No matter how organized or tidy you are, you probably have a junk drawer or box where all of the things that you can’t really categorize permanently live. The rest of us, however, probably have hundreds of these little nooks and crannies around the house that can be tackled today. First, because you shouldn’t be out and about, even outside of curfew, you have the extra time. Second, checking that task off your mental to-do list is going to give you a hit of dopamine (the pleasure and reward hormone). Finally, you can brag to everyone about how awesome and put together you can be when you have time, so it is not really your fault that you are (occasionally) messy.
Clean up
You have probably picked up the handwashing habit by now, and you may have realized that you were washing your hands wrong for most of your life and probably for not enough time. Our biggest weapons against disease are humble soap, water, and the Happy Birthday song.
It is time to take that attitude to your home. Give your living space a deep clean. It’s coincidentally the time for Spring Cleaning anyway. Vacuum your couches and mattresses. Wash the curtains. Steam the bathroom. Polish the silverware. You will immediately feel better, the air will be cleaner and the floors will sparkle. Plus, you are getting a free workout in the process.
Declutter
If you never realized it, clutter is a stressor. Sorry folks, but this is just another thing mom was right about. Open your closets, take everything out then breathe. Before you start putting things back in, wipe it all down so it is free of dust. Now take a long hard look at your clothes. Look at each item and decide if you want to keep, donate or toss it. We’re not experts, but Marie Kondo, the author of the Life Changing Magic of Tidying up is and if you need some help her show on Netflix can definitely help you. Everytime we do a closet curation, we redefine our personal style and it is almost like reinventing ourselves without too much work.
Who knows? Once you are done you might feel confident enough to finally face your monstrous storage room.
Revamp your closet
Okay, we know that Marie Kondo might not be everyone’s cup of tea when it comes to decluttering your life, and in turn your closet. Why? Because sometimes, ALL your clothes give you joy, and that’s fine. You want to live with 20 pairs of denims because each one speaks to you and tells a different story. We’re not here to judge, it’s your choice. But, you can still give your closet a good GROOMING. Try on all the jeans, closely examine all the white shirts, and maybe you can come up with better ways to access your prized possessions.
Kitchen
We are all spending more time in the kitchen than normal. Whether by cooking more meals at home or repeatedly opening the refrigerator door hoping that something more inspiring will magically appear any moment now. We have another reason to keep you in the kitchen. Grab your speakers, find your favorite Spotify Playlist (and yes we found dozens of very specific ones to keep you motivated) and tackle your spice cabinet. Clean the containers, toss what needs to go and label them. In a perfect world, all of your jars will look exactly the same and you will organize them alphabetically. But nothing and no one is perfect except us, so stacking them by color or most commonly used works too. One of the most important things about organizing is understanding that your system needs to work for your way of life. There is no point in putting salt and pepper in a hard to reach spot if you are going to need access to them all the time. Start somewhere then let it organically evolve into something that helps you live better and easier.
Health and Beauty
Our health is high on our list of priorities at the moment and for a good reason too. The medicine cabinet is something we normally don’t think about until we need a bandage, or get a head splitting headache. Which means that it might be full of expired meds or missing crucial items. Spring Clean it, and check to see if you are missing any essentials and order them online today. Your list may be different if you have kids or someone with special needs at home, so make sure you check with your doctor if you need something special or specific.
If you use makeup then you should also tidy up your makeup bag. You might realize that you have dried up mascara from 1999. Wash your brushes and tools. Once you are done you can go to town experimenting with new looks and techniques.
Paperwork
We were promised the paperless office in 1975 and yes it is true, many things have gone digital but we still have a lot of important paperwork lying around that you need to keep. From birth certificates to educational diplomas, that you might need once in a blue moon.
Get them organized. Collect everything in one place and categorize them. This is going to be very personal. Get online and order yourself a selection of folders and labels from Jarir or Moghawi. Better yet, get yourself a label maker too, and some fun sharpies for good measure. You might want to file deeds of ownership documents together or group by family members. It can be as simple as grabbing plastic file envelopes or as complicated as an actual filing cabinet. But in the future, you will be thankful when they look for an important document and know exactly where it is because you decluttered.
Once you are done, you will find that you are left with duplicates or things that are no longer important. Shred them! Non-sensitive material can be recycled or reused for arts and crafts projects later.
It is also a great idea to take digital copies of things. Just in case your originals are damaged or lost, you will always have a copy in the cloud. This also works for your kid’s artwork that is cluttering your home. There’s a really easy hack for this for iPhone users! Open up the notes app, create a new note, select the camera button and opt to scan documents. Easy peasy!
Digital Detox
Speaking of digital solutions, why not tackle your devices? We don’t know about you, but we have thousands of really bad selfies on our phones that are taking up valuable space and just hurt our egos when we scroll through our camera roll. Free up space by deleting unused apps, files and images. Don’t forget to back up. It is probably easier if you google how to do it based on your specific model. And while you are at it, clean the device itself.
The data on your phone is one thing, but there is a lot of stuff in the cloud too. Check your Google Drive, DropBox or iCloud account and see if you can trash some files that have become obsolete. Change your passwords if they are too weak and make sure your new ones are secure. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.
What else do you want to declutter? Let us know by emailing us at info@bazaar.town or DMing us on Instagram. Photo by heather mckean on Unsplash.
