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2799901Spring is a wonderful time to get organized. Whether you’ve lived in your apartment for a long time or you’re still getting adjusted after downsizing from a full sized house, this is a great opportunity to simplify your life and make sure everything is up to date. We have a few tips that will help you make the rest of the year even easier and more enjoyable with very little effort:

  1. Clean out your medicine cabinet. Double check the expiration date on all your medications and prescriptions, including over-the-counter items like pain relievers, cold medicines, antihistamines, etc. Consider putting the medications you take each day into a pill organizer to make it easier to see exactly what you’re taking and that you’re taking it correctly. It can be easy to let prescriptions add up. Jot down any questions you might have about your health as you organize your medicines so you’ll have them ready at your next doctor’s appointment. Check the expiration information, too, on things like lotion, sunscreen, and makeup. These items can go bad, too, or lose their effectiveness. Better to check now than find out later by getting a sunburn!
  2. As long as you’re sorting through things, spring is a great time to go through your closet. Not only might you want to swap out cold weather garments for warm weather ones, it’s also an opportunity to identify if any of your clothes need mending, special dry cleaning, or should be sold or donated. A good rule of thumb is that if you haven’t worn it since last year’s spring cleaning, you probably aren’t’ going to wear it in the future. Instead of letting extra clothes, jewelry, shoes, and tchotchkes take up space, create some room!
  3. Update your address book. Make sure you have everyone’s latest mailing address, phone number, and email address. If you held on to the Christmas or holiday cards you received this year, that can be a great place to start, double checking the envelopes against your records. You can also sort through accumulated mail like those Christmas cards and make separate piles for action items (like bills, unanswered letters, etc), keepsakes you’d like to hang on to, and items you can recycle or throw out.
  4. If you use email, you might want to spring clean your digital mailbox as well. Sorting messages into different folders and keeping your inbox as clear as possible will make it easier to deal with email the rest of the year, and find messages later if you need them. If you aren’t sure how to use all the features in your email to get organized, a friend or family member could help, and make the spring cleaning process a lot more fun!
  5. Old magazines, newspapers, and other clutter can not only take up space, but could make it harder to move around your home or find what you need. Take the opportunity to sort through all the books and periodicals that have accumulated and wee what can be recycled or taken to the used bookstore. Instead of hanging on to a whole paper or magazine for one article or picture, clip out the parts you want to keep and put them in a notebook or scrapbook to peruse later. This doubles as a wonderful keepsake to pass down to family members who will love to learn about your interests and current events from your perspective.

Spring cleaning is a great way to get a fresh start early in the year. Hopefully these ideas will get you started and give you the inspiration you need to make your home an even pleasanter place to be!