declutter Archives - Nesting Story

Finally Decluttering My Kitchen Cupboards – Konmari Method

The pandemic kind of froze me in time. I still had areas in my home where I had piled books, and school work and the valentines crafts brought home from school. I just couldn’t face it. One of those areas that was haunting me was an area in my kitchen.

My catch-all counter and the cupboards surrounding it was full of stuff… old paperwork, expired medicine mixed in with new, batteries, reciepts…. all of it.

This clutter has been weighing heavily on me for years. Add on my kids’ school ending abruptly in March and it felt like a constant reminder that we were always just to the left of life feeling normal.

Over the past two weeks I faced this daunting decluttering task and didn’t hold back. I dealt with it all and was able to get rid of most of it. I finally feel like I am moving forward.

Watch as I declutter this area of my home in a two-part series. This will be sure to motivate you to do the same!

Jumping Back Into Decluttering Before School Starts

Honestly, I’ve had bit of a mental block when it comes to my decluttering journey over the past six months. I was letting the “stuff” win. I felt overwhelmed, and dreaded the task. So I shelved it.

As we hit mid-summer I started to think about the new school season and how good it would feel to get moving on my decluttering journey again. So, I pulled myself together, found some good podcasts and got to work.

My next decluttering journey started with the kids toys in the playroom.

I decided to begin with two categories that would have an immediate impact on not only me, but my family as well… toys and kids clothes.

Tackling these areas have been monumental and have got the ball rolling again.

You can watch my entire toys and kids clothes decluttering process here…

Our DIY Mudroom Renovation Recap – Here We Go Again!

I feel like I am living a deja vu lately with our renovation progress. Have you ever gone through renovations? Actually a better question would be, have you ever gone through a renovation process that you, (but mostly your husband), is DIYing?

We are and ugh, it’s such a stop and start process.

I have to remind myself how far our home has come since the first time we walked through it seven and a half years ago. The entire kitchen and family room were dark brown. The kitchen counters were dark brown and even the zipper-looking backsplash… brown. The rest of the house was dark blue, and when you combine that with the dark stained staircase we have, well, it felt like a cave.

But as this house sat on the market, scaring perspective buyers away with it’s unappealing palette, I saw potential. We have customized our builder home to exactly fit our family of six’s needs. You would have to pry me out of here now.

But sometimes it’s hard to forget how much you’ve done and it’s easy to focus on the never ending to-do list. Our home is bright and airy now with light grey walls. We have expanded our living space to include an outdoor dining and living area. We finished our basement creating a lot more space for our kids to play and watch movies.

But one of the best decisions we have made is creating a beautifully and very functional basement laundry room.

Moving our laundry room to our basement is allowing us to create a dream mudroom nestled between our kitchen and our garage. This dream mudroom will house a dog shower, lots of storage, and an area for all of our kids’ school bags, shoes and snow gear.

Although I wish I could say this blog post is a big reveal of our mudroom, it’s more like a reboot. You see, we got going on it last summer with demolition, new floor tile and the framing of the dog shower and then our brutal Canadian winter hit and we had to put the whole project on hold until the warm weather came again.

Last week I spent some time moving all of our stuff to our front hall closet and doing a big declutter to prep for the completion of this renovation. Watch as this all unfolded…

In case you missed it, here is our mudroom journey up until this point…

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5 Steps to Decluttering Under Your Bathroom Sink

With Marie Kondo out with her new Netflix Show, everyone is tidying up and sparking joy all around their homes. But, sometimes getting started is the hardest part. So, today I’m sharing with you 5 ways to declutter under your bathroom sink, since we all know this can be one of the hardest areas to organize and stay tidy.

put all like things together under your bathroom sink by Nesting Story

1.Take everything out and see if they spark joy

One by one remove all the items under your bathroom sink. Throw out the products that are expired and put aside the products you don’t use anymore that you can give to your friends or family. Then with the remaining products, go through each one and see if they spark joy. Do they make you happy when you use them? Do they help with your skin or hair care? Do they smell nice? These are all some good questions you can ask.

2. Put like things together

Now, put together like items. Put together all the cleaning supplies, hair care products, skin care products, the first aid products. By grouping like things together, you are more likely to know where to find a particular item when you need it. You’re also more likely to keep your under bathroom sink area organized as well.

Tips tidy up under your bathroom sink from Nesting Story

3. Tidy Up

Now that you have taken everything out from under the bathroom sink, this is the perfect time to clean up the area as well.

Under the bathroom sink can be beautiful if it's organized, see more from Nesting Story

4. Make it beautiful

I personally love organizing and making the space beautiful as well. It helps me keep it organized in the future. All the spaces in my home spark joy because whenever I open my closet, a drawer, my pantry, I am just so happy by how beautiful they look. This really helps me want to keep the space looking tidy as well.

Although one may think the under sink area can be difficult to look beautiful, I think they’re wrong. Finding some beautiful baskets or storage bins really help make things look great, but also help with function. I love these storage bins from MUJI. They’re affordable, stackable and they look so beautiful under the bathroom sink. I categorized each bin and stored similar items in each.

under bathroom sink organization with easy to read labels

5. Label label label

I think labeling is so important. You may not be the only one using the bathroom. So other users also need to know where items are located. By having clear labels, anyone should be able to find items and put them back where they belong. This black embossed label maker is one of my personal favorites. It gives the space a chic look while also clearly labeling what’s in each bin.

And there you have it. An organized under bathroom sink cupboard. It is so satisfying having a functional and beautiful space and it personally motivates me to tidy other areas of the house. If you want to see some before and after pictures of my under bathroom sink area, check it out here. Happy tidying 🙂

An organized under bathroom sink cupboard is so satisfying.

Kamaldeep is the blogger behind the the beautiful and inspiring blog Get Kamfortable. There you will find highlights of her city, Toronto, minimalist DIY’s as she decorates her home, recipes and vegan restaurants that she loves. You can read Kamaldeep’s full bio, and follow her personal blog here.

Decluttering my home and inspiring you

My favourite place on earth is our home. When I close my eyes and really ask myself, “is it my absolute favourite place to be?” The answer is yes.

I write this as I enjoy my last days on vacation in Sanibel, Florida, the place I have gone for many Christmases, since I was very young. I am sitting out on our master bedroom balcony, watching the sunrise and listening to the waves crash. This is my happy place, but not my favourite place.

So, if my home is so sacred to me, then why have I let it get so cluttered and disorganized?

Life. Kids. Work. Twins. Survival mode.

I made a promise to myself a couple years ago that I would work through our home, however long it takes and declutter it from top to bottom. I have made some huge strides and got rid of a lot of the stuff. But I also have a long way to go.

I am starting this year with a renewed vision of what I want our home to be for our family. I am going to push through and continue to tackle areas that haven’t been touched yet, and circle back to some areas that need a do-over.

I’d love it if you joined me on this decluttering journey. In today’s video I have compiled my previous decluttering journey videos to help motivate and inspire you!