InI spent almost my entire Monday cleaning and redecorating my room. It doesn't sound like fun does it? However it was oddly stress relieving. Tips to cleaning? Decorating and organization hacks? Oh yeah, I've got loads!
1. Actually do it
I have been saying I am going to deep clean my room since I came home from school. It's been a month but it's done. Why? I made myself do it. Pick a day, it can be any day you want, sit down, and clean.
2. Start small
Do not, I repeat do not, look at it as a whole. You will go insane. Start in one area and work your way around your room. I started in my closet because I needed to give some things away. After that I moved to the dresser, vanity, and so it. It makes it not seem so crazy and each time you finish an area its a little push to keep you going.
3. Make a playlist
Make a playlist full of happy upbeat songs to play while you clean. The time will pass faster and you can enjoy jamming out to some of your favorite songs.
4. Dust
It is gross and I hate doing it but in the long run its going to be so worth it.
5. Move it around
Lets be real here, if you're deep cleaning your room it had probably been in that exact same set up for at least a year maybe more. Move things around. It gives you a new vibe and new start.
6. Decorate
Re-decorate! No you don't have to buy all new things but as you're cleaning you're going to find things you forgot you had. USE IT! I found an old glass coffee jar and now thats on my dresser holding my spare change from tips, an old glass jar I found is now holding shells I picked up on the beach when I was younger and is acting as a simple decoration, I even found some stickers left over from the January Ipsy box I got and turned them into a cute motivational painting (Check that out below!).
7. Use trash in a new way
Technically this is under decorating but its also under organization, which I am getting to next, so I will just put it in the middle! Last year my mom, grandmother, and I went to New York. I did lots of shopping and being the pack-rat that I am I did not want to part with the shopping bags I had gotten from stores like Dylan's Candy Bar, Tiffany & Co., and Bloomingdales so I brought them home but what was I going to do with them? I had no clue at the time but now they are decorations in my room holding various things that I didn't have a place for and didn't need out cluttering my room.
8. Organize
I gave you one of my favorite ways to organize above but I also love having everything in a place of its own. I am a big fan of using decorative coffee cups or even mason jars to hold the little things around your room. As for inside my drawers I use whatever I think will work. My go-to makeup? It's an an old pencil case, the plastic kind you use in pre-school, yep one of those.
9. Color code
This may seem crazy and technically it was one of the first things I did because I color code my closet. The way I do it is by type (tank top, v-neck, cardigan, etc) and then by color (white, black, grey first, followed by ROY G BIV).
10. Bookcases
I love my bookcase but it made my room look super cluttered because I had so many books on it. I took it all off and kept the top shelf for novels I had to read for school, the second shelf for books I have finished that are not part of a series (those are on a shelf in my closet), the third for books I have not read yet, and the fourth is all of education and reference books. After that shelfs i, 2, and 3 had some room to spare. I found a small storage tin and keep it on the third with all of my extra planner supplies so they are at easy reach, the second has my current book, current journal, and a coaster for my drinks, the first has a chess decoration piece as well as a few things I like to keep by my bed like lotion and my glasses and a flashlight. It looks great, its organized, and it is ten times more functional.
11. Peg boards
Behind my door, since my door is typically closed, I have a huge peg board. I use this to hang up memories with friends from prom, plays, concerts, there is even a dollar bill folded into a bow tie from a customer at work on there. Every now and again I take it down and re-do the whole board and put the older things away in a keep sake box and start over with new memories. Its nice to be able to see that every night before I go to bed and every morning when I wake up.
12. The most important thing....
MAKE IT YOUR OWN AND BE TRUE TO YOUR STYLE
The most important thing you can do to clean and organize is make sure its something you like and will remember and keep up with. If you don't like it or it is not something helpful then don't do it because it's just eating up your time.
