You are spending a lot of time at home because you live in one of the cities such as Melbourne that announced its stage 4 lockdown early this month. Whether you are working from home, schooling your kids at home, or just need a well-arranged space for you to stay in, now is the best time to organize.
Do you feel more and more obliged to sweep and clean as you stay at home? You are one of the many people on this table.
Many messages keep coming to Home Organisers from those who need pieces of advice on the home organization during their stay at home due to covid-19 quarantine. Since we are now at home and are faced with our personal stuff, it is time to seize this opportunity to take some steps and feel better.
We have come up with a list of 12 professional ways to organize your household this time as a response to several questions and requests from our customers.
12 Professional Home Organizing Tips
Below are simple tips for a proper home organization like a professional during the COVID-19 pandemic:
Organize your Pantry
As you get your home ready for quarantine, the best first step to take is to check your pantry and shelf-stable belongings. Begin this process by bringing out everything and noting the expiration dates. Make an inventory list of your shelf-stable essentials and things you might frequently need. If you have an excess of some belongings, try to contact your elderly family and friends or donate such items and others that you no longer need to charity.
Wipe down your cupboards and pantry before you begin to dispose of everything. Place each remaining belongings into categories. Similar spices should stay together; oil and baking supplies, canned goods, cereals, and others. Optimize space using jars, lazy Susans bins, baskets, and containers.
Organize your Closet
Turn on your sound system and start organizing your closet. Try all your wears on and see if there are some clothes you need to donate since you haven’t put them on for a year or more. Fold and organize the items you are keeping neatly based on the occasion, color, and style. Seasonal items like warm scarves and big coats should be stored in boxes to have more space.
Also, you can repurpose older belongings. Cut out an old T-shirt, sew a patch onto your old jeans, or tie-dye an old T-Shirt. If you plan to still keep an old T-shirt because of sentimental reasons, you should consider turning them into a quilt, as suggested by experts.
Make Physical Space for Mental Space
Since you will be in your home for sometimes, we suggest you declutter and rearrange your entire living spaces. Decluttering will make the place feel less compacted and provide you improved mental health and also increase your productivity feelings. There may also be a need for more free space for movies, game nights, exercising, and other quarantine activities in your home. You can also access many online resources for yoga and exercise classes. Begin this process by disposing loose belongings away and giving a more efficient home for items you occasionally use — store items in the space under the bed and in the closet. Also, seize this time to rearrange your furniture to allow for more space.
Assign a Space for Work or School
If your job has been adjusted to work at home, or your children are staying home to do their school work, you definitely will need to clear out and create some workspace. Assigning a place for this will make you get a feel of being at work even while working remotely, and also make productivity easier. Experts say you need a decluttered space to maintain focus. You can store items in vertical space whenever possible. Leave essential items only on your desk. You can hang wall pockets on the wall to keep papers and files. Items are stored separately and vertical with the use of paper sorters on a desktop, getting rid of visual clutter and giving more space to work.
Don’t concentrate majorly on disposing of Stuff
Concentrate on making quality decisions. First, ask if an item is useful and if it serves a purpose, sentimental, and the level of its sentiment. Also ask if you love the item, if you will love to keep it because it makes you happy, and then keep it. Do not rush; think very well before you decide what to do with the item. Also, ask, will this item serve me 10 years to come? Will I still love it? Can you see your children making use of it? Thinking down this path is better than disposing of all your belongings without thoughts.
Categorize your Items
There is a difference between disposing items and staying organized. You can easily dispose of stuff when you categorize items. According to experts, the major reason some people are not organized is that they fail to categorize. Define your categories for more orderliness. Organize your books, load bathroom items in zip-top bags, and store electrical cords in a bin. That will enable you to discover the items you own and the ones you no longer need. Concentrate on items you normally use. What quantity of blenders do you own? Dishes? Have you used them at all for 1 year? If there is enough space for them and you don’t want to let them go, keep them, else, dispose of them.
Organize your Fridge and Freezer
With a lot of groceries entering and exiting the refrigerator, these tips can help you organize your fridge or freezer:
- Make sure fruits and veggies are kept at eye level:This will not only improve your health, but it also reduces your waste as you always remember them according to experts.
- Keep condiments on the door’s shelves:This is because they remain warmest when the door is opened and closed. Do these by adjusting the height of shelve to contain the tallest bottles then proceed from there.
- Use bins:This is to make sure dinner preparations are kept together. After preparing your chopped foods, storing them together in a meal kit simplifies dinner preparation.
- Empty the freezer and dispose of all expired items.
- With plastic bins in the freezer, store similar categories together. Expert said existing freezers are similar to a big open container where items can easily get lost.
- Keep healthier stuff at the top of the freezer:Keep ice cream as well as other treats where they are not seen each time you open the freezer.
- Make an open list of your freezer contents: Make sure the list is updated as you consume foods and stock new ones. The best place to list your freezer content is by attaching a dry-erase board magnetically to its side.
Overcome your Cupboards
Begin this process by checking all your cabinets and disposing tools that you have more than one, as well as broken appliances. Then proceed to the following:
- Think of the number of glasses you need and just keep a little extra.
- If you have shelves that are not adjustable, make use of shelf helpers for a storage addition.
- Make an organization look by arranging glassed-in rows and keeping similar plates and cups.
Creating kitchen zones can also be helpful, for instance:
- You can designate a cabinet beside the coffee maker as a coffee zone and add mugs.
- You can also assign the sink area as a preparation zone and add storage for cutting tools and chopping boards.
- Designate the area around the refrigerator and sink to food wrap zone for plastic items and wrap.
- You may assign the oven area as a baking zone and add storage for cookie cutters, bowls, rolling pins, and similar bake-items.
Use your Dishwasher
Although cleanup is not the best aspect or meal, creating a music playlist for kitchen cleanup can improve motivation. Make the process more fun by requesting your Alexa to play favorite music. And make sure you follow these tips by manufacturer to keep the process going smoothly as you frequently load the dishwasher:
- Take away food debris such as seeds or bones and any other waste like paper or toothpicks. These can cause damage to the dishes, causes a malfunction to the product, or create noise.
- Keep smaller items like mugs, glasses, dishwasher, cups, and saucers safe on the top rack.
- Keep larger items such as pans and pots on the lower rack.
- Make use of all the features of your dishwasher and use it for the specified item. Do not forget to use adjustable, foldable, or removable features of your dishwashers if present.
- Place the dirtiest side of the individual dish facing the middle of the dishwasher. Any open item such as a cup or pot, face down so water can get in it. Also, ensure enough space is left between the dishes.
- Use hand to spin the spray nozzles after loading. Rearrange any dish that is sticking out, such as pot handles, blocking the nozzles from free spinning.
- Conduct regular cleaning by wiping down the exterior of the dishwasher and control panel gently using a soft wet cloth. Clean the filter immediately the exterior is clean. Position an 8-ounce cup of white vinegar solution in the basket at the lower end for this step, and then quickly run a sanitize cycle.
- To perform a deep clean, take out the nozzles and filter them and soak them in distilled white vinegar over the night. This will eliminate any mineral deposits and grime that have piled up or are giving our odor.
Check all your Entertainment Collection
Take a list of your books, games, and movies. Look for enough space to keep them, find some old items you like so you can enjoy at leisure time, and donate items you no longer enjoy to retirement homes, local youth centers, and children’s healthcare center. This might be the best time to dispose of old CDs and VHS tapes that is consuming space and have little or no use. You may discover you have to let go of many older movies available on your subscribed streaming services.
Visit the Garage
Your garage is one of the most important places that requires organization. It is often suggested by experts as a starting point. Tools, random gear, storage, and others can be found in the garages and sheds. Garage cleaning and organization requires a lot of physical strength and is perfect for many exercise and fresh air. These spaces usually gather more dust, dirt, and grime than internal spaces. Bring out everything from your garage or shed, then sweep the entire area and hose it down.
Make sure you properly check everything as you refill the spaces and decide on the item to keep, sell, donate or dispose of away. Sort each item by category and plan for where you are storing different groups of items. Make use of shelves and hang items to create space on the wall. Get larger bins to keep Christmas decorations and similar items. Be creative with your old paint cans, mint or gum containers, to store smaller tools and trinkets.
Clean out the Car
After cleaning and organizing your home, performing a deep cleaning and organization of your vehicle is a nice preparation for possible resumption to work and normal outdoor activities. Do more than washing the outside of your car and check all the corners and hidden areas thoroughly, including glove compartments.
Professional Home Organisers in Melbourne
Is your existing clutter giving you sleepless nights? We understand living in a cluttered place can lower energy flow, positivity, productivity, and motivation levels. Sometimes, it may be difficult to tackle your home organization if it’s been long you did. That is why our Home Organisers is ready to give you support from the start to the end of the process and help you create a functional, effective, and free-flowing and appealing home through our Home Organising service. Contact us now at 0407 094 444 today!
Final Words
Now, you have the chance to do some things you rarely have time to do before coronavirus. You will feel more productive when you clean, organize, and reflect on your household possessions. Take step today!
