Some home storage spaces are magnets for clutter. Overcrowded bedside tables, crammed closets, and overflowing bathroom cabinets are just some of the clutter-friendly areas usually in dire need of some professional organizing help!
But the proper storage system can streamline these catch-all spots. Whether your clients realize it or not, following some basic decluttering steps can actually simplify hectic everyday routines. So get ready to take on the messiest home storage spaces yet. The junk drawer will be a thing of the past once you’ve armed yourself with these home organizing tips and tricks!
This is one spot we seem to want to cram it all! Even professional organizers may be guilty of having a less than immaculate bedside table. Because it’s just so easy for clutter to build up in this home storage space, it’s especially important to have an organizational system in mind.
After you set up sufficient storage for everything else, create an inviting bedside table that your clients will actually want to keep clear. Make space for a lamp and alarm clock. Your clients can still keep their sleeping mask, cellphone, books, e-readers (or whatever else they like to have handy), but create storage inside the bedside table. If they like to have a glass of water beside the bed, leave a coaster so they know that everything has a spot.
Sorting through clothes is more demanding than having to purge everyday items. Your client may consider her wardrobe an investment. Or maybe she has an emotional attachment to more than a few articles of clothing. As a trained professional, you can help walk your clients through the difficult purging process by asking the right questions:
Motivate your client to keep her closet clutter-free. Once she sees how amazing her most gorgeous pieces look in an organized space, she’ll find it hard to go back to getting ready in a chaotic closet. Organize by category of clothing: hang skirts with skirts and pants with pants. Seasonal clothing can be stored elsewhere.
Your client will begin to see how a streamlined wardrobe will help her maintain her own personal style. And a little luxury doesn’t hurt! These few extra storage tricks will add a much needed dose of glamour:
Cluttered Bedside table
This is one spot we seem to want to cram it all! Even professional organizers may be guilty of having a less than immaculate bedside table. Because it’s just so easy for clutter to build up in this home storage space, it’s especially important to have an organizational system in mind.
Toss what doesn’t belong
Your clients will actually be shocked by the number of useless things they have next to their bed. Old receipts, cough drops, 5-month-old magazines—these are just a few of the miscellaneous items that will probably make an appearance on your client’s bedside table. Don’t be afraid to throw things out!Clear surface space
Once you toss the things your clients don’t need, you can focus on the things they do. Create a more organized home storage space for items that actually belong on a bedside table. But don’t just let your clients cram everything into the drawer. There are a number of smaller storage systems you can put into place to keep clutter at bay:- A stylish tray can keep loose odds and ends in one place on top of the nightstand. Things like loose keys and reading glasses will be within reach at any time.
- Drawer organizers can be used to divide the things that your client don’t use every night, such as cellphone chargers, pens, and tissues, as well as other personal care products.
Make room for an everyday routine
After you set up sufficient storage for everything else, create an inviting bedside table that your clients will actually want to keep clear. Make space for a lamp and alarm clock. Your clients can still keep their sleeping mask, cellphone, books, e-readers (or whatever else they like to have handy), but create storage inside the bedside table. If they like to have a glass of water beside the bed, leave a coaster so they know that everything has a spot.
- Spruce up a bland bedside table with a vase of flowers, candles, or a framed picture.
- If your clients remove jewelry last thing every night, create a specific spot for those items with a small saucer or jewelry dish.
- Along with a tray, use a decorative box to keep other loose items together.
- Ask your clients to declutter once a week. Whatever doesn’t fit on the decorative tray or box needs to find another home.
Bathroom storage
Just like a bedside table, a bathroom cabinet is a hotspot for clutter. Often clients don’t have the time to properly put everything away during a mad morning dash. Your job as a professional organizer is to make it easier for them!Clear out the junk drawer
Take EVERYTHING out and assess. This rule of thumb applies to most drawers that end up acting as a catch-all spaces for clutter. In a bathroom, you’re most likely to find a cabinet shelf or drawer that collects everything: hair clips, empty tubes of toothpaste, floss containers, soap, and expired sunscreen. Toss what isn’t necessary. Not everything needs to be stored in a bathroom vanity, cabinet, or drawer.
What do your clients use on a daily basis? Once you know what you need to find space for, you can revamp their current bathroom home storage space:
- Use clear jars and labels. Things like loose cotton balls and hair elastics can be grouped in stylish and accessible containers.
- Gliding organizers can divide drawer and cabinet space. If your client reaches for certain products every day, you can sort by use.
- Baskets are a cute and simple way of rolling up extra towels.
- Corral hairstyling tools in a bathroom caddy.
- Recycle empty, practically empty, and no-longer-used bottles of shampoo and store what your client does use on a shower caddy.
Crammed wardrobe space
A different kind of clutter, the same type of disorganization! You’ll become your client’s new favorite person if you can help streamline her closet space so that it doesn’t look like a disaster zone in the morning!The purging process
Sorting through clothes is more demanding than having to purge everyday items. Your client may consider her wardrobe an investment. Or maybe she has an emotional attachment to more than a few articles of clothing. As a trained professional, you can help walk your clients through the difficult purging process by asking the right questions:
- Is it in good condition?
- Does it fit?
- Will you wear it again?
- Is it still your style?
- When is the last time you wore it?
Keep, toss, or donate
These are the golden categories of home organization. Once you take everything out of your client’s closet, every single items of clothing needs to be sorted into one of these piles. Keep the process rolling, and your client won’t get hung up on the items being discarded. If the sorting process is a challenge, put it in perspective with the reverse hanger trick. Place everything your client wishes to keep on a hanger that is facing backwards. After she wears an article of clothing, she should replace it facing forwards on the hanger. In 6 months, she’ll know exactly what she doesn’t wear.Curate a closet
Motivate your client to keep her closet clutter-free. Once she sees how amazing her most gorgeous pieces look in an organized space, she’ll find it hard to go back to getting ready in a chaotic closet. Organize by category of clothing: hang skirts with skirts and pants with pants. Seasonal clothing can be stored elsewhere.
Your client will begin to see how a streamlined wardrobe will help her maintain her own personal style. And a little luxury doesn’t hurt! These few extra storage tricks will add a much needed dose of glamour:
- A full-length mirror will make her feel like she is getting ready in her own private boudoir.
- Place an upholstered stool next to a well-organized shoe rack. Coordinating with the perfect shoe is going to be a breeze.
- Suggest that your client practice the ‘one-for-one rule.” Your client can shop as much as likes, as long as she discards an old article for every new one she brings in.