Spring is just around the corner and many people are starting to do some spring cleaning 🧽 you have your bucket and cloth in hand and suddenly you see that there is little to clean because there is stuff lying around everywhere. Without you noticing, stuff has secretly collected all over your house during the winter. Understandable, because who feels like cleaning up when you can also cocoon on the couch with a hot cup of coffee and a blanket 🙄
With 2 kids who own half a toy store and a home business, I know better than anyone how stuff can take over your home. Yet, you can easily get things back in order AND create extra storage space at the same time. I'm happy to share my golden tips with you to get the five most common 'collections' organized easily and quickly.
Clothing
Now that the temperatures are rising, those thick winter sweaters and scarves can be put away. Take a look at the items you don't wear or hardly wear anymore. Take them out and sell them on Vinted for example or bring them to the clothing collection.
In any case, it is useful to divide your clothes into autumn/winter and spring/summer!
Score a few handy boxes for under your bed, put your autumn/winter collection in here now and your closet and coat rack will be a lot more organized. By the time autumn comes around again, you can just switch everything around.
Shoes
That mountain next to the front door that seems to have become its own continent: Sneakers, work shoes, boots, new and worn shoes and those shoes that you wanted to clean months ago 😑
Get rid of your worn-out shoes right away and clean your dirty pairs. Get a shoe rack and have each household member pick out 2 or 3 pairs of shoes to put on the rack. Put the other pairs in (shoe) boxes and store them in the closet (or under that bed!).
Inside cabinets
A much forgotten part of every house, the inside of the cupboards. We cram everything we want out of sight in there. Everything piles up there and before you know it you have no idea what you even have in the house and when it comes to food, it is suddenly out of date. Eternal shame.
So empty a cupboard completely, sort through it and take a good look at the layout. Can all the space be used optimally or does it perhaps need a shelf? With a shelf insert you can create extra storage space in no time.
Sort the items logically together. For example, puzzles, craft supplies and games. Do you have small loose items that cannot be stacked? Put them together in a basket or crate.
Anything that doesn't go back in the closet can easily be given a second life via, for example, Marktplaats or a giveaway corner.
Toys
Children are often drowning in toys. One week they play with one thing all the time and the next week they don't look at it and are absorbed in something else. To prevent your living room from being a toy store, it is nice to store (some of it).
Did you know that children can often play 'better' with something if they don't have too much choice? They call it choice stress 😉
Start by sorting everything by brand or type, for example. Remove everything that is no longer looked at. Store items that you do not want your child to be able to grab, such as paint, in a cupboard. You can never read enough, so put books in a place that is clearly visible. Put other toys in nice baskets or bins and put them where it is convenient for you. Put a number of baskets out of sight and switch them after a week or two.
Paperwork
This is perhaps the most common chaos: your paperwork or administration. Nowadays, a lot comes in by e-mail, but as soon as an envelope arrives, it usually ends up in a pile. Or worse, in several piles spread throughout the house. Terribly inconvenient when you have to do your tax return, for example.
Keep everything that comes in together in one handy and logical place. For some, that's a basket in the hall, for others a container on the desk. Open the envelopes immediately and throw them away. Take a moment every week to sort the pile. Get some folders and create categories such as work, home, tax authorities, insurance and subscriptions. I'm just naming a few. Pay the bills or schedule them via your bank app. Throw them away after they've been paid or save them in the right folder.
All administration for the tax authorities is best kept for 5 years in connection with possible additional assessments. Companies and self-employed persons must keep their financial administration for 7 years.
Bonus tip: Do you want to keep your tidy house a bit easier from now on? Then do a round through the house every evening. Take a basket or crate under your arm, collect all the stray items as you go and put them back where they belong.
So, now you can really start your spring cleaning!