ORGANIZED HOME, ORGANIZED MIND

The Ultimate Guide To Home Organization: Tips For A Clutter-Free Home

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We all know keeping a house organized takes time, energy, and even money at times. But none of those are enough when you don’t know how to get the organization ball rolling.

Organization, whether it is for a house or personal, can be a powerful tool to gain control over every aspect of your life. But that is not the only benefit of having an organized home, by learning some techniques, you can maximize your spaces and make them functional to your lifestyle.

Read on and see which of these tips you can put into practice today!

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The first step to becoming an organization expert is to declutter. Decluttering means removing everything you don’t need or use, or everything that is broken or is no longer functional to you or your family.

To declutter successfully you have to be honest with yourself about those things you keep out of attachment, for example. Assess your home, and everything you own, and get rid of everything that no longer serves you any purpose to create new free space.

Consider selling or donating the things you don’t use but keep in a good state!

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After assessing your space and removing everything you don’t use or need, start creating zones in your home. This will allow you to allocate specific areas for different activities or moments of your everyday life. For example, if you work from home, consider having a separate working space, and set up a desk with everything you need.

Establishing clear zones will make it easier to keep track of your belongings and create a more functional living space. Not to mention having specific zones for each activity will strengthen your routine and habits.

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After you have created different zones, assign specific homes for each item. For example, you may place a container for the keys by the main door; or a rack for the shoes you use frequently. Having a designated area and a specific home for each of your belongings will help you keep your home organized at all times.

Moreover, you will avoid losing objects and, every time you need something, you will know exactly where to go look for it. The only thing you have to work on after doing this is taking a moment every day to put things back where they belong after you have used them.

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Once you have taken the previous steps, you are ready to invest in storage solutions and this will feel like a pivotal step towards organization. Storage solutions will make your house both functional and visually appealing. The right containers and organizers not only help you declutter (because the space is limited), but they will also help you ensure everything has a designated spot and maintain order.

Look for available options within your area, but consider using baskets, bins, plastic containers, or any other storage item that works for you. If you still haven’t got the budget for this, use plastic containers you already have, you can always go back on this step to prioritize aesthetics.

Image: Tamara Malaniy

If you choose to use colored containers, labels come in quite handy. Even with clear containers, labels will help you quickly locate items. Moreover, if there are small children in the house, labels can help them find the right container for their stuff easily which will, ultimately, strengthen their own organizational habits and independence.

Labels give uniformity and coherence to a space and you can either make them yourself or use an electronic label maker.

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This is a smart strategy to maintain your space clutter-free and well-organized throughout the year. Seasonal items such as clothes, decorations, sports equipment, and more specific items like suitcases can be kept in special areas like the garage or on the highest shelves of a closet.

As you can imagine, the first step to do this is to assess your belongings and categorize them by season.

As you pack away off-season items, take the opportunity to assess their condition and decide whether anything needs to be repaired or replaced before the next season.

Consider using hard-material containers to keep your belongings well protected and avoid any possible damages unforeseen events may cause.

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When you don’t have much space for furniture or your furniture is full of stuff (if they are, you should go back to the first tip!) vertical and dead spaces are a great solution to maximize space and create alternative areas.

You can install shelves or hanging organizers to keep your belongings off the floor and on common surfaces like the dining table. On a similar note, you can take advantage of areas such as under the bed, and behind the doors to keep appropriate stuff.

This not only creates additional storage space but also adds visual focus points to your home decor.

Image: Pierre Bamin

When defining specific areas and homes for your belongings prioritize two things: quick location and easy accessibility. Vertical space can only be used so much, that is, there is no point in having a shelf for mugs if you have to get a ladder to reach one every morning for breakfast. The same goes for kids’ wardrobes, they will never be able to hang their own clothes if they can’t reach the hangers or the rail.

Prioritize placing items in the space you most frequently use them and within reach so you don’t have to move things around, hence, creating a mess around one single item. Keep essentials accessible and less frequently objects higher up or in less accessible places.

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Regardless of how digital our lives can be, a house is always full of important items, especially paperwork. Developing and working on a system for managing it will foster organization in the house, but also your personal life and finances.

Consider investing in a filing cabinet or organizer and set aside a time and day each week to sort out paperwork. Create folders for different types of documents and label them accordingly to make it easier to find what you need when you need it. And never forget the first step, declutter when necessary, and get rid of old bills or documents that are irrelevant to your present life.

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Rome wasn’t built in a day, organizational habits weren’t either, so, be patient and find ways to foster your habits. Create routines for tidying up and maintaining organization. For example, divide the chores within the week. That way, you will ensure everything gets done at least once a week. Laundry on Saturdays, bathroom cleaning on Sundays and Thursdays, and so on.

Now, within a day, create small routines that guarantee everything is in its place before you go to sleep. There is nothing like waking up to a clean and organized home every day, this will boost your inspiration and productivity.

LINGUISTIC JOURNEY

Check Out These 10 Words You Probably Didn't Know Came From Arabic!

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Arabic may seem a world apart from English, but you may be surprised to learn that many of the words you use every day have Arabic roots! While English is spoken by over 1.4 billion people worldwide, our language has been in contact with many others throughout history. This interesting past has helped enrich its vocabulary in ways you wouldn't imagine.

Today, we’re sharing 10 English words you probably didn't know come from Arabic!

Image: MARIOLA GROBELSKA

Despite being among the most impressive and beautiful animals in the world, giraffes are not native to the Americas. Likewise, the word for this unique animal doesn't originate from English but from Arabic. The Arabic zarāfah can be translated as "fast-walker," a meaning probably related to the animal's extensive limbs.

Zarāfah was first adapted into Italian as giraffaand then into French as girafe. Finally, English adopted it in the 16th century, turning it into the word we use today.

But that's not all! Before the word "giraffe" was established, there was a very different expression. Archaic English used the term "camelopard," based on the belief that the giraffe was a hybrid of a camel and a leopard! Weird, right?

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While algebra can be a challenge for many of us, understanding the origin of this word may be a bit easier.

TheArabic wordal-jabrmeans "completion" or "reunion of broken parts." This word was first used in a text from 820 CEentitled Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala ("The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing"). This text, one of the fundamental pillars of algebra, was translated into Latin around the 12th century, and the word al-jabr -with its very appropriate meaning, we have to say- passed into Latin as algebra.

Spanish, Italian, and French took the word from Latin without major modifications, and so did English when it borrowed the term.

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There's nothing like a delicious cup of coffee in the morning, right? Or in the afternoon, or even in the evening! Yes, like many Americans, we love coffee.

We have Ethiopia to thank for this beverage that enriches our days and wakes up our brains, and the Arabs for giving us the word to name it. Although coffee was discovered in the Kaffa region of Ethiopia, it was the Arabs who commercialized and distributed this delicacy to the rest of the world.

The word the Arabs had for coffee was qahwa, which originally meant "wine" or "elixir." This term evolved to kahve in Turkish and qahveh in Persian. When coffee arrived in Europe in the 16th century, the Italians called it caffè, and the Dutch koffie. Finally, it was adapted to café in Spanishand "coffee" in English.

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You know what to do if life gives you lemons, but what if it gives you laymūn? Well, it'd be pretty much the same!

The lemon tree is believed to have been first cultivated in Asia. Once it reached the Middle East, the Arabs did an excellent job with its propagation in the Middle Ages.

Just like the yellow citrus fruit, the word to call italso had a big journey across continents. The Arabic laymūn, used specifically to refer to lemon, was first adapted to Old French limun and Italian limone.

Probably during the Norman conquest of England, limun was adapted to Middle Englishas lymon and then to the familiar "lemon." When Europeans arrived in America in the 15th century, they brought not only the term but also the fruit and eventually established lemon groves in different parts of the continent. Lucky us!

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Sugar, so common today, was once a luxury that only a few could enjoy.

As with many other products, the Arabs brought sugar from the Middle East and Asia to Europe, with their own word for it: sukkar. That term was, in turn, derived from the Sanskrit śarkarā and the Persian shakar, which can be translated as "grit" or "gravel."

Medieval Latin adapted the Arabic term to succarum, which then mutated into the Old French sucre and eventually into the English word "sugar."

At first, "sugar" referred to various sweet substances from different types of plants, and over time, it came to designate the product derived from sugarcane, i.e., the sugar we all know!

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What would you say if we told you that, in ancient times, the word "alcohol" designated makeup? Well, the truth is that the Arabic term al-kuhlwas used to refer to a type of antimony powder that some groups used as an eyeliner!

Over time, al-kuhl began to expand its meaning and was used to designate any product obtained through distillation, which included spirits.

Later, when the word came in contact with Latin, it was adapted to alcohol. Through this change, the word began to refer to ethanol, the alcohol present in beverages. By the 16th century, the word was already established in English, Spanish, and other languages.

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Magazines are still an important part of our lives, whether in digital or analog format. Surprisingly, the Arabic word that gives origin to "magazine" didn't refer to what you're probably thinking.

Makhzan referred to a storehouse or a warehouse. In the 14th century, Old French adopted it as magasin, and this word passed into English as "magazine" in the 17th century. However, its meaning was still linked to the original sense given by the Arabs.

The modern meaning of the word began to take shape in the 18th century when publications similar to today's magazines became widespread. With topics such as science, literature, philosophy, and many others, magazines came to be seen as a "storehouse of information" or a place where knowledge is kept. Poetic, don't you think?

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Nothing like spending a night on the sofa watching a movie and eating some tasty treats, right? Well, it seems that, back in ancient times, the Arabs did that too - without the movie part, of course.

Ṣuffaor soffah is the word the Arabs used to describe a raised platform covered with blankets, carpets, and cushions, designed for people to sit or lie on comfortably.

This word evolved into Italian as sofà and Old French as sofa. Finally, those terms were adapted to our beloved "sofa" that graces the living rooms of many Americans and people around the world.

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Hard candies, gummy bears, chocolate bars; with so many delicious options, it's impossible to pick just one! While these treats are everywhere today, there was a time when your favorite candies didn't exist, and the word we use to designate them was different from the one we know today.

Our "candy" comes from the Arabic qandi, meaning "made with sugar."When qandi encountered Latin, it evolved into candi, which then became candie in Old French.

Finally, Middle English adopted the word as "candy," originally referring to crystallized sugar. Over time, its definition expanded to reach its current meaning.

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In the Middle Ages, people in the Middle East used mats or cushions that were thrown on the floor to sleep or rest on. The term for them was matrah, which can be translated as "something thrown down."

In the 12th century, during the Crusades, Europeans not only adopted the Arabic practice but also the word, which was incorporated into Latin as matratium. Later, the word evolved into Old French as materas.

In the 14th century, the word entered Middle English as matresse, which evolved into today's "mattress."