With the inclement winter weather well and truly upon us, weekends are often a mixture of rushing outdoors to take advantage of brisk fresh air and fine winter sunshine and hibernating inside with board games and movies sheltering from driving wind and rain. So rather than committing to large scale household overhauls – try having a list of small, achievable organisational projects that you can work through as time and weather conditions allow.
Winter Accessories
Take some time to organise your winter accessories such as scarves, gloves, hats, coats, boots and even umbrellas and raincoats! Make sure they are easy to access and see, so rather than throwing on layers without thought as you leave the house, you can carefully choose an outfit that will make you look and feel great!
Rather than hiding winter items away in the back of drawers or throwing them in baskets at the front door, use decorative hangers, flat lay drawers, or coat racks to display them so you can choose items to match the rest of your outfit.
As always, check items for wear or damage – especially things like umbrellas or raincoats – and replace them as required. If there are accessories that you have held on to for several seasons but never end up wearing, donate them and replace them with something new that you will love and actually wear.
Magazines and Books
Another great project to tackle is the shelves or piles of books in your home. If you have purchased books or magazines throughout the year and haven’t got around to reading them, make sure these are easily accessible and prominent at the front of shelves, so you see them when you sit down on a rainy day.
Throw out books that are damaged beyond repair and donate old or unwanted books, or ones your children have grown out of.
When it comes to storage, your options are endless – go with classic bookshelves, or get creative and display books in key areas around your home where you will be inclined to pick them up and read them, such as on coffee tables, side tables, desks and kitchen benches.
Paper Clutter
In most homes, areas like desks, entryways, side tables and kitchen benches are magnets for piles of paper clutter – bills, receipts, instruction leaflets, pamphlets, child-related admin and many other types of paper.
Without a good system it all just tends to accumulate – so start by setting one up. Use desk drawers, shelving, baskets, pigeon holes, storage folders, magazine files or any other type of office filing system that will work with your home setup. Then decide if you want to operate an in-tray type system or a setup where you have a home or folder for each family member or type of document.
Once you have decided how you will manage the flow of paper into your home, simply gather everything up, file the important stuff appropriately, throw out the junk – then ensure you stick to your newly designed system!
Entertainment Collection
Check through your board games, card games, jigsaw puzzles and DVD’s and throw out anything broken, damaged or with lots of missing pieces; and donate anything that your household no longer plays with or has grown out of.
As with your books, move anything new or that you are keen to try out over winter to the front, and try and store items so they can be easily accessed and removed without bringing a stack of boxes down on your head, especially if stored in children’s bedrooms.
Medicine Cabinet
As winter hits, so do ills and chills – so make sure that your medicine cabinet or first aid kit has been given an overhaul. Check the condition and expiry dates of all contents and throw out anything expired or in poor condition. Make sure you have a good basic stock of any standard medications or vitamins you may require over winter, and ensure that medicines are stored in a secure location, out of reach of children.
These small winter organisational projects are easy tasks that can help break up the monotony of being stuck inside on a miserable day, with the added bonus of helping organise key areas of your home that you may utilise more during winter.
Home decluttering doesn’t always have to be about a big, large scale project. As well as our easy organisational tips, Innovative Interiors can work with you to ensure you have effective storage solution in all areas of your home, whether a large scale wardrobe project or a smaller bespoke storage challenge. Take advantage of a free consultation with a design expert, who will work with you to create a customised solution that will work with the space you have, and what you want from it.