Preparing to move into a new home? We can help you get started!

You’ve recently put your home on the market, purchased a new home, and now you’re ready to move. But where do you start?

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First things first: packing up all of your belongings is a great excuse to go through everything that you own and purge all the unnecessary items that you have collected in your soon-to-be former home.

When moving into a new home or downsizing, often your new place is smaller or a completely different layout than what you had before, so it can be helpful not having to drag all the extra items that you have. These items, more often than not, stay in the moving box and end up in a closet somewhere, taking up valuable space collecting dust when it could have been put to better use or donated/sold to someone else who could actually use it.

The less items you have to box up, organize, store, transport, unpack, and find a new home for, the better! Not only will your new space feel more clean, organized, and collected, but YOU will feel this way too. Moving doesn’t have to be hard; in fact, in can be the opposite: an opportunity for you to bring order to your life and start fresh in your new home.

De-cluttering your home is not only beneficial to you going forward, but can make a world of a difference when it comes to staging your home for buyers. There’s often no need to hire a staging company or designer and renting items to enhance the features of your home. Simply rearranging furniture, taking some items out, or showcasing collectibles you may have hidden away can work like a charm – and it’s something that Calm Order can help with!

Calm Order can be a great help for people who are feeling stressed and anxious about their move – our Moving Coordination services offer a personal contact that will be there every step of the way, from packing and loading to unloading. We also offer an Unpacked to Organized service (more on that in our next post!) to help you get settled and organized in your new home.

What exactly can Calm Order help with?

·       We assist with de-cluttering, downsizing, packing, organizing and furniture placement to enhance your home’s best features.

·       Organized priority boxes and a first night kit. It's stressful having a mobile phone with a low or dead battery and having no idea where your charger or power adapter is hiding in the mountains of boxes.

·       Planning/ packing your first night survival kit – pj's, toothbrush, toiletries, bed linen, pet needs, clothing, foods, favorite toys and kitchen items such as your morning coffee!

·       Obtain quotes: Moving company/packers, storage units/containers

And many more! Check out our website for more information on our moving and organized to sell services, and our next blog post when we talk all about the actual moving, packing and unpacking process.

31 Days to an Organized Home Challenge - PART 2

We want to help you start the new year off right – with an clean and organized home! This January, give our 31-day challenge a try! Each day we will feature a tip or suggestion on what you can do in your home on our Facebook page. Here on the blog, we’re breaking this challenge into two parts: our previous post covered part one and include 15 different areas of the home to organize for the first half of the month, and in this post we will cover the rest of the month. Here are the last 15 challenges:

16.     Toys

Time to tackle the toys! This challenge may not be for everyone, but if you have kids, this is one that they can get involved in. Gather up the toys around your house and designate a play/toy room. Have your kids help you go through toys and separate them into a “keep” and “donate” pile. Instead of storing all the “keep” toys in a toy bin, organize them in a way that makes sense to your kids in clear bins so they’re easily recognizable, and in a location that is easily accessible to them.

17.     Chargers and Electronic Accessories

There are chargers and cables and wires for everything, which means your home can get cluttered with them. However, a lot of electronic devices have the same charging cords or accessories, so go through your chargers and if you have more than two of the same charger, chances are you don’t need anymore. Label your wires with tape or in marked containers so you and others will remember what they are used for – eliminating the problem of having a drawer full of cables and no idea what they are for.

18.     Bedroom Closets

When organizing your closet, you want to make it easy for yourself to see items and take them out. Keep items off the ground, but if you have to, put them into a clear bin. Loose items can get in the way and make for a cluttered closet. Hang like items with like, and when placing items on shelves, make it easy to get items out without disturbing the rest. Try rolling items or keeping smaller stacks of clothing. Your closet shouldn’t be stuffed to the max, but have room to move or add new items.

19.     Laundry Room

Empty out any cabinets, drawers, bins, or shelves in your laundry and sort through your items. Toss out unneeded or expired items, and replenish items that are low. When putting items away, follow the usual storage principles: like with like, designated areas for certain items, label and/or use clear bins, and put frequently used items in the most accessible location.

20.     Cleaning Supplies

Gather up all your cleaning supplies, and toss out anything that is expired. Replace or replenish items as needed. Store the items in a way that makes sense to you. Consider placing items in clear and labelled bins which makes it easier to transport supplies to and from the rooms in your home and where you store them when cleaning.

21.     Plastic Containers

Drag out all your plastic containers (we know you have a lot of them!) and start by sorting like items with like: lids together, containers together, and so on. Anything that doesn’t have a matching lid or container is recycled. All of your containers should fit into ONE drawer or shelf. You don’t need anymore than that, and you don’t always have to keep the reusable take out containers either!

22.     Magazines and Books

Overflowing with books and magazines? It’s time to let go of them! Gather up all the magazines and books in your home, and only keep what you will actually read. Be honest! There are many places like dentist and doctor’s offices and schools that can benefit from the items that are taking up space in your home. If you’re keeping magazines for specific articles or recipes, cut them out and place them into a binder – you don’t need to keep the whole magazine.

23.     Junk Drawers

Do you really even need a junk drawer? The name itself implies that what you’re keeping are items that you consider to be junk. So what are you waiting for? Today’s the day to purge! Empty out your drawer and go through each item – have you used in the past three-six months? Do you really need it? If you answered no to these questions, then donate or get rid of that item. If you do use them, then find a more appropriate place to store it.

24.     Decorations

With the holiday season just ending, now is a great time to go through all of your decorations. Be realistic about how many of them you actually put up, and what decorations stay in storage. Donate these unused items, and store decorations in clear or labelled containers. Sort in a way that makes sense to you, like tree ornaments in one, wreaths in one, lights in another, for example. Because these decorations are used only once a year, the bins can be placed in garages or storage rooms on higher shelves.

25.     Sentimental Items

Items that have a special emotional attachment are hard to deal with. Instead of hiding these objects in a box somewhere in your home, bring them out and see if you can actually use them or display them (without adding clutter to your home). If you have items that you don’t remember or don’t care to see/use everyday, maybe they aren’t as sentimental as you thought they were.

26.     Movies and CDs

When organizing movies and CDs, first check to make sure that all the right CDs/DVDs are in their corresponding cases. Then go through them and donate any that are old and won’t be watched again, and discard any discs that are scratched. When storing, organize with a system that works for you like alphabetical or by genre.

27.     Calendars

It’s a new year, so make sure your calendar or family calendar is organized and up to date. For this month, get everyone to write down that they have going on. Make sure important appointments and events are written down for everyone in the household. Keep this up throughout the year to make for a more organized life!

28.     Craft Supplies

Craft supplies can take up a lot of room, and the smaller bits and pieces can get lost in closets and storage rooms. To organize these items today, take everything that you have around your house out and get rid of any containers with empty supplies, or anything that is dried up or not working anymore. Be realistic: are there any items you don’t use anymore? Consider donating them to schools or other organizations. Storing items in clear bins or containers and using labels will help you remember in the future what items you have and where.

29.     Coats and Outerwear

With winter underway, coats, scarves, mitts, toques, and hats are sure to crowd your closet. While these are essential items, multiple pairs of mitts may not be so practical. Time to go through your outerwear – anything that is worn or has holes should be discarded. Anything older that you’ve been storing in the back of the closet should be donated.

30.     Front Entryway

When you’re first coming in your front door, you don’t want to be greeted by a pile of shoes and outerwear. Keep your front entryway limited to everyday coats and shoes – one or two jackets/pairs. Other seasonal items should be stored in your bedroom or hallway closet. This way, when you have guests over, they won’t be tripping over shoes or have no space to hang up their own coat.   

31.     Staying Organized

We’ve now reached the end of our 31 Days to an Organized Home Challenge! Now that you’ve got your house all organized, the final challenge is to keep it up year round. Congratulations on completing the challenge and good luck in the year ahead!

31 Days to an Organized Home Challenge - PART 1

We want to help you start the new year off right – with a clean and organized home! This January, give our 31-day challenge a try. Each day we will feature a tip or suggestion on what you can do in your home on our Facebook page. Here on the blog, we’re breaking this challenge into two parts: this post will cover part one and include 15 different areas of the home to organize for the first half of the month, and later on we’ll publish another post that will cover the rest of the month. Here are the first 15 challenges:

Day 1:  Kitchen cupboards

We're starting in the kitchen for this challenge. Take everything out of your cupboard, and wipe down all the shelves. Now that all of the items are out in front of you, it’s time to go through your dishes and utensils. Keep only the items that are still in good shape or that you'll actually use. The rest can be donated. When putting items back into the cupboard, group like items with like. For example, put all glasses together and all plates together. Keep items that are frequently used in more easily accessible areas. Consider using organizers for cups, plates, and cutlery to maximize space.

Day 2:  Baking Sheets and Pans

You may have had dreams of baking up a storm, but after awhile kitchen cupboards can abound with unneeded baking pans when those dreams don't become reality. Pull out your baking sheets and place them on your counter top. It’s time to get real: are these pans ever used? Will they ever be used? Are the pans and sheets old and rusted? If so, then it’s time to get rid of them.

Day 3: Fridge

It’s time to tackle the fridge. First things first: go through all of the items and dispose of old items that are past their due date. Consider storing all the good stuff in clear containers so they are easily identified. Place like with like, and create designated areas for vegetables and fruit, deli meat and cheese, leftovers, drinks, and condiments. This helpful guide shows you just where your food should be going.

Day 4: Pantry

Pantries can be full of a lot of items, so try tackling one shelf at a time. Get rid of any expired products. Place anything that is about to go bad or is likely to be forgotten about near the front of the shelf – this will remind you not to forget about them and maybe inspire you to use them before they end up in the garbage. Place frequently used items near the front so they’re easy to access.

Day 5:   Recipes

Recipes can be organized and stored in a multitude of ways – from boxes to binders, to apps like Evernote and Paprika to programs like ChefTap and Pinterest. Before storing your recipes, go through each one and take out the dud recipes or any duplicates and create categories like desserts, meals, snacks, special occasions and recipes to try. Use folders or dividers to organize the recipes in a way that makes sense to you.

Day 6:  Photos

Organizing your digital photos can seem like an unsurmountable task, but once you put a system in place it can just take a few minutes. Start by uploading all of your photos, and deleting the blurry or out of focus images. Go through and edit or crop photos that need it, and then tag them in a way that will be easily recognizable for you like “Christmas2015.” Then, create folders for each year, and subfolders for the event or month the pictures correspond to.

Day 7: Bathroom counters

Leave everyday items like soap and toothbrushes on the counter, but store other items in cupboards or drawers. Use organizers to maximize space, and take bulky items out of their packaging and store them in easily accessible containers. Stop holding on to expired products or items you don’t use – donate them or get rid of them.

Day 8: Medicine Cabinets

Organize your cabinet strategically with frequently used items on the bottom shelf, and less frequently used items on the top. Expired or unwanted products should be disposed of, and use labels or clear containers to store items so they stay organized and have a specific place to avoid clutter.

Day 9: Linen Closets

Pull out all your linens and sort the items into what you want to keep, and the items that can be donated or thrown out. Then, organize by bedroom and bathroom. It’s good to have extra sets, but remember that less is always more. Map out what items you want to put where in your closet, and label what towels and sheets are for what room and bathroom. Place less-frequently used items or bulkier sets on the higher shelf. 

Day 10: Clothing

Go through your clothing and purge anything that’s old, worn, or out of date. Sort the remaining clothes by season, and keep pieces that are out of season out of the way. Make sure clothing is visible, because you’re less likely to wear it if you can’t see it. Use space wisely and keep items stored neatly.

Day 11: Shoes

Declutter excess shoes that are worn, don’t fit well, or are too tight, and organize remaining shoes by activity (like sports, occasion, casual) or by weather. Create designated storage places and keep only daily used shoes by the entrance way. Seasonal or shoes not worn often can be kept in cubbies, boxes, under the bed, or wall/door hangers.

Day 12: Papers and Bills

Wall mounts and racks can eliminate clutter on the desk and store important papers and bills so they’re easier to find. Labelling is important, as is taking the time to go through papers and deal with them as soon as you get them. Set up a system so there is place for all of the bills and papers that come into your home so nothing is left in piles on a counter or a desk and forgotten.

Day 13: Filing Cabinets

For long-term file storage, go through older documents and decide which ones you should keep and which ones can be disposed of. This post has a great chart to help figure out how long you should be keeping your important documents. Organize the remaining documents into the appropriate sections, and create labels for each folder in the cabinet.

Day 14: Desks

Keep essentials only on the top of your desk – items that are used regularly. Other non-essentials can be stored in drawers, and organized with storage accessories. Purge items that don’t work or are unused, and replenish supplies that are out or running low. Don’t feel the need to keep a stockpile of items. Replace items when they need to be replaced.

Day 15: Pens and Pencils

Gather all the pens and pencils you have in every room around your house. The truth is, you probably don't need as many pens and pencils as you already have! Test out each one to determine which ones still have ink/lead, and which ones don't. Determine a realistic and practical number of pens and pencils you actually need, and donate the rest to your local school.

Keep us updated on how your challenge is going here on the blog or on our Facebook page!