Organizational Favourites

Organization… an industry that’s taking the world by storm - quite literally! With Pinterest-worthy pantries and closets deserving of their own IG account, it’s no wonder that everyone’s crazy about organizing. I mean, it does make you feel better about your space, especially when you give every item a home, and take note of exactly what you have. To help you out on your organizational journey, here are just a few of my favourites to organize my home!

1. Jute Basket | 2. Spinning Makeup Organizer | 3. Two-Tier Organizer | 4. Lazy Susan Tiered Tower | 5. Banana Fibre Basket | 6. Wire Basket | 7. Magnetic Spice Jars | 8. Glass Bamboo Containers | 9. Lazy Susan Divider | 10. Stackable Makeup Drawers | 11. Box with Lid

Happy organizing!

xo

Linnea

Tips for Decluttering Your Home

There’s no time like the present (or a month like January) to declutter your home for a fresh start. Unless you declutter year-round, your space is probably in need of some organization with a dash of minimalism. For those of you who aren’t so much into getting rid of your possessions or things, I can’t stress enough how important it is to edit your space consistently throughout the year. I could go on and on about the benefits of decluttering, but here are my top 3:

It declutters your brain

Decluttering helps you see your space clearly, both physically and mentally. A clear house means a clear brain, so if you’re feeling like a mental detox, try giving your space a refresh or getting rid of a few items, and you’ll be surprised at how much lighter you feel.

It reminds you of what you have

Going through your things gives you an inventory of what you have on hand, what’s out-of-date, and what you actually need (there’s nothing worse than buying double of something because you didn’t know you already had it)! It also keeps things in order, and maintains “having a place for everything”, which we’ll get into later!

It gives you the opportunity to truly love the items you have

Even though you’re giving away/donating items, decluttering makes you appreciate the things you really love in your home that much more. For the things you don’t love anymore, it’s time to donate them to a thrift store or charity, for someone else to love. To get there, below are my top tips for tackling the beast that is decluttering your home.

Start with something small

To prevent intimidation and discouragement from that pile of junk hiding in your closet, start small. This could be the junk drawer in your kitchen, or maybe the cupboard under your kitchen sink that has way too many cleaning products to count. Starting your decluttering journey with a small “15 minute win,” as Shira Gill calls it, will give you instant satisfaction with that area, and will encourage you to continue these wins in other spaces. To do this, take a “before” photo of your space, take 15 minutes to organize it, and take an “after” photo of the result. The results will shock you! Something that tends to pile up for me? Reusable bags! I always seem to have way more than I need, so I constantly give them away to reduce the clutter.

Whatever you choose to declutter first, go through each item, ask yourself how often you use it, and if you really need it or love it.

Sort into categories

If you’re decluttering your kitchen, take everything out and sort it into categories. There’s no reason for some pots to be in one area, and other pots to be in another. Divide your items into categories to see what you have too many of, then figure out the best way to organize the volume of each category you have. Baskets, lid racks, jars, air tight containers and label makers are your best friends here.

Clean as you go

If you’re already removing everything from a certain area, it’s an opportune time to clean! Deep clean the space, and develop a plan of attack before you put everything back by using baskets, trays or dividers (with labels) to keep similar items organized together and easy to find. Every single item should have a home, so you don’t need to think twice about where it is.

Time for the bigger picture

When you move on to bigger spaces, look at the bigger picture. What’s bothering you about that space? What will make your life easier? Is there a certain area you avoid because you’re not happy with it? Here are items to think about when decluttering:

• Extra furniture pieces that don’t necessarily fit in your space

• Home decor items you no longer love/have too many of

• Extra kitchen gadgets/appliances

• Old clothes

• Shoes you forgot you had

• Old sheets and towels

• Expired goods

Maybe it’s time to get rid of them, to make room for an item that does, or to clear the space entirely. Take time to ask yourself how much you love each piece, and go from there.

Sell the items you no longer love

Now, you may be asking yourself, how do I get rid of these items? Well, start with your high value items. List them for sale on local buy and sells like Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark, or consignment stores (if they offer you a decent amount). People are constantly searching sites for items just like yours (it’s the sustainable way to shop!) so you may as well get some money back and contribute to the recycle culture. If they won’t sell, ask around if anyone wants them, or drop them off to a thrift store like Value Village or Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

If you buy something new, sell something first

With my textbooks, the only way I buy used ones is if I sell my old ones. The same rule should apply to the rest of your home. If you have enough clothing, sell or donate something before you add something new to your closet. If you’re looking to buy a new rug, sell your old one, then use that money to buy a new/pre-loved one. I’ll actually be doing this soon (let me know if you’re interested in my rug)! You’ll house items you love, save money, and sell someone else something they love—a win win situation!

Give yourself a deadline

Despite how long the process may take, don’t get sidetracked by going through photo albums or getting lost in a book. Set timers for each room, and give yourself a deadline so you can race yourself and make it a little more fun. And don’t think you have to do it all at once. Using each day of the week for each room is a realistic approach and gives you a little break in between.

If you have any other decluttering tips, feel free to share them below! Looking forward to making some swap outs in my space this year, and selling items as I go!

Xo

Linnea

How to Organize Your Linen Closet

Apologies for the late post guys… life kind of took over last week, and I’m starting to feel the brunt of all work-study-homework-Dash-clean-cook-minimal-play, but I’m trying my best to keep up with my content! I’m back at it with a peek into my linen closet transformation. To be honest, it’s always been an area of my home that bothered me. It never really felt “organized” even though I’d just spent hours folding and sorting everything in it. Because it’s pretty generous in size, it tends to be a place that always gets cluttered and messy, because not only do I store my linens/towels in there, but I store all my back-up stock/extra skincare/toiletries/essential oils in there too. Thanks to the huge organization kick I’ve been on (I organize my house pretty much every second of my spare time lol), it was finally time to revamp the closet, and reorganize it in a way that didn’t make me cringe every time I opened the door (ok, that’s a little dramatic, but the before and after will show you what I mean). Looking for organization inspo of your own? Follow my tips below on how to organize a cohesive, aesthetically pleasing linen closet!

Before

My linen closet wasn’t absolutely terrible before, but it was pretty bad. I had random decor and extra candles in odd places, lots of extra toiletries/products all over the place, and mounds of towels jam packed into the closet... clearly I don’t need that many towels for one person!

After

Stick to neutrals

To make the closet as aesthetically pleasing as possible, I stuck to neutrals the whole way through. All my sheets are white, and almost all of my towels are white as well (can you tell I have a thing for white?)… they really do brighten up a room so much! Yes, my hot yoga towels are fluorescent highlighter colours, and I have a few guest towels that are patterned, so I used woven baskets to “disguise” them and prevent them from clashing with the rest of the closet.

Purge, purge, purge

As far as the rest of the bright towels, I went through them and purged a whole bunch out of my closet. Because a) they don’t bring me joy… they bring me pretty bad memories actually, and b) I don’t need them. And if both of those things are the case, donate those bad boys asap! You’ll free up so much space, it’s unbelievable. I used my biggest basket for all of my “extra” products that I actually need, and it works great for hiding the clutter-that-was!

Use similar baskets

When styling your shelves, pick out baskets that are not only functional and big enough for you to use, but are cohesive in tone and pattern. That doesn’t mean you have to go out and purchase matching baskets, but look around your home for boxes/baskets you already have, then go to the store to fill in the gaps, keeping your tones and textures of your existing baskets in mind. I already had the baskets at the top of my closet, so I stuck to a woven, beachy vibe when sourcing the others.

Fold with love

Last, but certainly not least is your folding method. In order to create a cohesive space, your folding has to be the same for every sheet, towel or linen you fold! This can be tricky when your sheets and towels are all different sizes, but once you’ve picked a size that fits well in your closet, mimic the fold with your other sheets/towels, and you’re golden! If you have a narrow space, the KonMari folding method will help you out too. But no matter which way you choose to fold, always make sure your crease is facing outward, so you can see every single item you have from one quick glance.

I’ll be shooting more of my home so you can see how I organize just about every space! What space would you guys like to see next? Leave a comment below, and I’ll get to it!

xo

Linnea

How to Organize Your Pantry

Pantries are one of those places in your home that tend to get messy and cluttered, real fast. And because I'm someone who loves to have everything organized with its own place, an organized pantry brings me so much joy. So today, I'm sharing the final result of my organized pantry! And to help you organize yours, I've linked all of the containers and storage solutions I used below. Let's get to it.

Airtight Containers

To start your pantry, you're going to need containers to hold your dry goods, ideally of the same type so they can stack, and give an overall cohesive look. I absolutely love using airtight containers, because they keep everything fresh. And the fact that they're labeled and clear helps me see what I have stock of, what I'm low on, and what I use the most! I have containers that are easy to replace from my local supermarket, so if I happen to need another one in a specific size, I can always buy extra. I also love the fact that these containers are "reversible" because they’re identical from front to back, so if I run out of a certain product, but have another product I need to store, I can just clean out the container, put a new label on the other side, and voila! That way I don’t have to constantly wipe the white marker off.

Mason Jars

When the airtight containers are a little to big for what you need to store, mason jars work just as great! You can easily see what's inside of each jar, what you're running out of, and labelling them couldn't be easier. I love keeping all my smoothie items easily accessible and in close proximity to each other, because I use them pretty much everyday! I placed the other items that aren’t used frequently higher up the cabinet, and the layout has been working out great.

What to Store

As far as what you want to store in your pantry goes, think about the dry goods you use on a regular basis, and what products are easy to store in the clear containers. I’ve got everything from different types of flour and sugar, to gluten free pastas, cricket protein powder and all the superfood essentials! For everything that doesn’t fit in my pantry cabinet, I store it in my corner under-counter lazy Susan. That’s where I store all my nut butters, spice overflow, and other miscellaneous pantry items. 

Magnetic Spice Jars

A huge part of this transformation was transferring my spices into uniform magnetic jars that now live on my fridge. I have sooo many spices, and originally, I thought turn tables inside my pantry would work well for me, but noooo. I can't even count the amount of times my spices would fall off of them when I was looking for something, smashing onto my counter, glass and spices everywhere! And trust me, my friends can attest to this. My new magnetic spice jars are soo handy, and they look really good, too. I bought an amazing retro label maker, and the spices are now labelled to perfection, in all their retro glory.

Label Maker

Ok, now what makes my spice jars so damn special is definitely my label maker. Call me a crazy old lady but I am so obsessed with this thing, I can't stop labelling everything! I highly recommend investing in one of these bad boys, so your labels are all identical, and you can change what you store in each jar once it's finished, just rip the old label off! Eazy peazy lemon sqeezy.

Shop my pantry storage

Airtight Containers | Chalk Labels & Pen | Magnetic Spice Jars | Label Maker | Label Tape | Mason Jars 

 What would you like to see organized next? Let me know below! 

xo

Linnea