Week 8 already! As with any ongoing project, it is surprising how quickly the time passes! If you have been following our posts faithfully, you are WELL on your way to an organized 2010. If you have been sidetracked, it’s still not too late to catch up. Just go to the last week you completed, and do 1 post every day or 2 until you catch up. You’ll be glad you did!
We have been concentrating on various small areas so far, but today we have a BIG challenge for you! Don’t worry, we are confident you are up to the task! The dreaded UNDER BED! When you finish shrieking, follow these quick steps and enjoy the reward of organization!
- As with most of our tips, this one starts with some quick clean up. Just bring the vacuum in and quickly vacuum the carpet/floor around the bed. If you’re going to be down on the floor, you want it clean! Make sure there is no clutter around the bed as well, as this area will be your staging area. Begin by pulling everything out from under the bed. It’s OK if it is a jumbled mess, we’ll get to that later. Just get it all out.
- Look through the items on the floor and eliminate those items which belong elsewhere by putting them back where they belong NOW while you’re thinking of it.
- Another quick sort for any items which need discarded, given away/back to owners, or donated. We are big fans of donating, consigning, re-gifting here at Phone A Clone! So many times, we hang on to things thinking someday we’ll need/use them – but someday never comes. We’ve never had a client regret getting rid of an item, either! Just let go of anything you haven’t used or thought about in 6 months (or a year – whichever time limit you are comfortable with!)
- You should be left now with items which will return to the UNDER BED region! Let’s do a thorough vacuuming/sweeping of the floor under the bed. Sort through those “keep” items and place like items together. Now… how to store these treasures!
- Consider the room you are in before you make storage decisions. For kids’ toys, you’ll need open top storage; but for adult space, or little used items, you’ll want storage solutions with lids. We are not big fans of Space bags – there I said it! In our opinion, they almost never keep their suction; but if you just need to cover those extra comforters or bulky items to slide under your bed, they are fine. You may also want to start keeping the zippered plastic bags in which most comforters come for this use. You may prefer to buy the inexpensive plastic boxes with a low profile and with handles and wheels. For low clearance items, these are ideal. If you are storing many types of different items, the cute cloth baskets are wonderful! You can place many under a queen sized bed, and store quite a few items in each. If you have a large variety of items, such as in a child’s room, these are fantastic. Children can bring only a small amount of clutter out at a time, and return it under the bed – and out of sight!
- Place all the “keep” items in their storage container. Resist the urge to just push the “stuff” back under the bed. No matter how carefully placed, the items WILL migrate and become a tangled mess once again. Placing them in a storage container will keep them where you intend, and make your next cleaning session so much easier! Once the items are stored, they go back under the bed in an order that makes sense to you. Long term storage toward the middle and more used items around the edge.
- Finally fluff the bed skirt and make the bed if you haven’t already and you’re finished with a BIG job this week! We knew you could do it!
Keeping up with our blog is a big complement to us! We appreciate all our regular readers and subscribers! If this blog is helping you be more organized in 2010, PLEASE recommend it to your friends! We look forward to sharing more organization tips with you next week.
“Don’t Go It Alone – Phone A Clone” www.phoneaclone.com
