Organizing Products
Reading Time – 4 minutes
My guest blogger this month is Spencer Andrews a representative of More Space Place, a Greenville area leader in closet, office, and garage organization. He has included 5 pictures of different types of closets.
Thinking of upgrading your closet space? Adding a brand new custom closet system to your home can be an exciting prospect. After all, optimizing your storage means you’ll be able to rid your home of clutter and enjoy a cleaner house.
The are a few things to remember, however. Just like any other home improvement project a custom closet has several pitfalls that can have disastrous consequences. Low-quality materials can break and hasty installations can lead to damage to your home requiring thousands of dollars of costly repairs.
To help you avoid such a thing we’ve put together this guide to help you make the appropriate considerations. These 5 steps are what we think are the most important and will help ensure that you’re satisfied with your brand new closet.
Step #1: Plan your design & research your options
Just like with any other project, the success of your custom closet installation is contingent upon diligent research and proper planning. The most important thing to determine is the materials you’ll be using for your closet system. There are plenty of economic options available, but how sturdy are they? Particleboard is affordable, but composites can be easily damaged and don’t deal well with moisture. Furthermore, installing laminates can require working with highly flammable and toxic adhesives, which some homeowners may not be comfortable with. These materials may be more affordable, but will generally have a diminished life span. This is just one example of the kind of research you’ll need to do.
Of course, the other thing to remember is to make sure you have all the tools you need to handle this installation. This is by and large a function of the materials you’ll be working with, and once you’ve determined that you’ll have to make sure you have the right tools.
Step #2: Acquire your materials
When you’re buying the materials for your closet’s installation remember this one simple rule: not all materials are created equal. Take the time to compare the different building supplies you’ll be buying. Boards can warp and deform and may not retain their shape. Take the time to inspect everything you’ll be using to ensure that it’s up to par. Substandard materials can be disastrous for a project like this, and there’s nothing worse than taking multiple unwanted trips to the hardware store. Save yourself a headache and work only with the highest quality goods.
This can also mean using wire closet systems. These tend to be more reliable when compared with particleboard. These will also be more consistent in terms of quality, alleviating many of the headaches associated with less durable materials. That being said, it’s important to do your homework early on and decide what material you think will work best for you.
Step #3: Take your measurements & prepare for installation
Is the room you’re installing your new closet system in completely square? Can you fit all the tools you’ll be using in your closet space? Will your closet system completely cover your wall or should you consider wallpaper or paint to complement your new installation?
These are all considerations to take into account before you begin building your custom closet. If your closet comes out off-center or looks crooked because of the shape of the room it can really detract from the visual appeal of your new closet system. Furthermore, adding a new coat of paint or wallpaper can really help to improve your closet system, so make sure you have that in place beforehand!
Step #4: Begin building your closet system
While this may be a fairly obvious step, this is where all the hard work and potential problems may occur. The most important thing to consider here is whether or not you have the time to put together a brand new closet system in your home. Furthermore, you may need to consider if you have the experience for such a project. Installations such as these can be demanding and may require the expertise of an experienced team. If you find yourself in over your head consider looking for a custom closet designer who can help you out with your project. These services also tend to be comprehensive, which means that can also help you with the design & picking out the right materials.
Enjoy Your New Closet!
After putting in all this hard work, it’s time to enjoy your new custom closet! Consider what you’re going to do with all this new space and check out some other space-saving options. Amazon has plenty of corner storage, stackable bins, and space-saving solutions that can help to make your new closet even more efficient.
Thinking of upgrading your current closet space? Greenville More Space Place is the Greenville SC Custom Closet design team that can help make your idea a reality.
Let me know what the most important feature of a closet is for you.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading Time – 5 minutes
The technical side of organizing involves a series of steps:
- Sort items into groups of the same type of objects
- Part with items you don’t need, love or use
- Assign a place for things to be stored
- Containerize items to keep them together so you know how much you have
- Evaluate your system and see if it needs some adjustments to work better for you.
S P A C E is used to remember the basic steps of organizing.
For me the fun side of organizing involves thinking outside the box:
- using old items in new ways
- rearranging furniture to make a better flow in the room
- storing items in fun containers
Today I am going to show you 5 ways to use a shoe organizer.
Storing clothing items
- Store scarves, hats, gloves or mitts. The clear pockets make it easy to get out the right things. In the summer a shoe organizer near the entryway is a good way to store sunglasses, sunscreen and hats. Always a convenient place to keep your masks.
- In your closet, you can store belts, scarves, socks, bras, shoelaces anything that you like to easily grab and go. What clothing items have you stored in a shoe organizer? Oh, yes shoes.
Store cleaning supplies for you or the home.
- Shoe organizers are a good way to store all your shower needs, shampoo, conditioner, soap etc. Take what you need into the shower.
- They are also great in a laundry room. Put your cleaning solutions in the pockets, stainer mover, furniture polish, tile cleaner, rug cleaner, spot remover, clothes pegs, lint brush
- Make it your home repair center, picture hanging kits, sewing kits, fuses, light bulbs, small tools, tapes, glue, felt furniture pads.
Use it in your craft room.
- The picture shows quilt squares. The pockets can hold paintbrushes, glue sticks, scissors, tape, ribbon, pencil crayons, markers, rulers, and paints. This list is endless.
Use it in your office.
- I took this picture in a bookstore. These are maps being stored in a shoe organizer.
- You can use it for office supplies, pens, pencils, stapes, business cards, rulers, tape measures, tape, glue, envelopes, cards
- You can sort photos into the pockets
- It can be an easy place to store your receipts by month or category.
What about your plants and gardening items?
- It can hold your plants.
- It can hold your gardening supplies, tools, plant food, seeds, insecticides
What is your favourite way to use a shoe organizer?
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
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I always enjoy reviewing a product. I was lucky to be contacted by Hoover and given a ONEPWR sprayer to use. It is an interesting new product, a handheld cordless electric sprayer.
Whenever I tell someone about this product the first question is, “Does it spray paint”? No, it is for keeping your home clean and safe. Since Covid has become a part of our lives cleaning and disinfecting have become a larger part of our life too. This lovely sprayer can replace your pump spray bottles. You know the ones that make your hand cramp when you’re spraying shelving units, showers or any large surface area.
Assembly
It is easy to assemble and use. Place the battery in the charger. When it is charged slide it onto the sprayer. Put your favourite clean product in the container, hold the finger trigger and spray the surface you want to clean.
Safety
When you’re using the sprayer protect your eyes and nose by wearing a mask and eye protection. You don’t want to get any cleaning spray blowing into your face from nearby vents, fans or windows. It is especially important to wear protection when you’re outside using the sprayer. There are a few products you should not use in the ONEPWR sprayer, bleach, hydrogen peroxide, pine sol and pine-oil based solutions.
So many uses
This product is so versatile. It comes with a bottle of household cleaning solution. You can use whatever cleaning product you prefer. You no longer need to buy your favourite product in a spray bottle. You can buy it in a larger economical size. The sprayer is not limited to cleaning. You can use it to spray insecticides, fertilizers, fungicides and weed killers. You can use it with water to mist plants, clean floors and the inside of your vehicle. It is great to have in the kitchen. Whenever you need to wipe something off, you spray and then dry the surface. It is so much easier than running the tap, wringing out the cloth and wiping something down. You might get more people involved in cleaning when it is this easy and fun. It is great for cleaning large surfaces like walls. Think about your next move or after a renovation how easily you could clean all the walls. Don’t forget it is cordless.
Good for the environment
Using the ONEPWR sprayer replaces single-use wipes and spray bottles and the packaging it comes in. This reduces what is going into the landfill. You can reduce the number of chemicals you use in your home by purchasing eco-friendly cleaning solutions.
The ONEPWR cordless sprayer is more convenient and eco-friendly than single-use spray bottles or wipes. #ad #Hoover Share on XDisadvantages
No product is perfect. It is a little heavy with the battery and the liquid container filled. It is still very manageable to hold and direct the spray where you want it to go. Any time you have a product with a rechargeable battery you need to remember to charge the battery and have a place for the charger. There will be those frustrating occasions when you have forgotten to take the battery off and charge it. The ONEPWR sprayer needs more space to store it than 1 spray bottle. But how many spray bottles do you have?
Value
This product costs approximately $240.oo CDN. You will recover the purchase price quickly. You will spend less on single use wipes. You can purchase large size economically priced products. It will make cleaning so easy that you no longer need to pay someone to clean for you. Perhaps you’ll keep the cleaning person and let them use the sprayer, lol.
I think I covered all the information about the Hoover ONEPWR Sprayer. Tell me about your experience with this product in the comments.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
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Reading time 5 minutes
We are looking forward to using our vehicles more and travelling again. Vehicles are used as mobile offices, restaurants, entertainment centers, locker rooms and homework stations. Keeping a vehicle clean can be easy. Here are 7 tips to help you organize your vehicle.
Garbage Bag
1. Have a plastic garbage bag in the front and back seats of your vehicle. It can be hooked on the headrest or armrest. Make sure all garbage is put in the bag and not all over the floor. When the bag gets full unhook it and put it in your garbage can on the way into the house. Keep a few extras in the vehicle.
Have a backpack ready
2. If you have a young child keep a backpack ready at the door to take with you in the car. Fill it with things your child can use to entertain themselves. When you arrive home put everything back in the backpack and bring it into the home. This prevents toys, papers and video games from being left all over the vehicle. It also prevents things from being damaged by being left in a sweltering vehicle.
Use your cupholders for temporary storage
3. Cup holders are a great invention. Put a clean tall cup in the holder and use it to hold pens, pencil crayons, small toys, notes, papers, and snacks. It will help to keep items confined to a space and prevent them from being lost in the vehicle.
A portable office
4. If you use your car for an office try using a bin, box, or bag to contain all your supplies. There are a number of portable office organizers available or make one that is personalized for your situation.
You spend a lot of time in your vehicle. Keep it a safe and healthy place free from flying objects and germs. Share on XClean up messes quickly – people and the vehicle
5 . Keep disposable wet wipes in the glove compartment for quick clean-ups. I have a small container of water, soap and a cloth for washing hands and faces. I keep it in a small box so it won’t roll around the van. I bring it in, change the water and put it back the next time I go to the van. Keep a roll of paper towels handy. You never know when they will come in handy for bigger clean-ups. If you have a mess in the vehicle clean it up right away. You have the products with you so it is an easy job. Always take everything out of the vehicle when you arrive home. Use the car door pockets and seatback pockets for items that permanently stay in the car. If you start with a clean vehicle on every trip it is easier to keep it clean.
Keep your cargo area under control
6. It is easy to put things in the back or trunk, arrive home and rush into the house. If you don’t take the things out then when you add more it becomes fuller and fuller. There are certain things that live in the cargo space. Find a home for them. A box, crate, a built-in storage area, a bag hooked to the side with a 3M hook, under the bottom by the space tire. Make sure the other items are stored back in their proper place in the garage, basement or home.
Seasonal storage “locker”
7. Sometimes the cargo area is used as a seasonal storage “locker” because there isn’t an easy place to store and access sporting equipment. Some situations are hockey bags, golf clubs, soccer equipment and water sports. When the season is over clear out the gear. Wash it, clean it, dry it and store it away until next year. Leaving wet equipment in your vehicle year-round will cause it to deteriorate and get mouldy.
I think I covered most problems in your vehicle, including garbage, toys, paperwork, messes and cargo areas. What did I miss? Let me know in the comments.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
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Need to wash your windows but you don’t want to spend the time doing it because the next rain will wash away the time you spent shining those windows. Try using a window cleaning product that attaches to your garden hose. First, you rinse the window with water then switch the setting to soap continuing to spray the window and then switch it back to rinse. You can clean your windows without your feet leaving the ground. One such product is Windex Outdoor Spray.
For cleaning the inside or outside of your windows try using Norwex cloths. You use water and the cloth, no chemicals. They do a fantastic streak free job. Norwex has many chemical free cleaning solutions. I have been using them since 1995.
Share the method you use for cleaning your windows.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
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Reading time 1 minute
I enjoy travelling and have travelled to Europe, the East, Australia, Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.
I am going to give 2 tips for travelling with an organized purse. (It works for backpacks and briefcases too)
- Buy a purse that has a light lining. When the inside of the purse is dark it is very hard to find anything, organized or not. A lot of items are black or dark in colour, make-up, pens, phones, keys, wallets etc.
- Try purchasing a gadget called Grid It. It comes in many sizes but the small one fits lovely inside a purse and keeps all the small items that you need for flying and travelling neat and tidy. It is wonderful for holding a pen, earbuds, adapters, candy, phone, and keys. You pull it out of your purse everything is contained on the Grid it and you pull out the items you need and put it back in your purse. No digging around in the corners to find the thing you want.
How do you keep all your small items easy to find and use? Share your tips in the comments.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
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Organizing Challenges Unraveled – Storage Solutions
On the People in Connection Internet TV show, I discussed Organizing Challenges Unraveled – Storage Solutions. When you are short of storage space in a specific area, there are many products on the market that can give you more.
Over the Door Hanging Products
There are a number of over the door hanging products found in stores such as Walmart and Canadian Tire. There are over the door hooks to use for hanging coats, clothes, towels, purses, and belts as well as over the door rings for hanging tea towels, hand towels and paper towels. There also is a great product that has 5 pockets /shelves that are about 6” deep, which could hold shoes, office supplies or laundry supplies. Using over the door hanging products makes installation easy and quick and you don’t need to put holes in your walls.
Magnetic Products
There are magnetic products that can be used to make storage space on metal appliances such as your refrigerator, filing cabinet or washing machine. One is a rack with 3 slots to hold papers, magazines etc and a filing pocket to hold file folders. They are available at office supply stores like Staples.
Unused / Hidden Spaces
There are unlikely places in the home that can be turned into great storage areas. Under the staircase can be lined with cedar to become a storage area for clothes or bedding. It can be fitted with a bar to hang clothes or shelves for storing containers.
Furniture with Storage
Using pieces of furniture is a great way to make additional storage spaces. A simple chest of drawers can be used in an entranceway to store hats, mitts, pets’ leashes, keys etc. An antique dining room buffet with drawers can be used to store CDs and DVDs. Two-drawer filing cabinets can be used as a night table in a child’s bedroom holding books and toys and later used for school work as the child matures.
When you need to make space to store items think outside the box, many spaces can be used to creatively and attractively store the things you need and love.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
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Reading time – 2 minutes
In my travels, I have seen some great organizing ideas and products. Most of them can be created using items you already own. Save money, have fun and create a solution to an organizing problem.
Re-purpose an item and use it in a new way
On my trip to Vancouver, I learned about this idea. Here is a silver chest.
It now holds makeup. My daughter-in-law invented this creative solution.
Stack 2 tables to create a great look
I travelled to Iceland with my 92 year old Father. A coffee shop had these versatile coffee tables.
They can be easily separated to give more tables, slide over top of each other to leave more floor space and provide 2 different height tables at the same seating space. Imagine how you could create this look at your home with 2 tables.
Use stacking bins for laundry
When I was in Yellowknife I saw these great stacking laundry bins
They use vertical space so take up less floor space and can easily be separated to take to the laundry room. The thing I liked is that you can put items into the bottom bin without removing the top bin. If you have some bins around the house try using them for your laundry. You may need to set one across the other in an X pattern to be able to stack them.
1 in 4 garbage can
While staying in a hotel in Ontario I noticed this great recycling idea.
It made recycling very easy. It was all in one place, the corners were labelled so you knew where to put your cans, paper, garbage and glass. You can easily make dividers for the garbage cans for bedrooms. It would make collecting the garbage easy, only one container, and it would be sorted and ready to add to the larger containers going out to the curb.
Shoe Organizers are Versatile
When I was in Bermuda I saw one in a bookstore used to organize maps. The pockets are large and the organizer can be hung over a door, mounted on a hanger and put in a closet or fastened to a wall.
Re-purpose a piece of furniture
Using furniture in a new way can be fun. Use old furniture as storage and save money not buying bins. Back at home, this used to be a buffet.
It holds our CD collection perfectly. I knew I would not have room to use it in the eating area but it keeps the entertainment equipment CDs and gaming equipment neat and organized.
I went to the Canadian National Home Show, check out this blog post for more creative organizing ideas. What’s new at the home show?
Share your creative organizing solutions in the comments below.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
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Do you have children in your family with Legos laying all over the floor? Here is a fun organizing tool to make cleanup of toys easy and fun. Check out swoop bags.
Need help getting toys and home routines organized? Contact Mind over Clutter for a free one hour assessment virtually to get you on the road to success.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Samsill Medium Pop’n Store Box
I have used a lot of pop-up and unfolding type boxes in my organizing business. They usually like to refold themselves flat, have weak bottoms that collapse and may or may not have lids. The Samsill Medium Pop’n Store Box is great. It has none of those problems.
It is easy to assemble and it stays together. Although it can be unfolded it may be hard to get the bottom back up which I like. Having a strong, tight fitting bottom means the sides are well supported, the box will stay square and the lid will fit on firmly.
It is made of very thick strong cardboard with a lovely low gloss pebbly looking finish. It gives it the look of being made of fabric, not cardboard. The corners of the lid are reinforced with metal to prevent them from ripping or tearing. The bottom is made of fabric so it won`t scratch your furniture.
It is light and easy to handle but strong and ridged and lovely to the eye. It combines functionality with beauty to store and organize your items. It comes in 5 sizes and multiple colours.
What is your favourite pop-up container?
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
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