Organizing. Decluttering. Simplifying. Purging.
With so much time at home over the last year, have you wished for less “stuff?” Have you longed for a fairy to pop in while you’re sleeping and organize your life? For many of us, it’s an overwhelming task.
Luckily, people are walking among us who thrive on this. Dozens of them. Hundreds. Thousands, perhaps. And they are willing to share their tips and tricks with the rest of us! Everything from paper to clothes to time to finances. Check out the amazing collection of helpful hints gathered from across City Mom Collective’s network of about 80 “Sister Sites.”
Thank you to all the moms who took the time to write down their secrets. You’re helping the rest of us out!
Save this story, so you can tackle more projects later. Share it with friends — it will be a gift that can make their lives less stressful and more meaningful. When we work together, we create healthier homes, stronger communities and a more beautiful world.
Cleaning
A Clean House is a Happy House || “Moving from a teeny tiny one bedroom apartment to a larger living space showed me quickly just how much this upgrade was going to cost me in my cleaning time.”
Spring Cleaning: Helpful Hacks for Busy Moms || “It’s not easy, but it feels so good. For me, it’s like a fresh start — a way to feel more inspired and productive in my everyday life.”
Spring Cleaning Guide || “We’ve rounded up five of our favorite posts on cleaning and organizing to help motivate you to get organized.”
Organizing
Home Organizing Tips for Your Spring Cleaning || “As a professional organizer, I have discovered a lot of neat (pun intended) tricks and tools to help me organize my space. Follow me as I bring you into my home… in this video series.”
I Like Big Pots and I Cannot Lie: 3 Tips for Organizing Cookware || “It’s not the pandemic that makes me feel like a prisoner at home. It’s kitchen clutter, and the best way to confront it is to start by organizing cookware.”
Paper vs. Electronic Planner: Pick a Side || “Planning excites me. Organization brings me peace. I love a schedule with a schedule. The more details the better.”
10 Common Organizing Mistakes || “Many people are very excited to get their homes in order but sometimes there are little things along the way that trip them up. Below are some of the most common organizing mistakes.”
Pandemic Snacking: How to Restore Order in the Kitchen || “I’ll be the first to admit: my family’s eating habits are weird. Then quarantine hit. Overnight, our eating habits went from quirky to savage. Here are some ways we’ve put ourselves back on track.”
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How To Organize Your Home When You’re Stuck in It || “Organizing is a way to control what we can control, and that helps to lighten the load of uncertainty that swirls around us.”
The Ziploc: Confessions of an Over-Organizer || “Hi, I’m Sandra and I’m the crazy Ziploc lady, but I love them and I’m here for it. They’re inexpensive and reusable over and over (and over).”
Creating a Better Wardrobe for Kids: Part 1 || “I recently created a kid-friendly closet and capsule wardrobe for my four-year-old. It’s not because I’m trying to be trendy. It’s because I no longer had the patience to deal with dressing my four-year-old.”
Creating a Better Wardrobe for Kids: Part 2 || “In the second part of this series, I’m going to talk about how I created a smaller, capsule-style wardrobe for my 4-year old.”
5 Ways to Organize Your Home While Virtual Learning || “As if we didn’t already have enough on our plates, COVID came in like an unwelcome house guest, kicked up his feet, and made our lives exponentially harder…”
Simplifying
100 Hacks To Simplify Your Life || “Mom life is the best life! But, let’s face it. Some days it can be chaotic, and any tips + tricks to help simplify our days are always welcome.”
Meal Planning Made Easy || “If you have searched endlessly for sample meal plans online but haven’t found one that suits you, my strategy might help you.”
Did You Hear the One About… I’m Overwhelmed by My Covid Home Life || “It’s essential that I maintain my own center and equilibrium. For me, this means getting outside for walks. Keeping my own space clean and organized. Creating in some way every day.”
Morning Routine: Four Tips to Set Your Family Up For Success || “Mornings can be tough. Mornings are not my friends. But with two working parents and two toddlers, we have learned how to make mornings work for us.”
What to Keep? Lessons Learned at My Momma’s House || “It was heartwarming to find books my mom read to me as a child. Unfortunately, the dance costumes and children’s books did not withstand the attic environment due to a lack of proper storage. ”
5 Ways To Simplify Your Life || “After I got my actual home in order, I began to find ways to make our day to day activities easier. So here are the top five ways I’ve learned to simplify my life and maintain it.”
Sparking Joy Through Your Piles of Crap with the KonMari Method || “If it gives you no emotion or doesn’t spark joy, get rid of it. Sometimes we hold onto those shirts that spark a memory, but you don’t really like wearing it.”
Setting Goals and Expectations for the Year Ahead || “This year, I want to change a lot of things and really make an impact. I made a list of short-term and long-term goals that I want to accomplish, both personally and professionally.”
Decluttering
Minimizing the Mess || “I’m going to share a few strategies that work for me when it comes to minimizing the mess associated with my daughter.”
5 Steps To Declutter Toys || ” I was spending too much time on toys – putting them away, cleaning them, organizing them, not to mention stepping on them as I walked through our home.”
Declutter Your Home by Getting Rid of These 50 Things || “When your goal is to pull a sippy cup out of the cupboard without causing an avalanche, that’s probably a good sign something’s gotta go!”
Not My Toy Story: Decluttering and Decoding Childhood Toys and Treasures || “Despite my best efforts to declutter, I still hold on. After all, I could be sitting on a goldmine. I just know that our WALL-E robot and Furbies will become classics.”
Money
Non-Extreme Couponing: Simple Ways to Save || “What if I told you there are simple ways to practice NON-EXTREME COUPONING? (If that’s not a thing, we are making it a thing NOW!)”
My “In Case I Die” Binder: Important (and Neurotic) Info || “I compiled a binder of what I think is all of the information my husband would need if I were suddenly gone.”
Outsourcing
Outsource Like a Mother || “What if there was a way to outsource much of the above in a way that helps you in the ways you need it, and helps someone else at the same time? A win-win, you could say.”
DIY
Laundry Room Makeover by Co Springs Mom Collective || “It sounds silly to be so excited about a laundry room, but having a space that actually makes doing laundry more efficient, and is pretty to look at, really has made it less of a chore.”
