Organization 101

 Happy 2023 from us at CW Interiors! 

It's a whole new year! Starting in 2023, we want you to look around your home and feel surrounded with things that serve a purpose and make you happy. Between end of year sales and holiday gifting, many of us have spent the last few weeks adding items to our home. This month we will share tips on how to keep integrate the new, and part with the excess. 

We have lots of thoughts from our team, and bonus advice from Elizabeth Strauss, professional organizer at All Organized. We love her perspective, as she lives by the principle that each person goes to their own home at night. That home should be where they feel comfortable, not the product of someone else's version of comfort. What is good for me may not be good for you, and both are just fine ways of keeping a home. 

The team at CW Interiors has some daily principles that we use to help keep centered in life and at home.

I recommend that you make your bed every day, it helps to set the tone for the day. Even if everything else goes haywire, you can return to a tidy bed at night. 

Elizabeth recommends replacing the word *Organize with *Declutter. There are many ways to organize, decluttering is the purging of the unnecessary. 

Nicki has young children that love to create. Art projects, animal habitats, drawings and science experiments. If space allows, she recommends that you set aside a place for chaos. A table, nook, or corner of the house where everyone agrees it's OK that things are not all back in their designated spot at the end of the night. For those that don't live in Texas, this is ideal in a basement. 

Dawn suggests keeping a collection box available. This gives you a place for items that are ready to be re-homed. There can be multiple boxes, one for donation, one from big brother to little brother or, when the items are too used to live another life, keep a box for textile recycling. Keeping things in a box also keeps them portable, so when you realize that the errands of the day will take you right by a donation center you can easily move the box to your car for transport.

From my conversation with a professional, Elizabeth recommends to declutter in manageable bites. Going through an entire closet may seem overwhelming, but tackling the shirts may be a more palatable afternoon project. Try on every single shirt in your closet. Does it fit? Do you feel good wearing it? Is the style is something that you would wear today? If all answers are yes, hang it up. If the article doesn't meet that criteria, feel confident in parting ways. Regardless of what you paid for something, if it's not serving a purpose in your life it's just taking up space. Keeping a list of each item that you have decluttered can remind you that you're making progress.

We are including some resources for those that are ready to declutter but can't stand the thought of their items clogging up landfills. For those that are willing to do a little extra work:

DonateStuff.com is a place to donate accessories, clothing, small household items and shoes. You choose the charity that your donation benefits and set up a pickup date online. They will pick items up from your front porch!

Something Special is a resale shop that benefits the Montgomery County Women's Shelter. They provide a fully furnished apartment for those who stay in transitional housing apartments. The furniture and clothing and donations that are not used are then sold and the money is used to keep the shelter open and available. They take all household items that can fit in your car including good condition furniture, rugs, bridal gowns, art, tools and more. You can pull around to the back of the store where someone will receive the donations out of the trunk of your car. 

For those broken remotes, outdated MP3 Players, computers and other electronics, Amazon offers a free electronics recycling program. Visit Amazon Recycling and complete the form, box up your items and Amazon will provide a pre-paid mailing label. Your box can be dropped off at any UPS location. 

Book in good condition, public libraries love book donations. If you are local to The Woodlands, TX, the Montgomery County Memorial Library Systems will gladly accept your books and resell them in their second-hand shop. The sales benefit Friends of the Library, a foundation that provides library services to the public.

Are you drowning in Legos? Lego will provide a pre-paid mailing label for you to mail back your miscellaneous Lego, Duplo and Technic bricks through their Lego RePlay program. They sterilize the bricks and offer them to Teach For America for underprivileged children. 

Additionally, schools are happy to accept art and office supplies and many Lutheran churches in our area have quilting guilds that are thankful for extra fabric and sewing supplies. 

We hope this helps encourage you to declutter and re-home items that are no longer used or loved in your home. We further want you to love your surroundings and be comfortable in the space where you live. As always, if you are starting the new year with a design project, we would love to collaborate with you on making your space beautiful!