Category: Apartment Living
7 Ways to Keep Your Laundry Organized
Let’s be honest…sometimes our laundry gets out of control! Whether we’ve been away on vacation or we’ve felt too lazy to throw in a load, the clothes can certainly pile up! Here are 10 tips for making your laundry situation a bit more manageable!
1. Invest in a laundry sorter – A stand that has 2 laundry bags (one for whites and one for colors) will make you feel much more organized. This will help you from having to pull out all of your whites from the pile on laundry day.
2. Keep your laundry essentials together – If you live in an apartment where you have to travel to the laundry room, try to keep your stuff together in one place! Keep a basket handy with your detergent, change, dryer sheets etc. This will save you the trouble of having to search for it all.
3. Choose designated laundry days – If you hate spending your weekends doing laundry, choose designated days during the week instead! If you do a load on Mondays and another on Thursdays, you will feel organized before and after every weekend.
4. Put the clothes away– After we’ve waited for the dryer to finish drying our clothes, the last thing we want to do is fold them and put them away. If they don’t get put away quickly, they will wrinkle and piles will start forming. You’ll thank yourself later if you put the laundry away ASAP.
5. Bring hangers with you – As you pull items out of the dryer that need to hang, put them on a hanger right away. This will help wrinkles from forming and will make it easier to put your clothes away.
6. Don’t keep hampers in every room – If each room has it’s own hamper, things could get out of control. Instead, have one central hamper (in your laundry room or in a centralized place) and when it’s full, throw it in the washing machine.
7. Keep a bag for dry clean only items – When it’s time to get items dry cleaned, throw them in a designated bag. This will save the mistake of accidentally washing your delicate items and will help you keep them organized for their trip to the cleaners.
5 Ways to Save Money When Decorating Your Apartment
When you move into a new home there’s nothing more exciting than making it your own! You want to add all of your own personal touches and decorate in a style that reflects your personality! Here are five ways you can get the look you want without breaking the bank!
1. Update old furniture – Rather than buying all brand new furniture, consider updating old pieces. You can re-stain wood to gain a new look or reupholster chairs/cushions with fun, new fabric.
2. Make your own window treatments – Good with a sewing machine? Pick out a fabric that fits your personality and decor and make your own window valances or curtains. You will save a lot of money if you aren’t ordering custom pieces from a store.
3. Make spray paint your new best friend – Head to a yard sale or to your local goodwill and pick up pieces like frames, lamps etc and update them by giving them a fresh coat of paint! Many brands make spray paints that are gold/silver and give the look of an expensive finish.
4. Use natural pieces for centerpiece decor – Fill a vase in your kitchen with fresh lemons or add real pine cones to a bowl in your living room in the fall. Using natural items look beautiful and save you a lot!
5. Stay away from expensive department stores – When buying your accent pieces, try visiting stores like Home Goods, Ikea or Michaels Craft Store. They offer unique pieces that give your home the look you want at a fraction of the cost of other stores.
5 Ways to Organize Your Bill Paying System
Sometimes we can get busy and forget about a utility bill or misplace our cable bill.
Follow these steps to sort out your bill paying system and you’ll feel much more organized!
1.Keep bills together in one area- Whether its a plastic tray on your desk or a basket on your kitchen counter, always place the bills you receive in one place. Receive e-bills for some of your utilities? Print them out and put them in your designated place too so you don’t forget about them!
2. Make a calendar- Use a small pocket calendar to mark the dates that your bills are due along with the amounts. Seeing this visually will help you keep track of your finances for the month.
3. Designate 2-4 days per month to pay bills- If most of your bills are due at the beginning of the month, you can probably get away will only paying bills once but most of us have them spaced out. Pick the days that you will sit down and write out your checks and put stamps on your bills to ensure they get out on time.
4. Record your paid bills immediately- As soon as you pay each bill, immediately record the payment in your check book (or spreadsheet). Don’t wait until later because if you do, there’s a good chance you will forget.
5. Prepare envelopes for reoccurring bills that you mail- If you pay a certain bill by check each month, write out 12 envelopes with the proper mailing address and put stamps on them all at once. Now you have a year’s worth of envelopes prepared and you don’t have to worry about being late with payment if you run out of stamps.
5 Ways to Make a Small Room Feel Bigger
We’ve all heard the trick about adding multiple mirrors to a space to make it appear bigger but there are other steps you can take to give the illusion of more space!
1. Use light colors – Decorating in dark colors makes a room look and feel smaller. By keeping the walls white or a light neutral shade it will appear larger.
2. Make room for natural light – Open the curtains and blinds and make way for natural light! This will brighten up your space and having the windows open makes any small room feel bigger.
3. Reduce your clutter – Make sure you aren’t over-doing it in the decorating department and only display minimal decor. Having too many knick knacks and pieces of furniture in a small room will make it feel closed off.
4. Rearrange the furniture – Don’t stick with your original layout! Every once in a while its a good idea to rearrange the furniture in a room to see if there’s a better way to set up. Maybe you’ve been missing out on lots of extra floor space and you didn’t even know it!
5. Buy multi-functional pieces – Instead of having a coffee table, an ottoman and an end table in your living room, maybe search for a piece of furniture that can take on all three roles. This will save you both money AND space in your home.
5 Ways to Make Your Apartment Closet More Organized
We’re all guilty of letting our closet get out of control every once in a while. To save yourself from making a mess and drowning in clothes and shoes in your closet, keep reading for our closet organization tips!
1. Get rid of what you don’t wear! Rather than letting old items take up space, clean out your closet at the end of every season and make a pile of clothes/items that can be donated.
2. Use baskets and hooks! Baskets on the shelves in your closet can hold smaller items like hats, gloves and purses. Hooks can be used to hold items like belts and scarves to keep them out of the way.
3. Get a shoe organizer! If you are someone who has a lot of shoes, try investing in a shoe organizer that hangs over the door to your closet to free up all of the space on the floor.
4. Avoid piles! If you fold clothes and start piling them on the shelves in your closet you’ll quickly start losing space! Pretty soon your pile will grow and become the home for items you don’t know where to store.
5. Use vacuum-sealed bags for storage! If you are normally keeping your winter clothes in the back of your closet during summer, consider investing in vacuum storage bags! You can store all of your sweaters and coats in the bags and then shrink the bags down and store on the shelves or on the floor to make space.
5 Ways to Make Your Living Room More Cozy
When we come home at night we want to kick off our shoes and relax in a place that is warm and comfortable. Does your home currently feel cold and uninviting? Try out these ideas for making your home a bit more cozy.
1. Invest in a soft throw rug. If your home has hardwood or tile floor, try adding a rug in the sitting area to make the surface softer and more comfortable to walk on.
2. Buy comfortable throw pillows. Sure those pretty pillows covered in sequins look nice but are they practical? Add some soft, fluffy throw pillows to your couch to maximize comfort.
3. Add a blanket. Whether it’s on the back of the couch or you have a basket full of them, make sure there are soft blankets available whether you or a guest want to curl up.
4. Think about scents. What smell makes you most relaxed? Is it lavender or sandalwood? Maybe it’s the smell of fresh baking apple pie. Add some scents using plug-in air fresheners or oil warmers to give your home a signature smell.
4. Low lighting is key. Try adding 3-way bulbs to your living room lamps so you can dim the lighting when needed. Low-lit rooms are more relaxing and cozy than bright, fluorescent ones!
20 Days to a Clean and Organized Home
levitra www.moclinical.comDid you know you could organize your entire home in 20 days? Sometimes when we think about the amount of cleaning and organizing that needs to be done at home it can be overwhelming. The best way to handle your organization is to tackle it one area at a time! If you designate one day (or even just a couple hours in that day) to one area you can have an organized and revitalized home in no time! Here’s our 20 day organization challenge list! Feel free to tweak it based upon your own needs. Remember…you don’t have to tackle these projects on consecutive days. Cross them off as you go and when you’re all done sit back and relish in the cleanliness:)
Day 1: Medicine cabinets
Day 2: Coat closet
Day 3: Under beds
Day 4: Laundry area
Day 5: Under sinks
Day 6: Fridge and freezer
Day 7: Kitchen cabinets
Day 8: Bedroom closets
Day 9: Desk or office
Day 10: Garage
Day 11: Patio or balcony
Day 12: Linen closet
Day 13: Kids toys
Day 14: Living room
Day 15: Car
Day 16: Bedroom dresser
Day 17: Nightstands
Day 18: Handbags or backpacks
Day 19: Pet areas
Day 20: Pantry