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Organizing Your Apartment on a Budget
Having an organized apartment can usually lead to a calmer and cleaner apartment life. But what if you don’t have a lot of money to spend to organize your apartment?
If you’re willing to do the heavy lifting and add a dose of ingenuity, you can save money and have an organized pad.
Set a budget
It’s easy to do apartment organization on the cheap, but you’ll need to create an apartment organization budget. First, go through you rooms and assess what kind of equipment you’ll need to keep things orderly once you get it organized. Will you be investing in storage bins? Shelf dividers? Hanging organizers? Do some online shopping and calculate how much money your new accessories are going to cost you.
Depending on the severity of your clutter situation, you might also want to consider hiring a professional to help you get over the clutter hump. Investing in a session with a professional organizer now could help you save money later as the organizer can help you zero in on what you really need. Check the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) to find an organizer in your area.
Declutter
Having fewer items to organize can save you money on organizing tools. Create three piles and sort like your life depended on it! One pile is for keepers — items you must love and use; one is for the garbage or recycling bin; and one is for things to donate or sell. If paper clutter is your poison, invest in an inbox, file folders and a filing cabinet. Now create an intuitive, alphabetical filing system and use it daily to sort mail and all the other paper that gathers in your life.
Repurpose
What have you already got that you could use to aid in your organizing mission? Unused hooks that could line the inside of your closet or the back of your front door? Coffee cans or plastic containers that can hold pencils, pens or other items? What about unused shoe boxes that you can use to store socks, jewelry, scarves or belts? Baby food and mayonnaise jars are perfect for storing nails and screws. Even a CD tower can give you extra storage space. If yours isn’t full of CDs, use it to store books, photographs or other knickknacks.
Now go room by room, putting away your reduced pile of stuff, using the various storage accessories you have gathered. Make sure you’ve got a simple system that you’ll use everyday.
Sounds easy, right? Getting over the hump of initial sorting and organizing is the tough part. With determination and some bright ideas, you can learn to keep your apartment in order — and do it for very little money.
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Readers Poll
Where do you get ideas on how to decorate your apartment?
- The Internet (40%, 8 Votes)
- Magazines (25%, 5 Votes)
- My friends or family (25%, 5 Votes)
- Television (10%, 2 Votes)
Total Voters: 20
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