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Horray! I’ts springtime. Now that days are longer and temperatures are finally warming up, you may be inspired to start clearing your home of stagnant winter energy.

At this time of year, the home’s entryway is clogged with seasonal clothing & footwear, junk-mail, kids’ backpacks, schoolwork, umbrellas and more.

By first clearing this area, you’ll see quick progress and be encouraged to clear clutter in the rest of the home.

The easiest way to deal with overwhelm is to break things down into manageable steps. Here’s a quick way to clear space, prepare for spring & easily access clean winter clothing when needed next Fall.

First, you’ll need a few supplies: some clear plastic bins & plastic bags: clear, recycling, trash

Clothing: sort items into designated plastic bags: dryclean, launder/handwash, maintain/fix, donate, recycle. Follow through with appropriate action. Afterward, hang or bin cleaned items in basement/guestroom/entry closet as space allows. For kids’ coats, place them into labelled bins, stack & put away.

Footwear: Put footwear to be cleaned into a large plastic bin. After dirt and salt stains are removed (use a solution of 1:1 vinegar:water, dab stains with cotton pad) examine each pair, note its condition (worn-out/outgrown/not waterproof) and decide on next action: keep/donate/discard. Separate winter footwear into bins for each family member and store. Switch out seasonal footwear.

Accessories: most entryway clutter consists of items that don’t have a ‘home’, so they end up on the floor. If your entryway doesn’t have a working system in place, consider wall hooks for kids’ coats and bags, labelled bins for scarves, hats & mitts, umbrellas. Things should stay tidier next winter. But for now, as moths are attracted to unwashed clothing it’s important to clean accessories properly before storing away. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/garden/28fix.html), . After cleaning, create lidded bins for each family member’s accessories, place lavender pouches between layers and stack bins in a clean, dry place.

Paper CLutter: Sort and make stacks for each member of the household. Recycle irrelevant papers, make note of important dates and move the remainder to its appropriate location (bills/notices/personal).

There you have it. Your entryway is ready for spring. A beautiful springtime flower bouquet will enliven your entry space and remind you that winter is over!

 

Recently, I had the exhilarating opportunity to volunteer my time to a worthwhile cause. I joined about a dozen other professional organizers from the Toronto chapter of Professional Organizers in Canada (POC) in a full day session of unpacking, sorting, and hanging new and gently used donated clothing items at New Circles’ spacious new facility in North York.

New Circles is a non-profit agency that has been in operation since 2005. The organization started small with only 2 volunteers, but quickly expanded to fill the service needs of more and more newcomer families in the Flemingdon Park area facing complex social and economic challenges.

Currently, the agency serves between 100-120 people each day or 150 families per week. That’s an overall population of 60,000 people.

You can imagine that with clients in such great numbers relying on their services, a large space is required to store and process donated clothing and accessories. The agency’s bright, freshly renovated warehouse space located at 161 Bartley Drive fits the bill beautifully and is ready to open it’s doors to both clients relying on services and volunteers who support them.

Each day, between 10-12 racks of clothing are distributed, so donations are replenished often.

Remember that little black dress you bought last year but just never ended up wearing? Or how about those snowpants your son grew out of after a month? Items like these would benefit a client of New Circles.

For more information about the agency and their current requirements, please visit http://newcircles.ca