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Organizing Trends for 2017
January 11, 2017 By Caryn Payzant
“Organization isn’t about perfection; it’s about efficiency, reducing stress and clutter, saving time and money and improving your overall quality of life.” -― Christina Scalise, Organize Your Life and More
What better time than the New Year than to return to the healthy habit of organizing. If you were like me, the holidays were joyous — and a disruption to my preferred lifestyle of organization. Things got a tad out of control; piles popped up everywhere. I didn’t realize how much inner stress and tension I was harboring until I began breaking those piles down. When everything was put back in its proper place, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Organizing is not a one time chore. It is a habit that needs to be developed and revised in order to maintain. Midlife is a wonderful time to perfect organization, cut back and downsize to relieve stress in the later years.
How are your organizing skills? Are you looking to update or improve them? Here are some great organizing tips and trends I have found for 2017:
Start Now. Procrastination is so 2016. Make a fresh start in 2017. As you are putting away your holiday decorations and gifts, clear out unwanted items and declutter to make room for your new belongings. Don’t be afraid to simplify. If you haven’t worn or used something in a year, get rid of it. Donate to charity and feel even better about your organization and downsizing.
Try an Organizational App. Organizing and Decluttering apps are plentiful. They can provide an effective way to complete the organizing and purging process. For instance, the app Snupps lets you digitize your belongings and organize them into simple categories or “shelves.” From there, you decide what to keep, sell or give away. You can also reach out to other users for organizational inspiration, discover items you may be interested in acquiring or show off your personal collection.
Develop a Room-by-Room Schedule. To systematically organize over time, try monthly organization that’s broken down by room. This helps so that you won’t be so overwhelmed and rushed with your organizing. For example, you can tackle the kitchen in January and give the home office a deep clean in February. Make a schedule that works for you.When all my guests left after the holidays, I had a lot of food leftovers, uneaten holiday treats, and my pantry was a mess. I decided that organizing my food shelves along with the fridge was a good place to start. I threw away outdated items and food my husband and I would not be eating. Three trash bags later, my pantry and refrigerator looked great and were more manageable.
Another benefit of an organized kitchen is that it aids in loosing weight; knowing what you have and getting rid of what to avoid. This is especially convenient if that is another one of your New Year resolutions.
Single Purge. If you prefer to get your organizing done all at once, designate a few days or a weekend to devote to the process. The secret is to stay focused on one task at a time and avoid getting sidetracked. Work your way through each room one by one until you’ve cleared out all areas of your home.