Do you find that this time of year you just have an itch to clean, organize and declutter? Maybe it’s just me as I am five months pregnant and nesting. I just find after Christmas there is just so much stuff that needs to get re-organized and find new homes, and sometimes it can get a little overwhelming.

I like to think my house is fairly well organized and tidy but seriously the last two weeks I have just been on a rampage purging, tidying, and reorganizing. I finally have cupboards in my laundry room/bathroom, and am so excited to put linens and excess stuff that I have been moving around my basement for a year AWAY!

Also making room for a second baby coming has been in the works, going through clothes, getting rid of extra blankets and things I never used when we had our first child, that has sat in the closet for 22 months, the list of TO DO's has been growing exponentially.

My standing joke is that people should move every five years because that forces them to get rid of things that they haven’t used. We have lived in our home for 3 years and I am already feeling like that.

So here are a few tips and organization ideas that may help you simplify your home a little bit.

Start Small!
It can get overwhelming planning to do a big re organization project, so pick 1 cupboard, 1 drawer, or the medicine cabinet. Throw out any outdated prescriptions, vitamins, medicine.... any Tupperware that doesn’t have a lid or ones that don’t seal properly.... food that is expired.... if you get rid of anything that you don’t need then you have less to have to organize.

Make a list!
Go room by room, make a list of things you want to go through, clothes, dvds, kitchen cupboard... then you can feel accomplished and cross it off as you get a chance to do it!

Do a little every day!
Everyone has an opinion on this, if you have lots of free time then go room by room, but if you are like me, I rarely have 20 minutes to myself a day, between appointments, phone calls, texts, and then trying to get dinner and dishes done, quality time with my daughter and husband before bath and bedtime, then set 10 minutes to go through one drawer and that’s it! If you will try to pick a day to do it, then that day may never come.... I’m currently trying to go through the clothes from the last 22 months of our daughters to find out what was gender neutral and can be reused for our son who will be here at the end of May, so Sunday afternoon I took two totes and as I was sitting on the floor playing with my daughter I was able to go through them and sort out things that our son will be able to wear. Not a big job but, a little at a time.

Clothes will be the hardest!

If you are like me at all you have quite the wardrobe, however you probably only wear half of it but feel bad getting rid of things that you may have only worn once or were gifts. I was watching a document on Netlfix on Marie Kondo - author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing about keeping things that only bring you joy, which if you haven’t worn it in six months or you’re hoping to get into that size, guess what… It does not bring you joy.... if it brought you joy you would wear it, if it doesn’t fit it doesn’t make you feel good when you try it on. So donate it, take it to a consignment store, give it to a friend who would appreciate it!

Treat yourself!
Now that you have thinned out what you have, figure out what you need to help solve your storage problems. Do you need some shelves to put books on? Do you need some baskets to put small trinkets in? Buy them, put the items you are keeping in their new home, and watch the clutter disappear.

Hope these tips help, and remember an organized home, is a SELLABLE HOME!

Happy New Year to all! Well as it is a new year, I thought I would try something new.....writing a blog!

Currently you can see the blog posts when I sell something, or list something, but I thought it would be helpful to see some real estate stats, home selling and buying tips, home organization and cleaning ideas, and also what a day in the life of a REALTOR/WIFE/MOM looks like! So please bare with me, as I am going to try to do this on a weekly basis! Keep an eye out next week for my first "real" post!!