Get Organized! Tips to De-Clutter Your Home
Aug. 25, 2010— -- Before the kids head back to school and your nights are filled with homework, dance classes, and football practices, you need to make sure everything's organized.
Sara Gray Miller, editor-in-chief of Country Living magazine, visited "Good Morning America" to show you how to turn simple, inexpensive household items into organizational solutions for your family.
Problem No. 1: The bottomless junk drawer.
Solution: Move your junk drawer instead to the back of the door by tacking up a pegboard. It allows for easier access to items and better all-around organization.
Products Used:
Problem No. 2: A pantry full of miscellaneous boxes or bags.
Solution: Instead of bags and boxes, which don't maximize space or allow you to see how much food you have left, use glass canisters. To make them even more functional, attach chalkboard paint labels. This allows you to write the name of whatever you're storing in them (e.g. flour, pasta, sugar), and to re-use and re-label them for different foods.
Products Used:
Chalk: $.89 for box of 10; officedepot.com
Recycling Center
Problem: Plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass, and trash get all mixed up.
Solution: Stick simple magnets on colorful trash bins. Just pop the magnets on the bins before sorting your trash.
Mail Sorter
Problem: Invitations, bills, and magazines/catalogs need organization.
Solution: Remove the handles from black wire shower caddies, and use pretty gift tags and twine to create homemade labels for each one (We labeled our set of three: "In" for incoming mail, "Out" for outgoing mail, and "Magazines/Catalogs"). Hang keys from the bottom of a basket(s) with hooks, then hang the set of caddies along a wall.
To-Do List Organization
Problem: Mail gets lost/mixed-up.
Solution: Use hot glue to affix adorable day-of-the-week clothespins to a piece of wood, then use a hammer and nails to hang the wood on the wall.
