sorted system: donation bag

Hey there, busy mamas! Today, your home organizing expert is bringing you some invaluable insights into a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of maintaining an organized and clutter-free space – regular edits. So, grab your favorite cup of coffee, find a cozy spot, and let's dive into the world of streamlined living.

The Initial Challenge: The Purge

In my 12+ years of experience as a home organizing expert, I've noticed that the majority of our time with new clients is dedicated to the initial step of purging unwanted or unneeded items. The longer a family has gone without editing, the more time and effort we invest in this stage.

However, fear not! There's a game-changer that can significantly reduce this daunting task – regular edits throughout the year.

What makes that easy?

A donation bag on hand!

Regular Edits: Your Shortcut to Organized Bliss

Imagine a world where your spaces not only get organized more quickly but also don't look or feel overwhelmingly cluttered. This is the magic of regular edits. Spending a little time consistently throughout the year to declutter can save you from the chaos that accumulates over time. It's like giving your home a breath of fresh air regularly. If you need a weekly reminder of a 5 minute edit you can make every week… see below and join our Five on Friday segment.

The Motivation: Charitable Giving

As your home organizing expert, I have learned that part of the battle is getting unwanted or unneeded items out of the home (sometimes crucially before little eyes see) is having a place to take said items.

Do. a quick little search of a local charity.

What will they accept?

Can they pickup?

What are their drive up hours?

Having a place to send your unwanted items in mind… prevents your trunk from becoming the mobile donation pile.

Recognizing Patterns: A Hidden Benefit

Here's a little secret about regular edits that most people overlook –

editing helps you recognize patterns of what you don't actually need or value.

As you consistently go through your possessions, you develop a keen awareness of what truly matters to you and your family. This newfound knowledge becomes a powerful deterrent to over-collecting in the future.

The Game-Changer: A Simple System

The intention to regularly edit your possessions becomes a breeze when you have a designated place for your old, tired, or unwanted items. Implementing a simple system for collecting and storing items earmarked for donation is great for making decluttering effortless.

Conclusion: Your Path to Streamlined Living

In conclusion, busy mamas, embracing regular edits and incorporating charitable giving into your home organization routine is the key to a clutter-free and harmonious living space. As your home organizing expert, I encourage you to make this a part of your home organization journey. Trust me, the rewards extend far beyond just an organized home – it's a lifestyle that brings joy, simplicity, and intention into every corner of your life.

Happy organizing, and here's to a clutter-free and purposeful home!

Gain access to Five minute edits, released every Friday, to get your “declutter muscle” inspired. It’s just five minutes of inspo… that might lead to more. Click the “Five on Friday Access Page” button above and be directed to the page to subscribe.

Organized kitchen at Lennox

Recently my team and I helped a family settle into their new home, and one of those spaces we settled was the kitchen. The kitchen is the hub of the home, it’s the one room every one in the house uses on a daily basis. It’s one of those make or break it areas for daily routines.

Kitchens are also the easiest to organize in my opinion. I love the simplicity of them and how much impact they truly provide. Ever wonder what makes a kitchen feel organized?

Zones! It’s all about zones and location! Zones for categories, but also placement of those zones for flow and ease in the kitchen during meal prep and clean up.

Let me share what I mean about zones in pictures!

Organized daily dishes

Where you place your daily dishes and utensils matters… you want them to be nearest to your dishwasher. When daily dishes and utensils are near the dishwasher it’s so much easier to unload.

organized daily utensils

Speaking of utensils- they’re not all alike and they shouldn’t be jumbled together. We’re not animals!

Separating your utensils by use will make meal prep, cooking, serving and eating so much easier if you’re not searching for the right utensil.

Here are the different types of utensils and how you should separate them if possible:

daily utensils- forks, spoons, knives, chopsticks, and straws. Think of these utensils as the things you’d use to eat a meal.

prep utensils- knives, slicers, openers, mixing spoons, whisks, and spatulas. Think of these utensils as the things you’d use to prepare food before eating or cooking.

cooking utensils- tongs, spatulas, ladles, thermometers, and wooden spoons. Think of these utensils and things you’d use to cook food before serving.

serving utensils- cheese board knives, picks, serveware, salad tongs, etc. Think of these as utensils you’d use to serve prepared food.

Your zone for prepping food ideally is nearest to the sink and trash for washing and clean up, but also has ample space for using a cutting board. Prep zones should have all the knives, gadgets, cutting boards and mixing bowls within reach.

Your cooking zone is located nearest to the stove. In this area you have all your utensils, pots, pans, oils and spices.

Another zone to consider is where you keep your small appliances. Most of my clients like to keep their counters clear of appliances as much as possible. This makes cleaning easier but also keeps your kitchen from looking like a cluttered mess. Pick a cabinet where you can keep them all if possible. Roll out shelves are a major plus because some of them can be clunky.

Entertaining dishes for those Sunday dinners or get togethers are best kept separate from your daily dishes. Since they’re typically not used on a daily or weekly basis, it’s best to utilize lower or harder to reach areas for these items.

Your baking zone is best kept near the oven if possible, especially oven mitts! Baking pans and sheets can get jumbled and hard to access. My favorite solution is to store them vertically. If your kitchen is not customized with vertical storage you can purchase vertical organizers. All you need is a tall and deep cabinet, sometimes that might require you remove a shelf.

Not every cabinet will have shelves removed, sometimes adding shelves from a hardware store can make all the difference. I especially recommend doing this for upper cabinets to keep daily dishes from getting over-stacked, which causes chipping. I also love to do this for ovenware as pictured above. Upper cabinets are a much easier way to reach ovenware.

Food storage containers are also best kept in their own cabinet. I often use containers to hold smaller items and lids. Separating kids containers from food prep can also be really helpful, especially when you’re scrambling to make those school lunches.

Disposable dishes and utensils are often a big part of most kitchens. If they’re not used every day, I suggest keeping them in a lower cabinet or pantry separated by type. I love these versatile containers for separating napkins, cups, cutlery, plates, and bowls.

Supplements, daily medications and first aid supplies are a popular zone for the kitchen too. Containing those categories in their own bins or on their own shelves can make a world of difference when it comes to accessibility. Placing sports bottles and blenders nearby is also a great way to create a wellness zone!

I think it’s also worth mentioning the smart reason my clients hire us to unpack the kitchen for them, not only are we experts in creating zones for function… but we also can do it in one day! Having a functional kitchen on the first day of a move is a game changer!

Over the years I’ve definitely discovered some favorite products. If you don’t have time for the product rabbit hole… use my tried and true recommendations. Here’s the link to shop my favs!

organized and pretty pantry

I adore pantry projects, they may be my favorite area to organize. Not just because there’s so much potential for design… but because it’s such an important area of the home that affects everyone in the household!

This project was part of a move my team and I did a couple of weeks ago. We settled several parts of the home, but this area was definitely an exciting space for our client because she was going from a cabinet style pantry to this walk-in space.

I love the mix of textures and finishes we used in the space to create obvious categories, and pretty design elements. Want to know what I feel we did really well for this client? We kept the design secondary to function.

Here’s what goes through my mind when I’m designing a new pantry for a client:

What are my client’s priorities? When I did a consultation with this particular client I noticed a couple of things right away- not only was my client chic, she was already organized on her own with a great eye for design. Aesthetics would likely be important to her.

What do they have time for when they’re putting away groceries? While getting to know my client at the consultation I learned she’s a busy mom and professional, she’s limited on time. Whatever I came up with needed to be simple and easy to maintain, without being basic. This client was not basic and she deserved an equally effortless and chic space.

What can we compromise on to give the client the most functionality? In the design I chose to use a mix of bins and products to create ease and function, while having a secondary focus on aesthetics.

Let me show you in pictures what we did:

We used a pretty focal point with these 3 jars at the top for sweets. Placement for these gorgeous glass jars would be important considering there is a 7 year old in the household who’s little hands might have a hard time not dropping them. For that reason we chose the top shelf… but also, we wanted to limit her access to them as a snack option. Permission for sweets is always a good idea with kids.

Speaking of the adorable 7 year old, we made sure her snacks would be within reach and easy for her to help herself. Part of creating independence in our kids is giving them ways to help themselves.

Snacks are a great category to unbox. Snack boxes are often bulky and make it hard to gage quantity… which only makes shopping more difficult. Above shows a rounder we used for smaller snacks like bars and snack packs. Below shows open baskets used for larger snack bags and snacks from big box retailers like Costco.

People ask me all the time which bins they should use for certain area, and I always say it depends on what your needs are for the space and your time. If you’re a busy professional like my client, you’re not going to have more than a few minutes to unload groceries. If that’s the case you want to pick and choose which categories you’ll remove from their original packaging. Some categories I like to move to containers would be cereal, basic baking goods (flour, sugar, etc), and foods that aren’t in resealable bags, but won’t be finished in a single use (rice, pasta, chips, etc).

For everything else- I say keep them in their original packaging, but use opaque bins or baskets for like categories (grains, sides, breakfast, crackers, nuts, sweets, etc).

When you use clear bins for a variety of foods and packaging, it can look chaotic. I like to reserve clear or see through bins for categories that are uniform or can be neatly unpackaged in rows. If you don’t have time for that sort of thing… it’s best to use some bins you can’t fully see the categories inside.

Walk-in pantries tend to have tricky little corners that can easily become wasted space. I like to place rounders in those corners and use them for condiments and jarred foods.

Canned goods can be be hard to see and often are purchased in larger quantities. I love to use risers for these spaces. Not only is it easy to see what you have, but it’s pretty too.

So there you have it, a pretty pantry that didn’t compromise on function. We kept it simple with only a few unboxed snacks and unpackaged baking goods and sweets. Nothing color coded or meticulously lined up.

Did you see an idea or product you’d like to duplicate in your own home? Go ahead, borrow it!!! Here’s a quick and easy link to shop the products we used.

Can’t hire a home organizer to do your whole house? I get it, we’re not in every city and most of us cost $600+ per project!!

What if I told you there‘s a systematic method for creating simple systems and routines, led by me, for a fraction of the price?

Learn more here.

Organizing a kid’s bedroom

Hey Sorted Mama, it’s that time of year! Prepping the kiddos for a new school year and cleaning out the bedroom! Cue the scary music. Kidding! It’s actually a pretty simple process that I use with my client’s kids and my own- works like peaceful charm every time.

Let's dive into the magical world of kid's bedroom organization, shall we? Get ready for some seriously sorted kiddo spaces that won't make you pull your hair out!

So, guess what? I've got a little secret to spill: I've been letting those drawers in my tween’s room get a little messy. But before you gasp in disbelief, here's the trick – messy drawers are A-OK as long as they're messily sorted! Nothing has to be folded as long as it’s sorted. Yep, that means undies chill with undies, pajamas party with pajamas, and pants hang with pants. We also have a method to what we hang- all tops and one-pieces (dresses, rompers, etc), those aren’t for the drawers.

messily sorted drawers (underwear + socks, pants, pajamas)

Now, onto the fabulous five things I do to keep the chaos at bay in the kiddo kingdom:

1. Trash Can: A trusty trash can is like the VIP bouncer at the door of mess. It's where forgotten candy wrappers, crumpled paper, and random trinkets go to retire. Now when I tell my tween to clean her room an instruction I give is that “all trash be in the trash can.” This helps to define what constitutes as “clean.”

2. Laundry Bin: It’s surprising how many kid’s rooms I organize without a laundry bin… no wonder clothes end up all over the place. But want to know the real trick? Put the laundry bin out in the open without a lid. Lid’s are just an area of resistance. If you must, get a decorative bin so they can see it and use it. Out of sight is out of mind with kid’s, am I right?

3. Memorabilia Bin: Got sentimental treasures piling up? Toss them into the memorabilia bin, where they can have a cozy slumber party. Remember that seashell from last year's vacation? It's living its best life in there! Just make sure you leave it out where your kiddo can access it and add to it.

4. Displays: Every masterpiece deserves its moment in the spotlight. Hang up a display for art and photos, turning the room into an art gallery where creativity reigns supreme. There are so many options for this from cork boards, strung clothes pins (our favorite), to frames. Let your kiddo be part of this decision.

5. Bountiful Bins:Categorization is our jam! From electronics to art supplies, stash 'em in bins labeled with love.

bins, bins, bins!!! create categories and label!

And now, the grand finale: the art of compromise. When it comes to keeping the peace, I'm the queen of "let's meet in the middle." My daughter gets to keep her favorite categories of stuff, but we're talking Marie Kondo level of reduction here. It's all about quality over quantity.

This year the real compromise in her room, her American Girl dolls. She hasn’t really played with them in year, but she still wants them. The compromise for us was to eliminate all of the activity accessories (kitchen, beauty salon, classroom, etc) and only keep her 2 favorite dolls, the bunk bed, a matching shelf her dad made for her, and the clothing.

Next year, if this category is still mostly untouched, I’ll suggest we pack it up and put it in her closet for access if she really wants it. Most of the time I find this step to be the bridge to kid’s finally parting with the category all together… like I said, out of sight, out of mind!

american girl doll collection downsized!

So there you have it, the whimsical ways I keep my kiddo's bedroom shipshape without going full-on drill sergeant. It's all about embracing the organized chaos and making life a tad easier, one sorted category at a time.

Happy organizing, Sorted Mama Squad!