on your couch
•         Hang new artwork in space you spend a lot of time in
•         Add drawer/closet organizers to your spaces
•         Add real plants or flowers to your main living spaces
•         Rearrange the furniture in a room
•         Go through each room and remove SOMETHING---de-clutter
•         Add a basket to each room to gather random items that “don’t belong” (Thanks, Chalene Johnson!) 
•         Do a deep clean of a main room - don't forget those base boards :)
•         Add a fun chair to your office space
•         Clean out your fridge, pantry, lazy Susan
•         Change out your shower curtain and bathmats
•         Purge your closets of clothes you don’t wear or don’t fit
•         Clean out that “Junk Drawer” (or 7) that I we all have

I'm definitely no expert, but with any cleaning and organizing project, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, so I encourage you to do a few things before you get started:

1.      Take a walk around your home and Identify areas that you want to tackle and why

2.      Prioritize your list based on what means the most to you

3.      Create a timeline for implementing these changes! DON’T try and tackle them all in a day or even a weekend!

4.      Create a list of the items needed to tackle your first item.

5.      Get to work!!

I’d love to hear about what items you tackled first and see some before/after photos! Share below! And happy tidying 😊