Getting kids to do chores is actually so much more than just getting much needed help. In fact, chores are early life lessons that can later develop into important life skills. But since chores are considered arduous and unpleasant by default, parents need to figure out ways to make them fun and enjoyable so that kids become more eager to do their part.

You may argue that you can never have too many books, but if we are being honest- that’s just not true.

In fact, books are one of those items that have a way of collecting quietly around the home. Sometimes they take up space covertly, and others start bulging your bookshelves openly. The stacks of books surrounding your home may well indicate that you’re a book hoarder, but don’t worry since you’re not alone.

Your love of books may prevent you from wanting to see them go to waste, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Moving, daunting as it may seem, is the perfect time to declutter because it’s also one of the only times you will get your hands on everything that you own.

As moving day draws near, and you start to sort out your belongings, try answering questions like “Why do I have this item?” “What does it say about me?” or “Is this really going to add any value to my life?” Answering these simple but often ignored questions will help you figure out what you need to keep and what to get rid of.

Here is a quick list of items that you can safely chuck out and prevent the hassle of packing unnecessary stuff:

For many of us, the coming of spring means taking out those cleaning supplies and getting busy with decluttering, reorganizing, scrubbing, polishing and indulging in some pure and simple deep cleaning. In other words, doing a deep detox of your home.  

However, the trick here is not just to get rid of the old stuff only to replace it with the new, but to keep it clean all year long. If you can do that, you will find that keeping things organized will save you time in your day-to-day routine, make life so much easier and uplift your mood every time you come home to a clean house.

How do you do that- let’s help you out with some ideas to get you started:

In many households, springtime is synonymous with cleaning, especially after all the pollen has stopped falling. Spring is the perfect time to freshen up the whole house and to dust away the cobwebs of winter.

Earth Day is fast approaching. It’s a day to not only participate in activities that better our local environments but also to reflect on our own habits and how they affect the environment.

As you might imagine, there are many things we all do at home that aren’t so earth-friendly. We throw away things that can be recycled, buy products with tons of plastic, and maybe take showers that are a bit too long.

To many, a pantry is a necessary evil. We have to have a place to store our dry goods. The bad news is that a pantry can easily get out of hand.

While a cluttered pantry doesn’t seem that bad, having a messy pantry can lead you to spend more money, waste more food, and make fewer healthy choices.

When your pantry is organized, you feel better about cooking and know exactly what you have on hand.

Have you ever noticed how often people say “I wish I had more time in the day?” It’s a chronic desire that plagues the vast majority of the population. We wish we had more time to finish work tasks, chores, spend time with our loved ones, do something that relaxes us. The list goes on and on.

Instead of feeling like you’re constantly scrambling for time, adopt some of these tactics to help you get more time out of your day.

Springtime is the hot season for selling a home. That’s because everything’s starting to bloom, there are more daylight hours to flood homes with natural light, and it’s a bit warmer.

There are several things you might need to do before putting your home on the market - renovate the kitchen and bathrooms, paint the bedrooms in more “sellable” colors, and patch up any damage that has occurred over the years. In addition to sprucing up your home, you’ll also want to stage it. Staging your home helps potential buyers imagine living in your house. The point is to provide enough of a lived-in feel without overwhelming a buyer with all of your personal things.

At some point in our lives, we’ve all been guilty of setting a goal (typically a New Year’s resolution) that we started towards in earnest but eventually tapered off doing. An incredibly popular New Year’s resolution is to vow to work out more but by this time every year, many people have abandoned the effort. Another example is when people want to be more productive but find they’ve slipped back into their old habits.

Three day weekends don’t come around that often. We get even fewer three day weekends where we don’t need to celebrate a holiday like the Fourth of July or Thanksgiving.

With President’s Day soon upon us, many of us are wondering what we’ll do with out time. Travel, have a party, have a staycation. President’s Day weekend is actually the perfect time to get a home project done that’s been on your list for ages.

If you find yourself letting 2018’s resolutions fall by the wayside because of a lack of planning or accountability, check out these planners to help you stay organized. Sometimes all you need is a written goal to help you stay accountable.

Eighty percent of New Year’s Resolutions fail by February. That’s a discouraging statistic to hear on the eve of 2018. The question is why are we so terrible at keeping our resolutions? Did we set our goals too high? Do we not have enough willpower?

The answer is a bit of both. We tend to set incredibly lofty goals to be met at an undetermined date and then we lose the will do complete them a few months into the new year. As we resume our daily routines of work, taking care of the kids, cleaning the house, etc., it’s easy to push New Year’s resolutions aside.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever hastily thrown stuff into your guest bedroom right before guests suddenly came over.

Now raise your hand if you kept doing that and your guest bedroom turned into a black hole of clutter.

Christmas time can be a nightmare for families who are trying to cut down on clutter. Along with tons of decorations, Christmas also brings many gifts into your home. Unfortunately, you’ll likely receive many gifts you won’t use or that add to the clutter in your home. If you and your family are trying to reduce the amount of clutter in your house but still need to give gifts this year, check out our suggestions for clutter-free gifts.

Family Vacation

Instead of having to find a gift for each person in your family, how about treating everyone to a vacation at Christmas? We’ve heard of one tradition a family started where the family decided they had too much stuff. Instead of giving gifts, they pack up their bags each year, go to a new place, and only exchange the gift of a book. Each person receives one book and they spend Christmas Eve reading around the tree.

The holidays are busy for everyone. Hosting holiday parties, family coming to stay, and decorating cookies are all on the docket.

With so many events taking place in the home, you want to make sure your house looks great for the holidays. At the same time, you don’t want to spend so much time decorating that it detracts from time with your family and friends.

In this article, we’ve laid out ten tips to help you save time decorating your home so you can spend time on the things that matter.

The holiday period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the most important time of year for many American families. It’s the time of year when loved ones travel from all over the country (and sometimes all over the world) to be at home.

It’s also a period when Americans spend large amounts on entertaining, decorations, and gifts. In fact, Americans spend about $3.19 TRILLION at retail stores for Christmas.

Inevitably, many of us end up with too many holiday decorations and gifts than we know what to do with, and it can be difficult to organize those items. In this article, we’ll provide some tips to help you get ready and keep your home organized for the holiday season.

Autumn brings a clean, crisp feeling to the air and anticipation for….Halloween! Yes! The kids are getting excited about what they’re going to be for Halloween, how much candy they’ll get while Trick or Treating, and how many frights they’ll get that night.

To match their excitement, you’ll decorate your front yard with ghouls, goblins, and scary Jack O’ Lanterns. You want to show off your holiday spirit for the Trick or Treaters!

But, when you get to your decorations box, you realize it’s a mess. There is more money spent on Halloween than any other non-gift giving holiday. That's a LOT of stuff! This Halloween, take control of organizing your Halloween decorations with these tips.

When you move into a new home you always seem to have the best intentions of keeping your pantry and kitchen cabinets organized. And yet, if you are like most of our clients, you rarely ever stick to that commitment.

Call it a human flaw, but our kitchen cabinets become catch-all collectors for appliances we think we’ll use, ingredients we think we’ll love, and bakeware that we only use once every five years.

When you realize your cabinets have just gotten too crazy and too difficult to see through, it’s time to declutter your kitchen cabinets. When you are ready to take on this task we highly suggest breaking it into several days or else you’ll burn out. For example, tackle half the shelves in your pantry one day and do the other half the next. Decide on which cabinets to go through based on how big they are and how many items they contain.

In this article, we’ll lay out a plan you can follow for each cabinet in your kitchen so you’re left with beautifully organized cabinets you’ll want to maintain forever.

Every spring and fall we shudder at the idea of rotating clothes in and out of our closets. Sometimes it seems like it’s a days-long task and you wonder if it would just be easier to leave all your clothes in the closet all year round. 

However, most of us must rotate seasonal clothes in and out because we don’t have enough closet space. 

We’ve compiled a list of tips and tools to help you get through your bi-annual closet rotation.