It always seems like a great idea to purchase souvenirs on your trip . . . until you're home and realize the mementos are just clutter.
If you're the sentimental traveler, you may be trying to find a way to keep your trip memories alive in your home. It takes some work to turn travel knickknacks into art, but we've found a couple of organization ideas any globe-trotter would be inspired by.
Even when you have a limited amount of space, certain living essentials help make life easier. And these pint-size versions of their bigger counterparts are perfect for those with cozy living quarters.
Along with helping out around the house, most of these picks are budget-friendly and cute in any decor. Click through for a collection of the cutest mini essentials for your small living space.
If you have random photos littered around your place, you need to find a home for them, or they'll end up as clutter. Be smart about storing your photos by turning them into decorative pieces for your residence. Read on for 12 ideas to organize your photos in a stylish way.
When you finally decide to take a vacation, you might be overwhelmed by options. After all, there are so many places to visit and so little time! Here's how to get started:
Set a budget: Figure out how much you can afford to spend on this vacation, and do your best to stick within that budget. Factor in money for flights, lodging, transportation, food, entertainment, and spending money. Remember to also budget for emergencies.
Brainstorm ideas for vacation destinations: Start thinking of places you would like to go to. Figure out how many days you can take off for it, and do some research to see if there are any good deals available. Prioritize based on length of your trip and whether it will fit your travel budget.
Start a Google doc: Create a Google doc and share it with the people you are going on the trip with. List your schedule in a spreadsheet, and color-code it to make important items stand out. You can draft a working itinerary, and start by adding in flight and hotel information as it becomes available.
Can your yearly waste fit in a quart-size jar? Check out this amazing story from LearnVest about how a woman transformed her home into a zero-waste household.
Five years ago Bea Johnson and her husband and two sons were looking for a home closer to the restaurants, shops and school in their coastal California town.
Related: 6 Ways to Save Money–by Going Green
During the year they spent house hunting, the family of four moved into a small apartment, took only the possessions that were absolutely necessary and left the rest in storage.
“After living with just the necessities, we realized that we had much more time to spend with our family when we weren’t spending it caring for a large house and lots of belongings,” says Johnson.
Then, when they did decide on a house, they chose one half the size of their previous home and simplified by selling most of their old stuff.
Around that time, Johnson and her husband began investigating environmental issues. “We read books, watched documentaries, and what we learned worried us and made us sad for our kids’ futures,” she says. “So we decided to do something about it. My husband quit his job to start a sustainability consulting company, and I tackled greening our house.”
Are you a big DIY fan? If you're the type to have numerous craft projects going on, you might find yourself with a great big mess if you're not organizing carefully. For a happy and clean home, make sure you're putting your tools and materials in the right places. Here are some ideas on how to organize your craft materials.
Thanks to a range of cooking devices, piles of tiny measuring tools, plus tough-to-stack pots and pans, the kitchen can be a difficult room to organize. Still, with a few quick tricks and some smart furniture shopping, it's possible to maximize the space and make food preparation an easier task. Struggling to tidy up your cooking area? Get inspired by these 10 clever tips for kitchen organization.
Make better use of your time by accomplishing one of the tasks mentioned by Wise Bread below. You'll feel productive in just 15 minutes!
Do you have 15 minutes to spare?
You can't tackle a long-term project or a complicated problem that requires deep concentration and uninterrupted thinking in the busyness of a typical day. But there are many things you can accomplish in 15 minutes or less. These can help boost your career, manage your finances, strengthen relationships, reduce clutter, save money, improve your health, and lots, lots more.
So the next time you have 15 minutes to fill, fill it with something productive.
RELATED: 25 Ways to Take Five Minutes for Yourself
Career
Blouses are spilling out of your drawers, shoes litter your floor, and there are too many random items under your bed to count — sound familiar? If your bedroom is in constant disarray, check out these clever organization tips to make over your messy space. Whether you have plenty of room to work with or just a tiny corner to call your own, here are 11 valuable suggestions for turning your bedroom into a neat and tidy retreat.
Cleaning out clutter can be a tough task, especially if you have been letting it build up for a while. Instead of setting aside a huge block of time to take care of months' or years' worth of clutter, take baby steps by throwing away only one type of item a day. And by throwing away, I mean recycling, selling, donating, or — as the last resort — trashing. Here's a list of 116 types of items that will take you about four months to dispose of:
