Toronto Star

3 quick ways you can organize your home

Tips for messy beginners and even neat freaks

- BARBARA BALLINGER

Messiness doesn’t really hurt anyone. Unless you count the cut-eye your Mom gave you the last time she saw your kitchen.

So, maybe it’s time to tidy things up.

Neatniks Ashley Murphy and Molly Graves, both from Chicago, Ill., and founders of the organizati­on business Neat Method, have dealt with everything from mouldy leftovers to five years’ worth of unopened mail. Their cure? Make each room in a house part of a circuit that can be tackled at beginner, intermedia­te and advanced levels.

We hit them up for their top bits of organized wisdom.

Open the mail. Do this daily rather than watch a pile grow. Beginner, open mail. Intermedia­te, toss aside junk. Ad- vanced, file or pay now.

Make room for love. Romance can quickly go out the window when your honey doesn’t have storage space. “The person won’t feel welcome,” Graves says. Solution: Beginner, identify a dresser drawer, space in a closet, in the medicine cabinet to turn over to your true love. Intermedia­te, give your honey proper hangers or acrylic boxes in the closet.

Rethink refrigerat­or real estate. No room for your leftovers? Beginner, find expired items. Intermedia­te, print labels with date stored and contents. Advanced, stick labels on see-through containers, so there’s no mystery to mystery meat. Extra credit: Periodical­ly, remove what’s no longer good; replace — but only if you’re going to eat it!

 ?? DREAMSTIME ?? No room for your leftovers? Begin by finding expired items. Move to the intermedia­te stage with labels with date stored and contents. Advanced neatniks stick labels on see-through containers.
DREAMSTIME No room for your leftovers? Begin by finding expired items. Move to the intermedia­te stage with labels with date stored and contents. Advanced neatniks stick labels on see-through containers.

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