Lose ten pounds in a day! Sounds like clickbait, but in reality a few hours spent organizing your closets and drawers will leave your house, body and soul feeling lighter. Cleaning does not have to be a lonely solo task. Kids of almost any age can be included in sorting, storing and cleaning. Cue a good playlist and, yes, cleaning can be fun. The key is to start with the right tools and a plan.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Label Makers
Invest in a portable label maker. Brother makes versions with colors and fancy fonts. Nimbot is simple and works right off your phone. Labeling drawers, bins and cords is a great way to find things fast and make organization last. Nimbot and Brother label makers start at $30.
Tie It Up
Grouping like items is key. Gather chip clips, clothes pins and rubber bands for inexpensive ties. Or order magnetic wraps that can tie up cords or other various items. A dozen typically cost $10, but stock up, as you will find a myriad of uses for them.
Pantry Wonder
Seeing what’s in your cabinets, refrigerator and pantry is a game changer. Lazy Susans and tiered plastic shelves are a great way to make sure things don’t get dusty and hidden in a corner.
A pantry should be reviewed seasonally for expired items as well as the things you no longer use. Every May, the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive comes to your Greenwich mailbox. Your postal carrier will pick up donated non-perishable food from your mailbox and donate it to our local food pantry, Neighbor to Neighbor. Look for dates but it’s usually the second Saturday of May.
Light It Up
Even if you built your dream house yesterday, eventually you will find that one cabinet, pantry or corner that’s dark. Inexpensive rechargeable LED lights are easy to install anywhere. Starting at $19, these lights can be adjusted in brightness, light and warmth, and set for motion so they only come on when a pantry or cabinet door is opened. A magnetic strip holds them in place for easy installation and charging.
Drawer Dividers
Dividers are an excellent tool for a quick and easy drawer makeover. From plastic to wooden, adjustable dividers start at $9. Arguably better than built-ins, they can be changed and adjusted for your needs.
OXO Good Grips Expandable Drawer Divider, Container Store
Bedding Bands
For a simple linen closet makeover, go with large elastic bands to wrap sheets, comforters and bedding. Starting at $5 and available in different colors and sizes, these bands wrap around bedding to create a quick and easy system to group items by bed size. If you have a closet full of crisp white sheets, no matter how you intend to keep all the twins separated from the queen sheets, things get mixed up. These bands are an easy way to keep your linens sorted.
Cotton Zip-Up Wardrobe Bags
When storing seasonal items, nothing beats neutral zip-up cotton storage bags. Add some cedar chips if moths are a concern. Plastic is an option but does not let finer fabrics breath and may yellow items.
Bins
Whether you’re grouping pencils or kitchen utensils, bins create order and keep drawers tidy. Order clear, plastic or wired. An inexpensive and eco-friendly option is to reuse the cardboard and plastic boxes that things you buy come in. That plastic box your Trader Joe’s kiwis came in might be the perfect size to hold highlighters and markers in the drawer.
WINNING STRATEGIES
ONCE YOU HAVE THE TOOLS, YOU’RE READY FOR SPRING CLEANING. MAKE IT FUN. PLAY MUSIC AND LIMIT YOUR TIME. Slot a few hours in a week, and be specific in what you hope to accomplish. Best practice is to go room by room. Make one day the kitchen day or mudroom day, and pick a few goals. Decide on your spring-cleaning goals and go forward with intention.
Mini Clean-Outs
A five-minute kitchen drawer clean-out can be done while the pasta is boiling. Pick a section, cabinet or drawer, and as dinner cooks, tackle it. Be ruthless. You only need so many spatulas. Look for wear. Concerns about plastics in our food should have you eyeballing all kitchen supplies. Keep a list nearby or on your phone to keep track of what needs to be replaced and restocked as you purge.
Pick One Thing
You know your pet-peeve messy cabinet. Tackle it. Mine is the electronics drawer. Cords and charges wear out and lose their efficacy. All chargers are marked with the wattage output in small print, so if you’re wondering why your phone takes forever to charge, it could be that your new iPhone 16 is being plugged into an old charger. (Belkin chargers are affordable well- rated options to replace old chargers and cords.)
Family Affair
Despite their complaints, kids appreciate the sense of accomplishment that chores can bring. Putting things away is like completing a puzzle. Include kids in spring cleaning, and look to create systems that are age appropriate that they can use going forward.
Simple things like hampers with dividers can help kids learn early to sort their laundry by colors and whites. Yes, it takes longer, but you are setting up lifetime habits. Same for toys and books. Bins in playrooms and bedrooms allow kids to make clean-up simple and a regular part of playtime.
Consider making a game of spring cleaning by setting up colorful index cards with simple cleaning projects and tasks. Pick one at a time so they have a sense of play and adventure. When including children, keep tasks simple and bite-size so the chore doesn’t become a bore.
Good-Bye Winter
Nothing is as refreshing as saying good-bye to winter wear. Before packing away boots, gloves, hats and coats, do a review. No matter how cute an item is, if you didn’t use it these past two seasons, consider giving it away. The catch is that many organizations do not have the space to hold seasonal items off-season. The solution is to pack up give-away items in a well-marked box to store for a later donation date. Set a reminder on your calendar to take in seasonal items at a time when they’re needed.
Room Swap
When kids groan at the prospect of cleaning out their own room, pitch the idea of a room swap. Ask them to swap cleaning their room for a sibling’s and vice versa. Kids often find cleaning and helping out another much more appealing than cleaning their own room.
RECYCLING & UPCYCLING
The Rummage Room, run by the First Congregational Church, accepts gently used clothing, shoes, kitchen and tableware, books, videos, linens, sports equipment and other items. 191 Sound Beach Avenue, Old Greenwich fccog.org
Goodwill Greenwich Donation Station accepts donations Monday to Saturday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 1212 East Putman Avenue, Riverside
Holly Hill Recycling Center accepts gently used books for the Book Swap and gently used medical equipment for Wheel It Forward, a nonprofit lendinga library of durable medical equipment for people in need. greenwichct.gov
Closet clean-outs often yield worn, torn and stained items. The GRAB Textile Recycling Donation center at Holly Hill facility takes stained and torn textile items. 4 Holly Hill Lane greenwichct.gov
If you’re not sure what can be given away or recycled, check out the Town of Greenwich Waste Wizard tool online. Type in an item, and it will tell you if it can be recycled at the Holly Hill Recycling Center and give you resources of other area organizations that may be interested in your items. greenwichct.gov/265/Waste-Disposal-Recycling
SECOND ACT
Smart Moves for Your Extras
Resale
Your giveaways can be worth money. Encourage young entrepreneurs in your house to help sell some of your items. Make an appointment at a consignment store, or set up an online retail account. A little work is involved, but you’ll be finding new homes for your items, making money and upcycling.
Someone somewhere has always wanted your daughter’s now- forgotten Aviator Nation sweatpants—so make someone’s day and a few dollars. Poshmark, eBay, the RealReal and dePop are all great ways to sell your items to others online.
If you aren’t looking to turn a profit on those loved but outgrown items in your playroom or garage, there’s the Facebook Marketplace “Free to You” section where Facebook users can post items they do not want and arrange a location for pick up.
Tell The Story
Take time to sit with your children and look at the items you decided to keep. Pass down family folklore about why you keep the things you do. From grandpa’s pipe to an aunt’s old music box, you keep some items for special memories so share that with the kids.
Also, model how you part with things. You may love that navy peacoat, but if you haven’t been able to button it for years, it’s time to give it a new home. If your library is overflowing, it’s time to pass along some of your beloved books to a new audience. Sharing the joy you feel at the thought of someone new staying warm, enjoying a coat, blanket or book you once loved, is a great way to instill giving in children.
A good spring cleaning instills the simple lesson that there is only so much you really need, and yet so much need in the world, so pass it on.
Create a Keepsake
For those the pieces of clothing you or your children may not be ready to part with, consider creating a keepsake. Favorite but no longer fitting T-shirts, blankets or children’s dresses can be crafted into other items, thanks to the artists on Etsy.
Instead of recycling that stack of team, school and camp T-shirts collecting in a storage bin, have a keepsake quilt created. Etsy is full of craft artists who will take your t-shirts and make a one-of-a-kind quilt starting at $75.
Same holds true for those precious baby pjs and dresses that you can’t part with for nostalgia’s sake. Several artists can craft stuffed animals like keepsake teddy bears out of pieces of beloved childhood clothing and baby blankets.