Cottage Style Home Decorating: A-Z QuikTips to Organize Your Cottage
By Kathryn Bechen Platinum Quality Author
Always buy enough pretty containers to house your possessions.
Baskets of all shapes and sizes help containerize clutter all through the house.
Clutter can also be contained using decorative containers such as pitchers, mugs, and urns.
Determine whether or not you really need something or just want it.
Examine your rooms through the eyes of a home buyer. If your home looks too cluttered, edit.
Find a place for everything and keep it there when not in use.
Garages can be organized inexpensively using plastic bins, shelves, and hooks on the walls.
Haul away anything that you no longer need or want. Let go and live in the present.
Ignore catalogs when they come in the mail and toss them immediately.
Junk sitting everywhere distracts from your lovely cottage style décor. Decide today who can use what you no longer want and graciously give it away.
Know what to toss and what to keep by asking yourself, “Do I need this and/or do I absolutely love it?”
Let go of any old clothes that no longer fit your current body or your current lifestyle.
Make your bed every day. It’s a large surface that looks messy if not made.
Never go to bed without straightening up your home a bit.
Overwhelm can be crippling. Do a little each day to keep your house in order rather than letting it build up to overwhelm.
Papers should be confined to the home office, processed daily, and either acted on, tossed, or filed.
Quickly go through the mail each day with a letter opener and either toss, act on, or file.
Read the newspaper each day and immediately recycle. Avoid clipping articles.
Sort your laundry loads into baskets by color and have each family member do at least one load a day.
Take out the trash before it piles up.
Use up what you have, such as shampoo, toothpaste, and food before buying more.
Vases of flowers are lovely additions to a decluttered home.
Walk around your home every 3 months and do a clutter-cutting audit.
Xtra stuff you don’t use is really just clutter. Give it to someone who can use it.
You can always do a little organizing each day rather than a lot all at once.
Zebras have stripes that are in order and you can organize your home!
Visit http://www.KathrynBechenDesigns.com to sign up for Kathryn's full color photo e-newsletter of decorating tips and resources, and to view her color photo blog. Kathryn is an interior decorating consultant, former professional organizer, and published author who has been interviewed by and featured in San Diego Home & Garden Lifestyles magazine, the Omaha World Herald, RealtyTimes.com and others. Her originally authored articles have been published in newspapers and across the internet and she is also author of the e-books: 191 Tips for Indoor & Outdoor Cottage Style at Home and Moving With Ease: The 8 Week Plan for an Organized & Stress-Free Move Whether You Hire a Mover or Do It Yourself! Kathryn has taught organizing seminars and spoken to groups as large as 400.
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