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WHAT'S NEW
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7 home-organizing essentials
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Get clutter under control with neat tools to keep everything in its place.
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By Tara Nolan
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After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, your house may need a little TLC. You may even have added an "organize" item to your list of resolutions. January is the perfect time to tackle each room and sort your belongings. Professional organizer Estelle Gee of Orderly Lives has plenty of tips to help you organize all your stuff, both old and new.
Before you get started, consider buying what Gee thinks is an essential tool in every home -- a label maker. Check out Brother P-touch Labellers or DYMO label printers to help you identify everything from baskets and boxes to bins -- you'll always know where everything is.
Hot zone 1: The front hall
Clutter culprits: Mail, mail everywhere! You bring stack of bills, letters and junk mail in the house and you might throw these items where you take off your coat, on a table by the door or beside your shoes.
Solutions: Whether it's a basket or box, Gee suggests some type of mail bin to contain those envelopes until you have a moment in your week to go through it all.
Hot zone 2: The kitchen
Clutter culprits: Condiments, utensils and thingamabobs
Solutions: I like using lazy Susans in the fridge, says Gee. A revolving stacked tray with a rubber-bottom is ideal to store small jars, such as jams and mustard that tend to get lost at the back of the fridge.
Next you've got your spatulas, flippers and measuring spoons. Gee suggests keeping your most used utensils out in an oversized ceramic jar, "by the stove so you can pull them out." The ones you don't use everyday can be stored in a drawer and the ones you may use only once a year can be relegated to a cupboard or bin that isn't as easily accessible.
If you have a drawer in the kitchen with disparate little pieces, Gee suggests click-together drawer organizers. These pieces come in little cube sizes to 18 inches and click together like a puzzle. If your drawer is more of a junk collector, you can purchase a "junk drawer organizer" at stores like Solutions. These have built-in compartments, so there is a space for every doodad.
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