Multi-purpose furniture are ideal for small spaces, or if you don’t like to have a lot of furniture in your room.  When you can store a multitude of items in one piece, it can alleviate clutter in your room and make organizing a lot easier.  One of the most popular multi-purpose furniture pieces today is the Armoire.  Armoires are used to store and organize clothing and crafting supplies. They are also used as TV entertainment centers, or as a  small office that you fold away at the end of the day.

Another multi-purpose item that is perfect for both teens and adults is the Nightstand Valet (pictured above).  This valet stand comes with 2 shelves, a pull out drawer, a hanger for suit coat or shirts, bottom shelf for shoes, top shelf for personal accessories, side bar for trousers and the other side comes with hook for additional hanging storage.  It is the epitome of multi-purpose. 

CD organizer

Cosmetics organizer

Your teenager or pre-teen can get organized the night before school by choosing their outfit, including their shoes, packing their backpack and selecting the books and other items they may need for school the next day, and all can be stored in the Nightstand Valet.  On the left you’ll see some additional organization products that can help your children keep their rooms organized from Home Storage Warehouse.

 Visit Home Storage Warehouse to learn more about the Nightstand Valet and other organizing products to help kids keep their rooms organized and clutter-free!

Find more organization product ideas and back to school tips for your kids here.

Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO Baltimore Chapter, she helps homeowners to clear their household and paper clutter and organize their home or home office.  Jacquie also offers home organizing workshops to the general public and brief time management classes to businesses. Jacquie is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  If you want to take control of your clutter, visit CastAway the Clutter to get Jacquie’s free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Summer break has ended for many school children and they are finally back to school. Do you have a specific place for the barrage of papers and schoolwork that comes home? If not, make this year your year to be more organized and less stressed.  The barrage of papers received during the first few weeks of school can be overwhelming. You will feel a lot less overwhelmed if you have a good paper management system in place to stay on top of all of the papers. Follow some of my paper organization tips to prevent from being buried under piles of paper clutter.

To begin your paper flow system, purchase some hanging file holders or manila file folders to store and organize your papers.  Using file folders will allow you to quickly file away each paper for quick reference or action.  Set up a table top or desk top file on the kitchen counter or somewhere else convenient.  Be sure to clearly label each file folder. 

desktop file organizer

 Here are some file category ideas:

1. School work & projects;

2. Papers to sign/return (check daily!);

3. Papers to file – ideally you should file right away. However, if this is not feasible, decide on a time that you can set aside 5-10 minutes a day or every other day.

4. PTA info – this would include volunteer opportunities, fundraisers etc.

5. School – This is a general file and would include the school calendar, telephone directory, teacher contact info etc. You could have more than one if you have your children in two or more schools.

You may also wish to have a folder devoted to each child, so that they have somewhere to file papers that they need to refer to from time to time.  Check out some of the variety of desk top organizers, paper trays and file organizers at Home Storage Warehouse.

 Click here for more back to school tips.

Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO Baltimore Chapter, she helps homeowners to clear their household and paper clutter and organize their home or home office.  Jacquie also offers home organizing workshops to the general public and brief time management classes to businesses. Jacquie is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  If you want to take control of your clutter, visit CastAway the Clutter to get Jacquie’s free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Organization products, like toy bins, pop-up storage bins, pop-up hampers, over-the-door organizers and hanging shoe pockets are just a few of the many organizing products available to help keep your children’s rooms organized and free of clutter.  Summertime is a good time to get those organization products in place in time for back to school.  Once your kids get busy with homework and afterschool activities it’s going to be even harder for them to keep their rooms clean and organized, so every little bit helps. 

Most children can do basic room upkeep chores on their own.  However, it’s best to continue to build confidence in them by showing them how to do routine tasks, like, picking up toys and putting them away, putting away their clean laundry, light dusting and even vacuuming. 

At the very least, all children should have easy access to a laundry hamper as soon as they are able to dress themselves.  Begin by explaining the rules and consequences, if you decide to have consequences.  One example of a consequence would be to not wash anything that’s not placed inside the hamper!  After a couple of weeks of this, they will soon realize that there is very little left to wear, except maybe a handful of their least favorite clothing! 

Purchase a fun or decorative hamper for their room or bathroom that they actually won’t mind using. Here are some fun kids’ hampers for both young children and teens at Home Storage Warehouse.

You may also like:

More back to school organizing tips
More Organization Products for Keeping Your Children’s Closets Clutter-Free

Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO Baltimore Chapter, she helps homeowners to clear their household and paper clutter and organize their home or home office.  Jacquie also offers home organizing workshops to the general public and brief time management classes to businesses. Jacquie is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  If you want to take control of your clutter, visit CastAway the Clutter to get Jacquie’s free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

With today’s busy schedules, paper towels have become more of a necessity than a luxury.  As much as we all want to go green, who wants to spend hours washing dirty washcloths and kitchen linens every week?  Also, when you do laundry each week you are using a lot of water and electricity, so either way, you’re not really helping the environment.  Plus, you have to find a drawer or linen closet to store all of those extra kitchen washcloths and towels.  So, at the end of the day paper towels are convenient, and can even be an attractive addition to your countertop, when you select a decorative paper towel holder. The typical paper towel holder is an upright stand allowing quick and easy one handed tearing.  At Home Storage Warehouse, there is a wide assortment of metal paper towel organizers including bronze, black, & silver.

If you have counter space issues, then consider an over the door paper towel holder.  Here are two to consider from Home Storage Warehouse.

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO Baltimore Chapter, she helps homeowners to clear their household and paper clutter and organize their home or home office.  Jacquie also offers home organizing workshops to the general public and brief time management classes to businesses. Jacquie is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  If you want to take control of your clutter, visit CastAway the Clutter to get Jacquie’s free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Do you have a messy pile of jewelry in a variety of jewelry organizers, but not really organized?  If you love jewelry, you probably have a large collection of everyday pieces that are difficult to keep organized.  Whether it is valuable jewelry pieces, costume jewelry or both, you’re going to want to have easy access to all of it, while stored in an organized and logical way.  

Here are a few tips for sorting through your jewelry:

1. First you’ll want to go through each piece of jewelry and discard anything that’s broken.
2. Set aside any jewelry that is tarnished and needs cleaning. 
3. As you sort, try to keep only the items you love and plan to wear again. Then organize the rest by type or occasion.  Dressy jewelry can be stored together, casual jewelry together etc.  You can also organize by color, especially if you have a lot of costume jewelry to match a variety of outfits.

4. Extremely valuable jewelry pieces should be stored separately, ideally in a combination safe or secret place in your home. 
5. If you have jewelry pieces that are valuable, but that you no longer want to wear, look for a place locally that you can bring your jewelry pieces to sell, or call in an appraiser for help. If you decide to sell your jewelry online, be sure to use a reputable site.

 Acrylic Jewelry Organizers for Everyday Jewelry:
For your everyday jewelry, consider storing them in a clear acrylic jewelry organizer.  Acrylic jewelry organizers have a crystal-like appearance to them that is suitable to be displayed on a bedroom dresser – the pictures on this page really don’t do them justice. Acrylic jewelry organizers are perfect for everyday jewelry because you can clearly see what’s inside.  You’re not going to forget what you have and you’re unlikely to let the organizers get cluttered because you will always be able to see the mess!

 
Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO Baltimore Chapter, she helps homeowners to clear their household and paper clutter and organize their home or home office.  Jacquie also offers home organizing workshops to the general public and brief time management classes to businesses. Jacquie is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  If you want to take control of your clutter, visit CastAway the Clutter to get Jacquie’s free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

For Mother’s Day, what do you give to the mom who appears to have it all?  What do you give to the picky mom?  What do you give to the mom with a lot of clutter? 

Mother’s Day is a day to say thank you to a special mom, but sometimes it’s hard to know what to buy.  A trip to the salon to have her hair or nails done is nice, but maybe she already visits the salon regularly.  

Giving a gift certificate to a store that carries a wide range of goods is a great way to let her decide what she needs, or would like to have. Even if the mom doesn’t have a lot of clutter, almost everyone can improve organization in at least one area of their home, so think about a gift certificate to an organization product store like Home Storage Warehouse.  Home Storage Warehouse offers organizing products for every room in the home that meets the needs of most households.  The mom can then shop when she is ready and find something that she will truly love or need, instead of accepting a gift that could otherwise end up as clutter.

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie is also the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  Visit CastAway the Clutter to get a free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

One of the top frustrations for moms is the never ending feeling of being disorganized and, of course, lack of time.  Learning some new time management techniques is helpful, but often it is not enough.  Having very specific organizational systems in place in your home can make all the difference between staying organized and just getting by.   Buying more stuff is not the answer, because now you have more things to clean and maintain.  The key is to buy organization products that will help you to keep the stuff that you are actually using, organized. 

With Mother’s Day coming up, it’s a good time to think about gift ideas that will not create clutter, either for you, or to give as a gift to another mom.  When considering a gift for a mom, think about what they need.  Gift ideas, like jewelry boxes, purses and bags, including laptop bags, plus make-up organizers and photo frames, make great gifts, but can also create clutter if they are not used or needed.  So what do you need this year? Or what gift can you give, that is not only functional, but will also be appreciated?  Here are some gift ideas that are beautiful and will also help to tame the clutter!

Jewelry box: Store and organize earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings and watches.  Pick the size and style that will store all of the jewelry that you or your giftee wears, otherwise most of it will be stored “next to” the jewelry box, instead of inside the jewelry box!  Sound familiar?

Purses and Bags: These are hard to choose for someone, unless you know the person well.  Of course, if it’s for yourself, it will be easy and you can ask a loved one to purchase a specific purse or bag for you.  One type of bag that many moms can use today is a computer laptop bag or sleeve.  These come in a variety of styles and designs and may be a welcomed gift.  Check out the selection at Home Storage Warehouse.

Make-up Organizers:  Does the mom love make-up and have trouble keeping it all organized?  Then a make-up organizer might just be the perfect gift.  If storage is not an issue for her, then consider make-up organizers  which fit nicely inside drawers or on cabinet or cupboard shelves.  This will keep their make-up organized, but without the visual clutter. 

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space by solving the many issues and challenges that create clutter.  Jacquie also offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie is also the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  Visit CastAway the Clutter to get a free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Overhead Garage Storage Organizer

It’s officially Spring time and the perfect time to start clearing out the clutter that has been accumulating over the winter months.  The garage, which is usually the largest room in the home, tends to be the most cluttered.  Cluttered with outdoor equipment, toys and tools, the garage can become so cluttered and chaotic that it no longer fits the car and can be a hazard to walk through.

If your garage needs some organization, begin by assessing the space and don’t forget to look up at the ceiling.  Most garages are high enough to store and organize additional items on specially made overhead ceiling organizer racks or heavy lift storage shelves.  This prime real estate is perfect for storing seasonal items or long term storage and can be easily accessed when stored on a heavy lift garage storage organizer that can hold up to 250lbs! 

Imagine storing your outdoor furniture, holiday containers, lumber, snow equipment and canoe on the ceiling and out of the way.  Organizing your large equipment on the ceiling will help to keep your garage clutter-free and more organized.  Check out the heavy lift storage organizer from Home Storage Warehouse here.

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie is also the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  Visit CastAway the Clutter to get a free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

There are many organization solutions in the marketplace today that can help keep closet clutter under control without spending a fortune on high-end custom closets.  Outfitting your child’s closet with a custom solution may not always be the best idea when they still  have a lot of growing to do.  It might make more sense to use less expensive organization products that can be changed and adjusted as the child grows.

Here are a few ideas that can be incorporated into your child’s existing closet, assuming you do not already have built-in shelving installed:

Hanging organizer shelves for clothing
Storage cubes to corral small toys
Hanging shoe organizer to keep shoes off the floor
Shoe stands, also to keep shoes off the floor
Quality hangers to take better care of clothing

Closet hanging shelf organizer

Magic toy pop-up cube

Closet hanging shoe organizer shelves

Stackable shoe shelf organizer

Childrens' wood hangers

Folding canvas bins

Rolling bins or carts to hold folded clothing or toys can also be helpful.  Find more closet organizers at Home Storage Warehouse.

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie is also the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  Visit CastAway the Clutter to get a free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Does your children’s clothing spend most of the time on the closet floor or hung on the clothing rod?  If your child is too small to reach the rod, you may find that you’re spending way too much time picking up clothes and trying to keep the closet organized.  Many closets consist of a single rod and shelf, but there are many affordable closet organizing solutions to help with eliminating closet clutter. To begin with, store their most frequently worn, or favorite garments at their level so that they can be responsible for putting away their clean laundry and choosing their outfits for the day. 

By incorporating some additional storage options inside the closet, you can also teach your child to be responsible for keeping their closet neat and organized.  Set up an easy organizational system so that they can select their outfits each day, with very little help from you.  One way to do this is to install a hanging pocket shelf organizer. Hanging shelves, which usually include at least 5 pockets for each weekday, are a great way for them to feel grown up because they get to pick out their pre-selected outfit for the day, without help from you.