It’s an episode of the Hunger Games out there, y’all. Panic is at an all-time high; hand sanitizer, toilet paper and paper towels are sold out due to panic from the coronavirus. Our survival skills are being put to the test. I saw a 4 pack of Lysol on amazon selling for $60 bucks and considered purchasing. Thank goodness I was able to draw on one of my DIY survival skills and mixed a bit of vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and water in a spray bottle that is a good substitute to Lysol and it costs less than a buck!

Since most of us are stuck at home (or should be), how about we take full advantage of spending more time in our personal space. While most of us are happy to escape work given the spread of the Coronavirus, being home in a cluttered space can be a jail sentence. We here at Neat Rules have some tips to put your mind at ease. We have put together this fun list of activities to help you have a little fun organizing your home while on lockdown. We can’t control what’s going on in these streets, but we can create some calm in our homes by getting organized.

Even if you don’t know how to organize this list will get you started. One rule – START SMALL as organizing can be overwhelming if you do more than what you can manage. Next, I want you to have FUN, so turn on your favorite music, put on comfortable clothes, get some wine or tea to relax and have high energy. You should set the mood to have fun.

Before you get started, let’s go over the RULES you must take while tackling any organizing tasks.

1. Take everything out of the space you’re organizing, and we mean every little thing.
2. Create categories by grouping like items together so you know how much you have.
3.  Pare down your items to essentials and things that you love. Get rid of anything you don’t need – quality over quantity. 

Day 1 – UPDATE UNDER YOUR KITCHEN SINK

With all that bleach and Lysol that you just purchased to combat the coronavirus let’s make sure we can store our supplies in an easy and assessable space. Take everything out, group similar items and use bins and turntables to organize this area.

Day 2 – THE HEALTHY FRIDGE

 Let’s face it, we might be eating more than we are working these days so let’s update our fridge so we can get to things more easily. If you have kids this is a good time to create easy sections where they can grab their own snacks but hold up, we don’t want to give them too much freedom as we are not sure how long this coronavirus will last and if you are like me all my corona groceries are already finished.

  To start, let’s do a 20 minute sweep of the fridge and get rid of items not needed. 

Fridge

• expired condiments
• stale leftovers, anything really old and unlikely to be used
• anything you have duplicates of, anything you tried and didn’t like

Freezer

• anything freezer burned
• anything really old and unlikely to be used or anything you have duplicates of

Group the items in categories and wipe down the products and shelves. Product category includes (diary, juice, vegetables, fruits, condiments, kids, snacks etc.) Each category should have their own bin and section in the fridge. Clear bins and turntables are a favorite.

Day 3 – TOSS FROM THE PANTRY

If you have not organized your pantry in years this can be a huge task to undertake. Check everything in the pantry and toss anything that is old or expired so you can have more room. This will give you a chance to see the space and decide at a later date how to organize your shelves.

PANTRY

• expired condiments
• unneeded canned goods, old, stale food
• anything you have duplicates of
• anything you tried and didn’t like

Day 4- FROM JUNK DRAWERS to JOY DRAWERS

Now is a good time to clear out that junk drawer and transform it in a joy drawer. Take everything out, toss all the old papers, unused chargers/ electronics, stationery, etc. and group all the items. Order a junk drawer organizer from amazon for less than $13 or use small shoe boxes or electronic boxes to create smaller sections in your drawer. The place where I normally find junk drawers are in the bedroom chest, dresser or a kitchen drawer.

Day 5 – GET MORE CLOSET REAL ESTATE SPACE 

Just like the pantry tackling the closet is a huge task. Instead of taking everything out , I want you to look in your closet and take out items you don’t need so you can create more space.  You can also focus on one category of items that you know you have too much of like t-shirts and purge those. If you are guilty, now is a good time to take up all the items sitting on the chair in your bedroom and put them away. You know that chair that holds all the not so dirty laundry but too dirty for the drawer.

Day 6 – GET FIRST AIDE READY

There is never a good time to stock up on your meds like now to build up our immune system. Check every medication date, toss expired meds and take stock of what you have and what you will need. Store items in labeled bins or turntables. A decluttered space for your meds will make you feel secure knowing your family can recover in case of an emergency. Take your vitamins y’all! 

Day 7 – CLEAR THE CLUTTER IN YOUR PURSE

We walk around with our purse/wallet everyday but when was the last time we cleaned it out? Toss all the trash (old receipts, business cards you don’t need, wrappers, papers, old credit cards, store cards etc) and use clear bags to put things in categories like body and face products. Don’t be sucked in the sunken place at the bottom of your bag when looking for items. Stay woke!

Day 8 – GET RID OF PAPER FROM THE DINING ROOM TABLE

The dining room table and kitchen table has become a dumping ground just like the chair in our rooms. Today I want you to clear all the papers and items that doesn’t belong on the table. Shred old mail and receipts and toss old magazines, postcards, coupons and any paper items that you don’t need or haven’t touched recently.

Day 9 – COLOR CODE YOUR PHONE

This is the most beautiful thing you can do to your phone and the good thing is, you can do if from the comfort of your couch while watching tv. To get started, delete apps you don’t use, select a plain background and group all the apps with the same color in folders. Within each folder select an emoji with the same color to use at the top. You already know the color for each app so don’t worry about not being able to find what you need. Test yourself, what is the color of your banking app? See you already know!

Day 10 – CLEAR YOUR INBOX

If you have a cluttered inbox with thousands of emails an easy way to reduce your emails in minutes is to select what you want to keep and not what you want to delete. Press the “select all” button in your emails and UNCHECK the ones you want to keep instead of selecting the ones you want to delete. It’s a simple switch but it makes a world of a difference with how quickly you can go through your inbox. Also don’t just delete emails but unsubscribe from email lists you don’t need. Then set up folders to group items (bills, taxes, family etc). Once this is done set a time each day to clear your emails.

NOW THAT YOU ARE DONE, GIVE YOURSELF A TREAT!

You deserve it! Now you can relax at home in calm and peace and apply this knowledge to larger projects.

Don’t forget we offer a Virtual DIY service and RIGHT NOW….it’s $50 off!

The service is conducted 100% online through email. A complete set of instructions will be emailed to you and suggested shopping list for products to purchase. I will check in frequently to ensure that you stay on track and achieve your goals.