Tag: home organization

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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.

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Professional-Organizer

Week 44 | Linens | 52 Weeks To Downsize & Minimalize

Linens

I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of linens I see when going into homes to organize them. But how many are actually used on a regular basis?

Minimize the Amount of Linens In Your Home

Whether they are old, stained or torn, there are plenty that we tend to hold on to for much longer than their useful life. Or, maybe they are so old that the original color is barely recognizable. Does this sound like you?

Stop justifying the amount of linens that you are clinging to in your home. Start downsizing this week by getting rid of the ones that are absolutely horrendous or in such bad shape you’d never want to use them yourself, much less keep them for guests.

Idea: Donate towels to your local animal shelter and other linens to Goodwill or Salvation army; organizations that have larger connections to reuse programs that make things such as insultation from these items.

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Professional-Organizer

Week 43 | Coupons | 52 Weeks To Downsize & Minimalize

Coupons

In today’s world there are coupons for just about everything. For those of you who use them grocery shopping, congrats! But are all even still relevant, or are half of them expired?

What To Do With Your Coupons

Now is the time to go through and pitch the ones that aren’t going to get you very far. Waiting to use that online one for something that you’ve told yourself you’re going to buy, but you know you never will? Delete the email.

Clipping coupons for stores you generally don’t frequent and haven’t found a reason to stop at yet? Recycle them.

Don’t make finding the special ones that are worthy and relevant for you and your family harder to find. Get rid of all of the extra clutter that is in the way.