Author: Bella Organizing

Isabella Guajardo -also known as Girl With A Truck™- has been creatively organizing homes since 2007. Today, her home organizing company Bella Organizing in collaboration with Girl With A Truck™ residential move management company is the San Francisco Bay Area's favorite "get it done" duo. Isabella and her team enjoys working directly with clients to make their space comfortable, functional, and stylish.

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Professional-Organizer

Week 49 | Greeting, Birthday and Holiday Cards | 52 Weeks To Downsize & Minimalize

Greeting, Birthday and Holiday Cards

greeting-cardsNo matter how many times we say we are going to make a cute craft out of all of the sweet Greeting, Birthday and Holiday Cards we get, it never seems to happen. Before we know it, we have a drawer full of cards that are taking up space.

Greeting, Birthday and Holiday Cards

This is a great week to go through the stacks of old cards and downsize. It’s nice to keep a few of the more meaningful ones from loved ones. But if not careful, you will have drawers, boxes, and cabinets filled with them.

Have cards been sitting in a drawer or on the top of a shelf, and you haven’t peeked at them for months? Then you’re not going to miss them now. Go through the cards one last time, take a digital photo if you need to, and then recycle, recycle, recycle.

There are many different craft ideas that you can do with your cards that you can find on Pinterest. With the ones that you keep, think about finding a great way to utilize the remaining cards!

IDEA: Take a digital photo of a picture card and upload it into your phone contacts as the one that pops up for that person when they call.

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Professional-Organizer

Week 48 | Unrepairable Items | 52 Weeks To Downsize & Minimalize

Unrepairable Items

rusty-broken-bikeWho has a million unrepairable items hanging around the house that… let’s face it…you’re never going to fix. Time to downsize and get rid of them this week!

Unrepairable Items in the Home

Whether it’s old rusty tools, broken dishes, children’s toys, clothing that needs serious mending, or things in the garage that you SWORE you were going to fix, it’s time to make an executive decision and take action. They’ve been sitting around for ages cluttering your living space. Are they even repairable at this point?

You fought the good fight, but now it’s time to admit that the chances of you fixing these items is zero. Let them go and welcome uncluttered space into your home.

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Professional-Organizer

Week 47 | Medicine | 52 Weeks To Downsize & Minimalize

Medicine

Have you ever reached for medication when you or your child was sick only to find everything is old and expired? Let’s be proactive this week and get rid of everything in the medicine cabinet that is useless.

Expiration Dates on Medicine

Going through the medicine cabinet is something that should be done on a regular basis. Twice a year is ideal. Things tend to expire at the worst times. Before you know it, you don’t have what you need on hand, in case of an emergency.

Cough, cold & flu, sore throat, and any type of children’s medicine are the expirations to watch closely. Those have clear dates that need to be watched closely. It’s generally best to buy smaller bottles of these items, since they are rarely used in completion before an expiration date hits.

This is a quick and easy task that you can complete in no time. And it’s a big one for safety. Get this done before cold & flu season hits and make sure your family is prepared.

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Professional-Organizer

Week 46 | Wrapping Paper | 52 Weeks To Downsize & Minimalize

Wrapping Paper

Wrapping Paper tends to find a way to get a little out of control at times. It can get excessive and before you know it, it’s taking up an entire closet or room in your home. Time to downsize!

Ways to Downsize Wrapping Paper

It may be tempting to keep every square inch that doesn’t get used. There comes a time when it’s appropriate to recycle the remnants that won’t survive another gift to wrap.

You may also have old paper that is faded, torn, or simply doesn’t fit in with anything you would use it for. That means it’s time to pitch it!

Beware of hoarding tape, bows, ribbon, and other supplies with the wrapping paper. Drop off excess gift wrap supplies to your local after-school youth or creative reuse program.

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Professional-Organizer

Week 45 | DVDs and CDs | 52 Weeks To Downsize & Minimalize

DVDs and CDs

Today, if you have DVDs and CDs sitting around your home, you are wasting valuable space. That space could be better utilized or simply kept clean and clear.

Downsizing the DVDs and CDs in Your Home

If you have shelves of old CDs and DVDs, what should you do? If you are looking to make a few bucks, try to sell them on websites such as Amazon and ebay. You may be surprised what you can get for some of the more rare ones.

Not quite ready let them go yet? Download the music and movies that you are about to get rid of and import the music from your CD’s to your iTunes or other digital music library on your computer. It’s simple and now you’ll be able to have these items wherever you go. You don’t need the hard copies cluttering up your home.

Ready to donate? Give them to a public library, Goodwill, Salvation Army, or other local charitable organization or school. Be prepared to gain lots of extra room in your home and you can also get a tax deduction for items that you donate.

No more DVDs and CDs cluttering up the space that you live in. And don’t forget to clean out your car, too.