clean + simple

Subterms

    Latest story

    213 Shares178 Views

    How to Organize Under the Sink in the Kitchen (6 tips to create a place for everything!)

    by

    This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy here

    Today I will share six tips for how to organize under the sink and create a place for everything!
    One of the areas that was on my “a place for everything and everything in its place” list for a really long time was to organize under the sink, so I am thrilled that I finally tackled it.
    Empty the cabinet and declutter.
    Begin by taking everything out of the cabinet and tossing trash or things you know you don’t use. It helps to consider what would actually be convenient to keep in that cabinet and what is just unnecessarily cluttering the available space. Once you’ve pared down to only what you use regularly, move any items that you know can be relocated.
    Determine what will need a home.
    Everything will need a home, so assess what you want to keep and what you will organize under the sink. We wanted a roll of trash bags, a small supply of the dish brushes we use, our smiling sponges, steel wool for cleaning pans, magic erasers and the dishwasher detergents and cleaning supplies.
    Measure the space you have to work with and order organizers.
    Before I ordered containers, I measured the cabinet space I had to work with in the cabinet (height, depth and width of the cabinet and factored in the limitations of pipes).
    When I partnered with The Container Store over on Instagram recently (you can see my organizing video HERE!) I was introduced to the Everything Organizers! I love this system.
    These organizers are clear which I think is so smart under the sink plus they are really simple to use as well as to clean. They are also very flexible in how you can use and arrange them so I was able to order options and then decide on the best configuration once they arrived.

    Arrange organizers to maximize space.
    Once you have your containers you’ll want to organize them efficiently in the cabinet to maximize space.
    I only used containers across the front of the cabinet, leaving open space behind ours for any surplus or rarely used items.
    This system is designed so you can stack shorter drawers on top of each other or pair short with tall to maximize the height as well as the width of the space. I stacked a couple of sizes of the clear drawers and added the Lazy Susan to create an efficient system that fit well in our space.
    Since some of the items we keep under the sink were taller so we also left open space to one side. To create a tidy spot for them, we placed a tray style container on one side to hold spray bottles and handy roll of paper towels. I like that the container can be taken out to set up on the counter when in use and is easy to clean, too.
    The Lazy Susan also has removable sections so you can also customize how you arrange items in it.
    Group like items together.
    The simplest way to decide how to organize each of your containers is to group like items together. Depending on your cabinet and organizer sizes, you may realize after grouping like items together that you still have too many items to fit comfortably. You might need to relocate a few more items or if you buy in bulk you could have backup supplies elsewhere such as a garage or pantry.
    A place for everything and everything in its place.
    No organizing system will stay organized for long if you cram too many items in or can’t easily maintain order in them. The key is to keep it simple, don’t make the system too complicated.
    This is why I love the clear organizers as a dedicated spot for each type of item — it makes it easy to maintain a place for everything.
    You may also need to pare down on the number of products you use in order to maximize efficiency and space.
    For example, we use just our one toxin-free all purpose cleaner and a scrub for most things, so we don’t need to keep a lot of bottles under the sink.
    Having a designated place for everything also helps us to easily see what you have on hand and when you need to replenish!

    Ta da! A place for everything and everything in its place! Organizing is fun and rewarding once you get started! In fact, organizing this cabinet was so fun that I went on to organize my fridge and set up a cart for our dog supplies (which I’ll share with you in a separate post).
    Shop the Everything Organizers here.
    * Watch my under sink organizing video HERE! *
    My home organizing books:
    Make Room for What You Love Simply Home (two in one book for organizing and decorating) More

    More stories

    • 150 Shares149 Views

      in Organization

      A Phrase to Inspire You and Your Home in the New Year

      by

      This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy here

      Do you ever choose a word (or words) of the year to inspire you? This year I decided a word isn’t enough, I need an entire phrase.
      “A place for everything and everything in its place” is a very motivating and inspiring phrase for me right now! It’s not just motivating me to simplify or organize (although it certainly does that!) but to thoughtfully consider how each place in my home could be intentionally designed to contribute to a more peaceful rhythm and experience in my day. 
      An inspiring place to get dressed for the day. An peaceful spot to put on makeup. A lovely place for my jewelry. 
      On Sunday I repeated the phrase of the year as I began making some adjustments to the arrangement of our our bedroom, bathroom and closet.
      While I still have a ways to go to bring it all together together, without buying a single thing, I’ve already improved our bedroom and how I feel in it.
      I’m always delighted with how rewarding it is to slow down long enough to put your mind and heart into creating a sanctuary.
      If you’re craving a meaningful transformation in your home this year, come join us for Home Therapy sessions and the all new step by step Room Recipe method, now in HomeBody Gathering Place! More

    • 188 Shares159 Views

      in Organization

      The Secret to Decluttering, Organizing, Decorating and Homekeeping Success that No One Tells You About!

      by

      If you’ve ever struggled with creating the atmosphere you want for your home, I got you! 
      I will share the secret no one tells you about.
      Many years ago I started out my home-creating journey with so many dreams of the kind of home I hoped to have — one that was welcoming to us day to day as well as to the people we invited in.
      Perhaps you have similar dreams for your home.
      Even though my heart was in the right place and I worked hard at it, I felt like I was always struggling to create the atmosphere I desired.

      I often felt like I was failing as a home keeper. 
      While I always loved decorating, much to my dismay I quickly discovered that decorating alone wasn’t enough.
      There were always new messes being made, meals to prepare, laundry to do, needs to tend to, rooms to update, clutter to deal with, endless home projects and jobs to keep up with. 
      While I wanted to be a good home keeper, I wasn’t naturally skilled in figuring out how to do it all well and take care of myself and a family at the same time. I was often frazzled and frustrated. 

      One mess or another always seemed to stand in the way of the atmosphere I wanted.
      When I felt like my home was a cause of stress, anxiety would creep in and make me feel like I was a failure in all areas of life.
      I knew that wasn’t what I wanted for myself or our family. 
      Yet I could not figure out for the life of me how to keep all the balls in the air without causing more stress! 
      I read all the books on decluttering, organizing, housecleaning, and decorating yet none of them seemed to offer the simple holistic, sustainable solution I needed. It was all overwhelming. I just wanted to feel at peace with my home day to day, not create a perfect designer-approved showplace!
      I really didn’t need a perfect home. The truth was, a growing family and every day real-life experiences at home created ongoing understandable chaos. I wanted to savor the people, the moments and seasons of life, but trying and failing to keep up with resulting mess in our home was the opposite feeling I wanted in my surroundings.
      How in the world do you find a balance so you can create the type of home you really want without feeling so stressed and overwhelmed?
      Three homes, three kids, one dog and a lot of anxiety and home keeping trial and error later, I finally had an epiphany. This epiphany changed everything!

      I always knew I wanted my home to be a peaceful and welcoming place, but the peaceful and welcoming feeling I craved wasn’t just about the house.
      *I* needed to feel that way! 
      I needed to feel a sense of peace in our home for my own wellbeing, so I could offer that to my family as well.
      I needed my home to be welcoming to me day to day, too, not just to be welcoming to others.
      I couldn’t just bless the mess. Ha! To me, mess = stress.
      Yet all the methods I had tried to keep up with the mess created new kinds of stress.
      It makes sense that people just give up.
      No one tells you the secret to achieving what it is you really want.
      What most of us want to create is a sanctuary, not a showplace.
      That’s what I longed for all along — a home where I felt at peace.

      No wonder I was stressed!
      No wonder I was floundering! 
      It all began to make more sense. 
      I had been trying to get somewhere worth going, but doing it the wrong way led me to the opposite results.
      I was working hard at keeping up with what I thought was necessary or expected, but I didn’t stop to consider what a sanctuary would feel like.
      To be a nurturing place, living in it or caring for it couldn’t be a stressful experience!

      Little by little I made new discoveries about what it meant to create a sanctuary.
      My perspective on home keeping changed.
      I began to make progress and my family noticed and felt it, too! 
      Learning what to do and what not to do, when to do it and why it all mattered so much to me personally made all the difference. Everything changed for the better!
      My well-being improved and my anxiety and daily struggles diminished greatly.
      The care and keeping of our home not only became more manageable but more enjoyable and fulfilling for me (even with a busy household!). 
      My home became a true sanctuary!
      Once I began to see my new daily efforts for what they were, a worthy investment in our health and well-being, creating a sanctuary truly transformed all areas of my life.
      And the most amazing thing is: 

      It didn’t take a lot of money or a housekeeper!

      I didn’t need a perfect house or a perfect plan.

      I didn’t need ideal circumstances. 

      I didn’t need to be a slave to housework. 

      I finally had more freedom and creative energy to do what I loved!

      I felt better than I ever had before in my surroundings. 

      If creating a sanctuary resonates with you, I would love to have you join me in in this journey in 2024!

      I’ve shared many of my struggles and successes in homekeeping and decorating over the past 17 years through encouragement and practical tips on my blog The Inspired Room and in 11 books. 
      But now I am thrilled to be able to offer my secretes to success and support you in a more personal way. In HomeBody Gathering Place, I’ve brought these important decorating and home keeping concepts all together into a never-before offered format with a simple to follow formula along with my secrets to success!
      I am thrilled to be able to walk with you through this journey in real time through HomeBody Gathering Place!
      You’re invited to join me for A Year of Sanctuary, which takes place in 2024 in my member community HomeBody Gathering Place. If you are a member, you’re all set! We’ll begin the winter season on January 5th. If you are not currently a member, you’ll want to register HERE before we close the doors.

      What is a Year of Sanctuary? What is HomeBody Gathering Place?
      A Year of Sanctuary is our theme this year in HomeBody Gathering Place, a private member community where we focus on realistic methods and make joy-filled rewarding progress in creating a sanctuary.
      I’ve organized the concepts I teach into a new seasonal format so we can experience A Year of Sanctuary! In a Year of Sanctuary, we dive into each of my four essential sanctuary principles as well as learn how to savor the simple joys of a sanctuary week by week, season by season, year round.
      All HGP members get to enjoy A Year of Sanctuary, there is no additional fee or registration, it’s all included in your membership.
      How does a Year of Sanctuary work?
      We go through A Year of Sanctuary lessons together weekly in real-time (either in the optional Facebook community, or your own private dashboard and weekly emails we send), but you can also go at your own pace with previously taught lessons and resources that are all saved and available to you in a private dashboard any time.
      While you will be inspired with new ideas and tips every week, you can also see immediate results if you choose to take simple optional action steps through our weekly challenges.
      Of course, establishing your rhythms and experiencing the full benefits of a sanctuary will take time! But we make it more fun every step of the way. You’ll get access to HomeBody Notebook pages, prizes, printables and more!
      The decorating and homemaking principles we learn throughout the year can be personalized and practiced in a variety of ways in each season, just like we do in our real life homes!
      This is a gentle and sustainable way to bring more joy and peace to life and your home, too.
      You’ll find this to be a rewarding experience — one you can look forward to each week and through every season! 
      Do I have to be a new homemaker to benefit from HomeBody Gathering Place?
      Not at all! Whether you’re already a seasoned sanctuary creator or just starting out or somewhere in between, we can learn and grow together in our own ways. No one has it all together all the time, so we all can benefit from inspiration to connect to our homes in various seasons of life.
      Plus, in HomeBody Gathering Place, I bring together a lovely community of women who are all in different seasons, all creating a sanctuary! It is a joy to encourage each other wherever we are in the journey.
      One step at a time, season by season, I’ll teach you how to not only make your home look great, but FEEL great, too.
      Join us in HomeBody Gathering Place for a Year of Sanctuary. We begin January 5th with our Winter Session on Simplicity!
      Once we close the doors for this session, we don’t open again until spring session.
      TIP: I recommend that you join in January as a yearly member (it’s the best deal, plus this year we’re offering yearly member perks and resources!). We hope you’ll join us for the full year of transformative sanctuary lessons, resources, and activities! More

    • 100 Shares119 Views

      in Organization

      Six Simple Secrets for a Less Cluttered Home

      by

      Greetings! Who needs to declutter? {raises hand}. I wish I could say that I decluttered once, years ago, and that was the end of the “excess stuff” in our home. But alas…. it’s an ongoing process for me. We decluttered a lot before we moved here four years ago but we still ended up with far too many things we don’t need or have room for in this house. Our garage became more like a storage room.Moving is an excellent time to declutter, but it’s also tricky because you are making a transition to a different home. It’s easy to misjudge what you will have room for or need. Plus, moving is exhausting :). If you are not starting over from scratch with all new furniture, it can take some time to figure out what fits and what works best in a new home.And it’s not just moving that causes chaos. Busyness, delayed decisions, design indecision, procrastination … I wrote all about my decluttering issues and challenges and how I deal with them in Make Room for What You Love and Simple Organizing.Deadlines are super motivating to me, though, so with Courtney moving in this weekend, we are decluttering, rearranging and making room for her in our lower level :). It feels great to finally have the motivation and a deadline to work on some “out of sight, out of mind” spaces (like the basement and garage!) in our home.
      Even if you don’t have time for a big decluttering project right now, there are lots of little ways you can make your home feel less cluttered right now.Here are six tips I use to make my house feel less cluttered:
      1. Clear the floors.
      My husband taught me this tip when our kids were small. If there is stuff covering the floors or piled up in the corners of the rooms, your house is automatically going to feel cluttered. Now we spend a few moments every day picking up clutter from the floors. Instantly the whole house feels cleaner and tidier.
      2. Empty the surfaces.
      Take a look around your room. Are all the tables covered with unnecessary stuff? Even if you just have time to clear one surface, your room will feel less overwhelming. Start with one table and then move onto another! It helps to set a timer for 15 minutes; you’ll be surprised how fast you can clear the surfaces when the clock is ticking!
      3. Make some room.
      Give your closets, drawers and rooms some breathing room. Donate, toss, or store even a third of the items from a closet or half the accessories from a room and you’ll be amazed by how much tidier it feels! 
      4. Close the drawers and cabinets.
      When cabinet doors and drawers are left ajar, the whole room feels messier. Walk around the house and close every drawer and cupboard to give your rooms a tidier more streamlined appearance.
      5. Straighten the dining chairs.
      It’s a little annoyance, but when the dining chairs are turned every which way and not pushed in straight to the table, the whole room will feel a bit haphazard. Take a few moments and push the chairs up to the table and straighten them out. This will give your dining area an instantly tidier look!
      6. Clean the kitchen sink.
      When your sink is piled with dishes, the whole kitchen will feel cluttered and messy. Make it a habit to clean the dishes in the sink—and the sink itself—every day.
      I’ve written many organizing posts featuring tips I use and ideas that have inspired me in my own home. 
      Always start with decluttering, but getting organized feels great, too.Here’s a round-up of some of my top decluttering and organizing posts!
      The Secret to Getting Organized
      10 Minute Household Tasks to Organize Your Life
      Do you make any of these common disorganization excuses? > > Kick Excuses to the Curb: Confessions on Organizing & Decluttering
      A Bag A Day Keeps the Clutter Away
      9 Clever Organizers to Tidy Your House
      How to Get Organized in a Small House
      How to Organize Papers You Don’t Want to Lose
      Pretty and Functional Bathroom Storage Ideas
      Happy Drawers: Simple Organizing Ideas
      10 Habits of People with Organized Houses
      How to Set Daily Routines that will Transform Your Life
      5 Takeaway Tips from a Small Office
      My Kitchen Pantry and Tips for Pantry Organization
      MY DIY Organized Free-Standing Command Center
      How to Clean Your House When You’re Busy
      How to Eliminate Paper Clutter Forever
      Habits for an Organized Home
      How to Organize a Small Kitchen
      9 Ways to Get Organized Now
      5 Minute Baking Drawer Organization: Using What You Have
      Find inspiration and the strategies that inspire me to declutter and simplify in my book Make Room for What You Love.
      More Books by The Inspired Room:
      Simple Organizing: Amazon or Barnes and Noble
      Love the Home You Have (NY Times Bestseller): Amazon or Barnes and Noble
      All books
      Room and kitchen sources are found here.
      Pin for later! More