Home & Garden

Organization tips for a clean home

Organization tips for a clean home

Author: Canadian Living

Home & Garden

Organization tips for a clean home

Whether it's been a couple months or a couple years since your last good house clean, there's a place in every home that can be tidied up a bit. So we've compiled a collection of our best organization tips to keep your place spic and span. Learn how to pare down an over-crowded closet, where to move the kids' toys and tackle the inevitable pile of paperwork that gets dropped by the front door.

Did you know a well-organized home isn't just easy on the eyes (and nose)? Clean, clutter-free quarters can also boost your health, too. Learn how you can lose weight by clearing clutter from your kitchen in the articles below.

At home:
6 ways to clean up your home life
How to declutter your home, your heart and your mind.

My friend Maggie is a hoarder. Her tiny Winnipeg bungalow is filled to the rafters with every homemade card, piece of art and dollar-store gift her children ever gave to her. Now the kids are gone, and Maggie is selling the house. But the prospect of dealing with the massive clutter is overwhelming. She feels paralyzed by inertia. “I'm buried by my debris,” she says tearfully. “It's sabotaging my life.”

How to organize your kids' toys
Find out how one mother decluttered her home by organizing her kids' toys.

My life, since it became seriously infested with children, has become an exercise in managing small pieces of plastic. Not a day goes by when I'm not confronted with the challenge of what to do with myriad bits of colourful crap.

Cheery address book
Organize the addresses of friends and family in one place.

While many rely on e-mail these days to correspond with family and friends, you may still get a little thrill when opening your mailbox to find a hand-written note. If you still like to send "snail mail" and had a hard time finding all the street names and postal codes for your holiday envelopes this past season, then one of your resolutions may be to organize all of this information in one place.

Page 1 of 2 -- Find more great tips for organizing your home on page 2

Declutter your wardrobe with ease
Clean out your closet with these expert tips.

Edit a little at a time. Each month, go through one category – sweaters, jeans, skirts – and get rid of pieces you no longer wear. Sorting each section separately will keep you on track and make the task of organizing your wardrobe seem less daunting.

Closet makeover
One woman gets expert advice for decluttering and organizing her closet.

Who: Cindy Crean, 44, wife and mother of two.
Background: Cindy used to wear long, loose garments, but over the last five years, she's become more comfortable with a sleek, tailored appearance.

Managing your digital photos
Harness the power of your computer to avoid the digital shoebox filing system.

Here's the best basic advice I ever heard on digital photography:
1. Take lots of pictures
2. Label everything
3. Burn to CD or DVD often (photographs take up a fair bit of room and can bog down your computer).

Simple door organizer craft for kids
This easy craft project puts everything you need right at your fingertips.

Are you used to the clutter of a student's busy life: lunch money, permission slips, bus passes. Keeping all those bits and pieces organized and accessible is the key to an easy early-morning exit. This handy doorknob organizer, made with household items in under 30 minutes, can help you conquer the mess – and make the bus on time.

Simple organizing for parents
Three-ring binders can make a difference

If your kitchen is a three-ring circus, tame it with three-ring binders. Outfitted with clear plastic inserts in a variety of formats, binders are ideal for storing.

How to maintain your health records
Discover expert advice on how to keep your personal health records up-to-date.

Being able to accurately recall your medical history is challenging at the best of times, let alone in an emergency situation. And for many Canadians, health records are fragmented and incomplete, spread across the many health-care practices they have visited over the years.

3 ways to declutter for weight loss
Is the food in your kitchen causing you to pack on the pounds? Declutter your kitchen and boost your weight loss with these easy tips.


It's that time of year again! The warm weather is finally here and our yearly ritual of cleaning out the closets, organizing the garage and planning our gardens begins once again. In addition to getting our homes in order, it's also the best time of year to get your health and weight in tip-top shape. While many believe New Years is the optimal time to take back control of your health, after spending a decade practicing in the weight-loss world, I'm convinced that now is the ideal season to shed those lingering pounds.

How clearing clutter can help you lose weight
Find out how clearing clutter can help boost weight loss.

Four years ago I became the organizational expert on a television show called Clean Sweep. The premise of the show was very simple. A team of experts – including me, a designer, a carpenter, and a crew that assisted in the painting and redesign plans – was given two days to help a family dig out from under their overwhelming clutter.

Organize your garage
Make room for the car in your garage with our easy tips.

"Garages are particularly interesting because they're the places people put everything they can't decide where to put," says Laura Tanner, professional organizer and owner of Dwelling Space Inc.

Easy rider
Organize your car for a stress free ride.

On a typical day you go to and from work, pick up a gaggle of kids from soccer, hit the drive thru for an after-school snack, drop Rover at the vet, stop for groceries and dry cleaning and then race home to get dinner on the table. In the mad rush, the car has morphed into hell-on-wheels — a morass of sports equipment, take-out wrappers, CDs, backpacks and dog hair. Sound familiar?

At work:
Spruce up your home office
You'll love to work from home in an office that reflects your personal style. Design your perfect workspace using these tips, tricks and products.

Even if you're working with a small budget and an even smaller space, setting up a functional, comfortable home office is easier than you think. Here are five tips on how to create a brand new home-based workspace or simply refresh your existing one.

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