Spring Cleaning Tips from NEAT Method

We are delighted to introduce our friends from NEAT Method, a luxury home organizing company. They recently shared some of their expert tips and best-kept secrets for tackling cleaning and organizing projects around the house.

NEAT Method was founded in 2010 to bring a fresh new face to the organizing industry. Their focus is on creating effective and sustainable systems that transform spaces from chaotic to composed. Their uniquely personalized lifestyle service is offered widely across the US and Canada. In 2020, they launched our first retail collection designed to create luxurious, smartly appointed living spaces. As NEAT continues to grow, the core value of the company will remain—helping others live the NEAT life!

1. Start Small

Begin by choosing just one highly utilized space in your home to organize and carve out a block of time to tackle it. Starting small will allow you to actually finish the first project and give you the confidence needed to move on to the rest of your home. Some great places to start are your spice drawer, “junk” drawer, linen closet or coat closet.

2. Overlooked Areas

Under the kitchen sink is an area that is accessed on a regular basis, but rarely cleaned out. Chances are high that you are likely using just a few products near the front and have no clue what is hiding beyond them. Take everything out, combine duplicates when possible and part with anything you no longer use or that would be better stored in a different area of your home. Be sure to give the area a good wipe down before putting everything you decide to keep back in place.

3. Edit Last Season

One of the most important ways to prep for spring is to go through all your winter items before putting them away and determine if there is anything you need to donate, recycle or put in the trash. The same applies to spring/summer items you may be pulling out of storage and placing back into your home.

4. Create Zones

When organizing a space that serves multiple purposes, it’s important to separate items by category and create zones for each group. Some examples of kitchen categories include: spices, utensils, serveware, cookware, cutlery and appliances. Remember to place items you access most frequently in your “prime real estate” zones, which are those that are easiest to reach.

5. Organizing Products

When it comes time to put everything back, decide what “boundaries” you need to keep everything in place. Spring loaded drawer dividers and multi-purpose drawer inserts are the perfect way to give your drawers a custom-like organizing solution. This spice bundle will not only make your space look beautiful, but will keep our spices fresh and save you time when cooking. Turntables make it much easier to reach items that may end up "lost" in the back of a cabinet. Glass jars are great for decanting items like flour and sugar, so you know when you are running low and need to replace.

6. Labels

Don’t forget to add label holders and labels, so your entire household knows exactly where everything is located, which will make things a breeze to find as well as put back away!

7. Touch-Ups

Once your space is organized, you will still need to do some sprucing up here and there in order to keep things in order. If you spend a few minutes a day touching up your newly organized space it should be a breeze to maintain. If you find that your system is easily falling apart, you might want to reconsider your categories and try keeping things a bit more general.

 

Photography by Martin Vecchio.