HouseKeeping 01 / by Kate Brightbill

Fresh Clean | StyleSmaller

There's nothing quite like starting a new year with a clean and beautiful home. January is for cleaning, purging, starting fresh and creating systems for all of the clutter that collects. Before I go any further, allow me to assure you that I have not yet recovered from the Christmas clutter and chaos that collected while we were traveling cross-country making snow angels and sipping far too many cups of coffee. We're all in this "clean the home for the new year" thing together...

I do; however, have some tips for organization systems, because organizing is my favorite thing. I can't even explain how excited I get when I re-organize a room or closet and color coordinate everything and create a proper place for each and every item we own, particularly in the kids' room.. I personally prefer to have all white as the backdrop to a bedroom for my kids {we inherited pale green walls, but I'm angling to change them very soon}, because as kids grow, their tastes change. White allows the accessories to grow with my kids. Colored accessories and bright toys don't overwhelm as much when their room has basic bones. 

I have an addiction to color-coordinating my children's clothing and books because it maintains a put-together look at any given time. Every outgrown clothing size goes directly into the properly marked bin, and anything we used only lightly, we send to consignment. My goal is to prevent excess- if we don't use it, it's handed-down, donated, consigned, or tossed, depending on the wear. The more we have the less we use what we have.

My strategy for the kids' closet is to have one basket where I can throw anything that they try that is outgrown. So like- if Sophie is getting dressed and I see her shirt sleeves are not where they should be, she changes out of that and I toss that shirt into the basket that lives above her dresser. Once the basket is full, I pull it down, and sort everything according to size into already-marked-by-size bins. It's worked like magic since Sophie was about one, so anytime Maggie's clothing begins to get small, we just pull out the next bin and switch it all, and re-label. Bam. Done in a quick 30-minute session. 

There you have it. A quick Monday tip for ya, and plenty of pretty goods to spruce up kids' rooms! 

xo. 

 

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