Take advantage of all of that extra time spent indoors this season -- winter is a perfect time to tackle larger organizing projects. Clearing the clutter and bringing order to every room will reap benefits for the entire year.
Organize photos on colorful backings.1) Sewing Kit in a Binder
Where's an extra button when you need one? Find sewing supplies fast in this three-ring-binder repair kit. Add zipper pouches and a felt needle holder (use spray starch to make felt sturdier).
Mini three-ring binder, russellandhazel.com. Zipper pouches, containerstore.com (punch new holes as needed to fit binder).
2) Organize Your Medicine Cabinet
Discard expired cosmetics and prescription medicines. Then, affix a sheet of precut galvanized steel to the interior of your medicine cabinet with construction adhesive. Magnetic hooks can hold scissors and a mirror, and small plastic cups with magnetic bottoms corral small necessities, such as rubber bands and hair clips.
3) Bring Order to the Hall Closet
Take storage to new levels with shelves below a row of jackets. Install shelves near the base of your closet, and you'll no longer have to rifle through items strewn across the floor. Go even further, by designating a hat and scarves bin for each family member.
Line a lower shelf with shoes, and tuck boxes underneath with dog toys, tennis balls, and the like. Leave a foot of space between shelves and the door frame, and you'll have room for boots and a metal bucket for umbrellas. Long hooks keep handbags neat.
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4) Create a Car Kit
Stock your car's trunk for winter-weather emergencies. Include a compact shovel, ice scraper, flashlight, sand or cat litter, flares, a heavy blanket, and warm clothing.
5) Hang Cleaning Tools
Wall hooks keep an assortment of brooms and mops off the floor.
6) Combat Ice and Snow
Spread gritty alfalfa meal -- available from feed stores -- on slippery paths to provide traction on ice and snow. In spring, the alfalfa serves as a nitrogen fertilizer for surrounding greenery.
7) Organize and Display Photos
Why should your favorite snapshots linger in a drawer? Pull them out and create a display using colorful, inexpensive mats.
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8) Collect for Charity
This is the season for giving. And since it's cold outside, why not host your own drive for coats, sweaters, and other warm clothes? Set out a labeled collection basket and ask friends and relatives to bring an item to donate when they visit. Check that the clothes are clean and in good condition, then give them to a shelter or other charity.
9) Upgrade Your Shelves
Add a splash of personality to a lackluster work space by covering plain floating bookshelves with wallpaper. Measure the shelf, and cut the wallpaper slightly longer and wide enough to wrap around it with an overlap. Use wallpaper paste to affix the wallpaper to the shelf, pasting one side at a time. Cut slits into excess paper at ends, forming flaps; fold down, and affix with paste. Let dry completely, and hang shelves as usual.
10) Detangle Jewelry
Four divided trays, painted orange, become a layered jewelry organizer. Two trays lie flat along the drawer bottom. The remaining two, joined with wood glue, form the top shelf, elevated by strips of 1-inch square molding affixed to the inner sides of the drawer.
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