Above and beyond our daily cleaning chores, something seems to break or need extra TLC in our homes almost every single day. The list can vary, from easy to replace remote batteries to time-consuming tasks, like sourcing obscure light bulbs or finding a place to repair a tent zipper to your basic tidying up. Tick everything off your to-do list with one of the following solutions:
- Schedule It: Just like we make time to get our teeth cleaned and our health checked, we need to take care of our home and its belongings too. Whether it’s the first of the month, or the last of the month, schedule a monthly repair, replace and return day. On that errand-focused day, you’ll drop off the vacuum that needs to get repaired, head to the hardware store to stock up on all the different light bulbs that need replacing and return that awesome pair of shoes that just didn’t fit right.
- Digitize It: Some of the top mess offenders in our homes are magazines, newspapers, appliance manuals and kids’ art. You can easily switch all your subscriptions from front door delivery to digital, and go ahead, recycle all your appliance manuals because all appliance companies post everything online! Instead of filling up valuable shelf and closet space with the kids or grandkids’ art, take photos of every item, including that brilliant grade two essay you can’t seem to part with. Then, simply upload them to your computer. For the few you can’t bear to part with, frame them and hang them up.
- Properly Dispose It: No matter how hard we try, we all create household hazardous waste, as well as electronic waste. Things like batteries, Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs), cell phones, cables and monitors seem to get piled up in the basement or foyer until we can figure out what to do with them. Or worse, we toss them in our household garbage to get rid of them quickly. Take note: these items require special handling. Check the website for your city’s drop-off depots to dispose of your unwanted items responsibly.
(Photo by Jess Watters)
