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Clutter & Declutter

Day 10: Declutter And Organize Challenge – The Refrigerator

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Filed Under: 30 Days Organizing Challenge, Clutter & Declutter, Organizing, Organizing Series

Decluttering And Organizing The Refrigerator

Today we are back in the kitchen for Day 10 of our challenge. What’s on the menu for today- see what I did there? The refrigerator.

An organized refrigerator is one of the best gifts of time you can give yourself. You will save so much time shopping and cooking when you can see and easily access everything in your refrigerator. An organized refrigerator will also save you money because you won’t have as much waste or by duplicates of things you already have.

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

How To Organize The Refrigerator

Let’s get started on today’s Challenge!

  • Start as we always do by clearing out. Take everything out of your fridge. Now go ahead and check the dates on your food and condiments, toss anything that is expired.
  • Take out all of the shelves, drawers, crispers, and trays and wash them as per their instructions. Wipe down the inside of the refrigerator and place all parts back.
  • Replace the food into your refrigerator. Aim to organize like items together but you may prefer to create kits by meal time, like breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner.
    • Cooked food, leftovers; condiments, eggs and dairy, meats, fruits, and vegetables, and so on.
  • Now, repeat the same process of remove, purge, clean, replace with your freezer. A good rule of thumb with frozen food items is that if they have been in there for more than 6-8 months you should probably get rid of them.
    • I love these bins to organize the freezer into sections: raw meats, cooked meats, frozen fruits, and vegetables, and so on.
  • Finally, you’ll want to take everything off of the outside of your fridge and give the surface a good cleaning. Now, place only a few magnets back. This sep is probably hardest for those with small children, as the refrigerator easily becomes an art gallery. A good solution is to create another area in your home that is specifically for your kid’s to show off their artwork. These frames are awesome to create a rotating exhibit of your kids’ art and school work.

Refrigerator Declutter Checklist

Grab today’s Refrigerator Declutter Checklist and let’s get started!

30 days decluttering and organizing challenge
Click the image to sign up, join the challenge and access all daily printables.

After you grab the free printable each day, don’t forget to share your process and progress on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with the hashtag #APONewYearChallenge for a chance to win a free copy of the Life-Binder Purposeful Life Planner!

Want more great tips on how to keep your whole kitchen organized and running smoothly?

 

Day 9: Declutter And Organizing Challenge – The Pantry

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Filed Under: 30 Days Organizing Challenge, Clutter & Declutter, Organizing, Organizing Series

Decluttering And Organizing The Pantry

Yesterday we took a little break from physically organizing and decluttering our spaces and talked about creating a home management binder to keep all of our hard work intact and create a system of home and family management that minimized stress and maximized productivity.

Today, we’re back at it. So let’s head into the kitchen and tackle the pantry.

The pantry is one of the places where people can really see some instant gratification when it comes to organization.

declutter and organizing challenge - organizing the entrance

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

How To Declutter & Organize The Pantry

Let’s jump right in!

  • Clear off your kitchen table completely. You’ll be using this as a catch-all for this part of the declutter and organizing challenge.
  • Clear everything out of your pantry and put it on your kitchen table.
  • Now that your pantry is completely cleared out, give every surface in here a thorough cleaning. Pantries are full of crumbs, spills, you name it.
  • If you have pets or other bulk dry items, consider placing large plastic bins on the floor to store these.
  • Place large appliances that you do not use very often on the higher shelves
  • Place items that spill easily and tend to be extra messy (remember that clean up you just did?) in plastic containers or sealable bags
  • Organize your pantry items. Cans, dried pasta and rice, and condiments. Consider placing all of your baking items in a basket so that when it is time to bake you can easily pull everything out at once.

Who is inspired to shop and put groceries away in this newly decluttered, cleaned, and organized pantry?!

Grab today’s Pantry Declutter Checklist and let’s get started!

30 days decluttering and organizing challenge

After you grab the free printable each day, don’t forget to share your process and progress on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with the hashtag #APONewYearChallenge for a chance to win a free copy of the Life-Binder Purposeful Life Planner!

Want more great tips on how to keep your whole kitchen organized and running smoothly?

 

Day 8: Declutter And Organize Challenge – Creating a Home Management Binder

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Filed Under: 30 Days Organizing Challenge, Clutter & Declutter, Organizing, Organizing Series

Decluttering And Organizing Papers & Information

Welcome to Day 8 of the Declutter and Organizing Challenge. Today we are taking a break from physically organizing our spaces and focusing on a great way to keep everything organized and flowing smoothly.

So what are we doing today? We are creating a home management binder that will focus on not only the maintenance of our physical spaces but also on our family life routines, organized access to vital information,  as well as meal planning.

Along with the above information, you’ll also want to keep a copy of important records like marriage or divorce decrees, power of attorney information, contact information, credit card, and bank info, doctor and insurance information, and schedules for each member of the family.  Having crucial info for members of your family, schedules, important documents and routines all packed neatly together at your fingertips will make your life so much simpler.

You can create your own binder by gathering a three-ring binder and creating lists and calendars to suit your needs.

Don’t feel like creating forms, arranging lists, and putting all of this information together on your own? We have you covered. Our 2019 Life-Binder has everything you need to manage your home and family with simplicity and ease- for 50% off!

We know how hard you are working to declutter and organize your entire home during this challenge and we want you to have all the tools you need to keep it that way! During this challenge, we’re discounting our awesome organizing tool.

The Life-Binder is much more than just a planner, it’s a purposeful life planner, one that creates a central place for everything you need to do for your family.

The Purposeful Life Planner & Thrive Family Planner Companions for a life with purpose.
Click on the image to get your Purposeful Life Planner 50% OFF

Here’s some of the home management magic you’ll find inside:

  • An extensive family planner
  • A set of family routine planners
  • Meal planning printables
  • Contact info printables
  • Kids, school, and sports printables

Click here to grab the Life-Binder today, don’t forget to share your process and progress on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with the hashtag #APO New Year Challenge. And now that we’ve shared the goods on the Life BInder, you’ll really want to show us your progress pics-because we are giving away one binder FREE on Instagram. Head over to our page @apersonal_organizer to enter to win!

30 days decluttering and organizing challenge
Click the image to sign up, join the challenge and access all daily printables.

Want more great tips on routines, planning, and scheduling?

Day 7: Declutter And Organizing Challenge – The Home Office

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Filed Under: 30 Days Organizing Challenge, Clutter & Declutter, Organizing, Organizing Series

Decluttering And Organizing The Home Office

You may be a little intimidated at the thought of decluttering and organizing your home office, I get it. Because our home offices are often huge multi-tasking rooms in our homes, they can become cluttered and disorganized very easily.

Help is on the way in the form of day seven’s challenge. If it seems impossible to tackle your office in one day, don’t worry, you can spread this task out into two days. It is more important to truly declutter and organize your space so that it functions the best way it can depending on what you need it to do. Once you declutter and organize deeply, your home office will work so much harder for you.

Let’s get started!

Decluttering and organizing challenge - the home office

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

How To Organize The Home Office

  • First, begin by clearing the top of your desk. This will give you a visual clean slate and will also give you an area to sort on.
  • Next, empty your desk and cabinet drawers and sort your items into like piles. You will likely have piles of bills, house-related paperwork, insurance paperwork, and tax documents. Mixed in will also be office supplies, such as staplers, pens, tape, post-it notes, paper, files-you name it!  Keep sorting until every drawer and cabinet are empty. If this is too much to tackle in one day, choose one area to sort at a time, but do not replace or organize anything until all the areas have been emptied out, decluttered, and sorted.
  • Once everything is empty wipe out drawers, cabinets, and surfaces.
  • Put anything that belongs in a different place where it belongs and get rid of anything that you are going to throw away. *If you are doing this task in two different days, this is a good place to stop.
  • Now, look at the piles  that you have and think of where you want each category to “live.” Organize the area you work in according to what you need to use most. Store things for occasional use on higher shelves or cabinets.
  • Once you have everything sorted, decluttered, and organized, remember to take time at the end of your day to reset your workspace so it is neat and orderly for the next day. There is nothing nicer than starting a work day in a fresh, clean, organized space!

Home Office Declutter Checklist

Grab today’s Home Office Declutter Checklist and let’s get started!

30 days decluttering and organizing challenge
Click on the image to join the challenge and access all checklists

After you grab the free printable each day, don’t forget to share your process and progress on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with the hashtag #APONewYearChallenge for a chance to win a free copy of the Life-Binder Purposeful Life Planner!

Want more great tips on how to keep your home office organized? 

 

Day 6: Declutter And Organizing Challenge – The Laundry and Mudroom

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Filed Under: 30 Days Organizing Challenge, Clutter & Declutter, Organizing, Organizing Series

Decluttering & Organizing The Laundry And Mudroom

Hello, and welcome to the sixth day of the declutter and organizing challenge!

So far we’ve decluttered and organized the front of our homes, one of the most popular rooms, the family room, and even the dreaded junk drawers (s). I hope you are feeling lighter already!

Today’s declutter and organize challenge will focus on the mudroom and the laundry room. Because these rooms are used so often, they can get cluttered and disorganized quickly.

Taking the time to get these rooms in order ( and putting habits in place to keep them that way!) will save you time every single day.

Let’s jump right into day 6!

Declutter & Organizing Challenge - The Laundry and Mudroom

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

How To Organize The Laundry And Mudroom

  • Begin as we have been by clearing all shelves, surfaces, and closets of everything. Use bins, bags, or boxes labeled “toss” “donate” “keep” and sort your items. While this can sometimes seem overwhelming it is the only way to truly declutter a space. I promise it will be worth it!
  • Give all your surfaces a good wipe down. Clean your washing machine by running it with 2 cups of vinegar and then run another cycle with plain hot water. Clean the surface of your washer and your dryer and empty your dryer’s lint trap.
  • Now, we will organize all of that stuff. Even if your laundry room is separate from your mudroom or entrance area you can use your laundry room to store out of season items like gloves, scarves, and hats in Winter, or towels, swim, and beach toys in Summer. Large baskets on shelves are great for these items.
  • In smaller baskets or a drawer system, place your detergent, dryer sheets, stain sticks, etc. If you have pets, you can store their food and care needs in large plastic bins with lids to keep everything neat and easy to access.
  • Depending on how your home is set up and what your family’s needs are, you will probably find yourself with some items that are not on this list that you need to store and organize in this space. Start by thinking of how often you use each item and then use some baskets or other storage and store them accordingly.

Laundry & Mudroom Declutter Checklist

Grab today’s Laundry and Mudroom Declutter Checklist and let’s get started!

After you grab the free printable each day, don’t forget to share your process and progress on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with the hashtag #APONewYearChallenge for a chance to win a free copy of the Life-Binder Purposeful Life Planner!

30 days decluttering and organizing challenge
Click on the image to sign up for the challenge and access all the printables.

Want more great tips on how to keep your laundry and mudroom organized?

Day 5: Declutter And Organizing Challenge – The Junk Drawer

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Filed Under: 30 Days Organizing Challenge, Clutter & Declutter, Organizing, Organizing Series

Decluttering And Organizing The Junk Drawer

Hello, and welcome to the fifth day of the declutter and organizing challenge!

Today we are going to clean out that junk drawer (s). Everyone has one, or two, or three, and they are usually in some type of clutter or disorganization if they haven’t been cleared out in a while.

Let’s jump right in and get to work!

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

How To Organize The Junk Drawer

  • Take your junk drawer or drawers,  and, you guessed it, dump. It. out. This might seem scary, but trust me, its liberating.
  • Now, clean out the drawer itself. Dump all those little bits and wipe it clean.
  • Sort through all of that “stuff” and separate into things that can be rehomed and things that need to stay. Throw out any trash.
  • Put the things you are going to keep in the drawer over a counter and sort them by “family”.
  • At this point, you will want to think about how to organize your drawer. Do you need drawer organizers? Drawer dividers?  This can be as simple as some plastic containers that are made to store food or made specifically for organizing miscellany in drawers. 
  • Go ahead and place your items back into your chosen organization containers, giving everything a home. Assigning everything a place to go in the drawer will keep it from getting chaotic in the future.  
  • Place all containers in the drawer, keeping the ones you’ll use the most, closest to you.
  • Assign a day of the month to review the contents of the drawer and clean the containers if needed.

Guess what? You’re done! Go ahead and close your junk drawer knowing that the next time you need to look for something in there it will be super simple to find!

Here is a quick video where I show you a junk drawer organizing before and after.

Junk Drawer Declutter Checklist

Grab today’s Junk Drawer Declutter Checklist and let’s get started!

After you grab the free printable each day, don’t forget to share your process and progress on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with the hashtag #APONewYearChallenge for a chance to win a free copy of the Life-Binder Purposeful Life Planner!

Want more great tips on how to keep those clutter magnet areas in your home organized?

30 days decluttering and organizing challenge
Click on the image to join the challenge and access the FREE printable organizing checklists.

 

junk drawer organizing checklist