While we are all stuck at home what could be better than getting organized? Well, probably lots of things, but organizing and decluttering can give us a feeling of calm and a great feeling of knowing where all your stuff is! It can be a daunting task but if you start small anyone can organize their home. It is an opportunity to go through your house and edit your belongings down to what you really cherish and need. If you are planning on moving, there is no better time to declutter and organize! 
First, unless you are a superhero, start with one drawer, closet, cupboard or small area. Try doing one space every week or so. Think about what the space is for and how it will function. There are so many resources with great information and photos to help you visualize what you like. It is a good idea not to get too caught up with trying to copy the beautiful spaces featured, like the photo we used at the top of the page from The Home Edit, and just focus on what works for you and your space. It can be overwhelming to look at all the options available for organization but again, start with one small area and it will help you narrow down your options. Some of our favourites for ideas and products are konmari.com, thehomeedit.com, containerstore.com, amazon.ca, bedbathandbeyond.ca, ikea.ca and wayfair.ca. You can also try your local dollar store for various baskets and containers once you figure out what you need. Or you can source the various local options for organizing solutions. To the left is our kitchen pantry. This isn’t as pretty as a Home Edit pantry, but it works for us. I took some time figuring out which items I really wanted handy and used the OXO containers which are readily available from some of the retailers mentioned above. I keep the extra cereals etc behind the containers, out of sight. The containers allow you to buy some items from the bulk bins at the grocery store rather than another box or package, especially baking ingredients. Meghan's baking drawer is pictured below. All of baking items are easily visible and they can see when they run out of something. 
We suggest starting with one or two drawers or cupboards in your kitchen. It is an excellent opportunity to see what you have been hiding in the recesses of those places. You will probably find some items long past their expiry dates! If you start by completely emptying the drawer or cupboard, you will end up only putting back what you really need or have space for. One of the easiest places to start is the dreaded junk drawer. Everyone has one of these and usually they are a dumping ground of everything you can think of. To the right is a photo of our recently organized junk drawer. Each of us will have a different version of this depending on what we need and how much room we have in our kitchen. This one has a clear plastic set of drawer organizers from amazon.ca and it was enough to organize the most used items in the drawer. I measured the inside of the drawer before ordering as I have fairly shallow drawers. I threw out or recycled what we didn't need. It felt great to get this done and gives you motivation to do other areas!
Below is a before and after of Louisa’s ‘doggie drawer’. The large container is from Ikea and is now full of dry dog food. It's very easy to see where everything is and what they might run out of for Milo.
We don’t have time to go through every cupboard or drawer in this little blog but just remember to start small, one drawer at a time. It can be as cheap or expensive as you want so make yourself a plan, remember to measure spaces if necessary and get organizing! Finally, make sure no one in your family messes up your hard work! Joking aside, the organization should make it easier to put things back where they belong and see what you're running short of. It will also make it so much easier to move these organized spaces to your new home. Check out our Pinterest page for even more curated ideas!
Jayne Edwards
This is Milo!
Good boy!
Some other areas that can be easily fixed are the bathroom cupboards. I don’t know about anyone else, but the amount of skin care products that were stored away in mine was scary. One of my favourite items for organizing is a lazy susan or carrousel. I have one like the photo which has dividers. The dividers make it very easy to organize which lotions and potions you actually use and need and get rid of the ones you don’t. It is an easy spin to get to the product you need. The lazy susan could be used for any number of items like make up, nail products or whatever you like. Lazy susan’s have many uses for organizing, especially in your spice cabinet, fridge or for cleaning supplies. Sorry to all the Susan’s out there, we don’t think you are lazy!
We don’t have time to go through every cupboard or drawer in this little blog but just remember to start small, one drawer at a time. It can be as cheap or expensive as you want so make yourself a plan, remember to measure spaces if necessary and get organizing! Finally, make sure no one in your family messes up your hard work! Joking aside, the organization should make it easier to put things back where they belong and see what you're running short of. It will also make it so much easier to move these organized spaces to your new home. Check out our Pinterest page for even more curated ideas!
We are happy to help you with organizing and decluttering as part of the prepare section of our ‘prepare, price and promote’ marketing plan. Contact us for more details!
Jayne Edwards
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