Spring Cleaning & Organization

Making your house a home includes creating an environment in which you thrive. Use a bit of The Family Coach Environmental Engineering in order to make your house a home.

Look at your decor, is it drab and in need of a "Lift-Me-Up"?

Change the seating arrangement in your great room, move plants from one room to the next, take a few pictures off the walls and change them out with ones you have in your garage. Throw away your dust collecting knick-knacks and clean the visual palate in your home. Buy some flowers and place them on your kitchen counter and in each bathroom. Fresh flowers say "Welcome."

Don't wait, dive in today!

If you spend just 15-30 minutes a day for one week re-engineering your home, by next weekend, you're home will have had an "environment-lift" and you and your family will feel more energy for the Summer ahead.

Use These Family Coach Solutions to bring the environmental energy back into your home.

MAKE A PLAN:

 Make a list of areas you want to work on in priority order
 Start with the areas that bother you the most
 Write down exactly what you'd like to be better about the specific room
 List major areas of change for each room
 Draw out placement of large items
 Do a quick survey of storage items that you may wish to bring into your environment
 Write down which room yu'll work on which day
 Take note of every 15 minute block you work to re-engineer your home (you'll be amazed at what you can do!)
 Finish one project before starting another

MOTIVATE YOURSELF:

 Get help: Friend, Family, Neighbors, your kids
 Make it a family game or activity, assign one room to each kid, play "Trading Spaces"
 Designate family relationship rewards - When we finish a room we will go for a bike ride, or paint a picture or have a BAR-B-Q

MAKE A HOME FOR SMALL ITEMS:

 Make a home for every little thing in your house
 Start small- a cabinet, a drawer, a shelf
 Use a label machine on everything
 Separate items
• Give away/ donate / Sell in a yard sale
• Can help with storage around the house
• No use/ trash
• Recycle
• Doesn’t be long here
• Repair
 Don’t put it down, Put it away!
 Keep no more than one junk drawer

ENGINEER VERTICALLY AND HORIZONTALLY:

 Use a rod, hanger or hook
 Use existing shelves
 Use a bookcase
 Create a files
• Personal papers
• Financial
• Home warranties
• Bank statements
• Tax papers
• School papers
• Divide content by person and year
 Divide household categories
 Store items hidden on highest pot shelves
 Store items under the bed

HARD TO THROW IT AWAY? ASK YOURSELF:

 When did I use this last?
 When will I use it again?
 Do I really need more then one of certain items?
 Do I know someone who will get better use out of it?
 Does it work? Is it worth repairing?
 Does it fit RIGHT NOW?
 If I am going to keep, does it belong where I found it?
 How hard would it be to replace it in the future if needed it?

GREEN ORGANIZING ON A BUDGET:

 Use baby food jars for nuts, screws, paper clips, loose change, etc.
 Use film canisters for pins, buttons, tacks, etc.
 Use old Tupper Wear
 Use extra silverware trays
 Use hooks
 Use tape
 Use old shoe boxes
 Use clean pasta sauce jars
 Use hat boxes
 Use jewelry boxes
 Line bathroom drawers with hand towels for easy clean-up

Print this out, send it to a friend, add more tips in the comment section of The Family Coach Blog, 'cause we're all in this together.