Well, it’s October when I write this, and according to my Deep Cleaning Schedule for Your Whole Home, this month we have just have a few jobs: The master bedroom organization and deep cleaning, master closet organization, and changing the air filters.
If you haven’t been following my deep cleaning schedule, check it out and join in with me!
Master Bedroom Organization
How’s your master bedroom looking right now? Do you have clothes laying around the floor or stuffed in drawers? I sometimes get in the habit of changing clothes and just throwing my clothes on the floor instead of putting them away where they go. Anyone else like that?
The master bedroom should be a relaxing haven! It should be dedicated mostly to sleeping and getting ready. Try to avoid watching TV or doing work in the bedroom. And try to keep it clear of clutter. Do your best to put things away as you are done with them (note to self). That way when it’s time to go to bed at night, your room is all ready for you and you are able to relax in it! I don’t know about you, but I have trouble relaxing and getting my best sleep when there’s a mess around me!
So here’s what I do each year (or more if needed throughout the year) for my master bedroom organization!
1. Clean Out the Dresser Drawers
The first step towards your master bedroom organization is to clean out your dresser drawers. To do this take everything (yes- everything!) out of the drawers.
Then, wipe down the inside of the drawers. I use my homemade dusting spray and a microfiber cloth. I shared my recipe for my safe, non-toxic dusting spray in this video. It uses just a few simple, natural ingredients.
Once the drawers are clean, it’s time to place your things back in neatly. But first decide what items you truly use and want and purge the items you don’t. Go through each item of clothing. Try them on if you haven’t worn them in a while. If it doesn’t fit, it’s damaged, it’s too worn out to wear anymore, or you just don’t love it anymore, put it in a pile to either throw away, give away, or sell.
I highly recommend not keeping clothes that don’t currently fit – whether you lost or gained weight or inches. It can be discouraging keeping clothes that are too small, looking at them daily, and longing to fit into them again. In my experience, by the time the clothes do fit again, they’re out of style. Just treat yourself with a new outfit when you’re reach your goal size!
Then, organize the clothes before you put them in drawers. Put them together with similar items. For me, that’s drawers for:
- socks,
- swim suits,
- undergarments,
- pajamas and bathing suit cover ups,
- camis, leggings, and sweat pants
- jeans,
- shorts.
I make sure all my socks are folded with their matches, and I arrange them in color order. I learned this trick from Marie Kondo, and it’s a game changer! Instead of rolling the socks up with their matches, fold them however many times you need to to fit the height of the drawer. That way the elastic doesn’t wear out, it looks neater, and it actually takes less space.
Camis, leggings, and sweatpants are also arranged in color order (which is mostly white, gray, and black).
Make sure they’re all folded neatly. And make sure not to stuff your drawers all the way to the top. You’re more likely to wear different items of clothing when you can ACTUALLY SEE them.
2. Clean the Outside of Dressers
Take everything off your dresser top, and dust well with your dusting spray and microfiber cloth, making sure to clean in all the grooves.
Before you replace the items on your dresser, this is a great time to reevaluate your decorations. If your dresser top is looking clutter, see what you might take away. Make sure what you have on your dresser serves a purpose, brings you joy, or helps make the room beautiful. Some great decorative dresser-top items to consider are: fresh flowers, a houseplant, photos, and a Himalayan salt lamp (which has the added benefit of helping you sleep well!). As you replace the items on your dresser, dust them off.
3. Clean Out the Nightstand Drawers
Once again, take everything out and wipe down the inside of the nightstand. Declutter anything in your nightstand that you don’t actually use or need before bed. Replace only the items you still want and love in an orderly way.
Some things I keep in my nightstand are a few books, journals, my Bible, some cards and notes from my boys, my essential oils, and lip chap.
Check out this video for my updated tips and ideas for your master bedroom organization! I’ve changed some things, and it is looking SO much better!
4. Clean the Outside of Nightstands
Next, take everything off the top of your nightstand and dust it well. We’re going through the same process we did for the dresser top.
Evaluate the items on your dresser and get rid of any clutter. Try not to keep TOO much on your nightstand. I know at night, I might have a book, my glasses, and a cup of tea on my nightstand. So I for sure don’t have room for clutter. I have some necessities here: my essential oil diffuser, lamp, alarm clock, and a few small decorations.
5. Clean the Bedding and the Bed
If you’ve been following along with my schedule you probably already cleaned all the bedding in March, but go ahead and clean the bedding again. Take all the bedding off the bed – the sheets, mattress protector, and comforter. Start washing it, a little at a time.
I do a load with all sheets and another load with just the comforter. For the pillows, I wash king size individually. I wash 2 or 3 Queen size or throw pillows together.
My favorite non-toxic laundry detergent to use is Molly’s Suds. It’s made with safe, natural ingredients, like magnesium, sea salt, and peppermint essential oil, and it works!
While the laundry’s going, sprinkle your mattress with some baking soda to remove any odor. Allow it to sit for a few hours. Before you put the clean sheets back on the bed, vacuum the baking soda up. You can also spray the mattress with air freshener to, not only remove bad odors, but give it a good scent. Here’s the recipe for mine – made with natural ingredients and essential oils!).
Also go ahead and dust the bed frame. Finally, when your bedding is washed and dried, make your bed again.
I definitely a big fan of making your bed EVERY morning – soon after you wake up. It’s a great way to start the day, and one simple thing you can do to feel accomplished in your day.
6. Clean the Rest of the Room
If you’ve been following my schedule, you’ve already done these jobs back in January and February, but it’s a great idea to go ahead and do them again or at least touch up on them. Most likely your ceiling fan and baseboards and getting pretty dusty again. Check out the linked posts to see how I do each of these deep cleaning jobs.
- Dust the ceiling
- Clean the fan
- Wash the walls
- Clean the baseboards
- Dust light fixtures
- Clean the switch plates and outlets
7. Vacuum the Floors
Lastly, and the part that makes the biggest difference, vacuum the floors well. Here’s the vacuum cleaner I have and love!
Closet Organization
Next, we’re going to to tackle the master bedroom closet.
1. Clothes
Go through the same process you did for your clothes in your dresser. I actually take every single piece of clothing out of my closet. I try it on if I haven’t worn it in a while. If it’s still in good shape and I know I’ll wear it again, it goes back into my closet. If it is getting too worn, is out of style, I haven’t worn it in the past year, and I don’t think I’ll wear it again it goes into a pile to throw away, give away, or sell.
This one is always a hard one for me! Especially when you need clothes for different occasions – school, church, going out, staying at home, etc. But the more clothes you have, the less you’re able see everything. And then the less likely you are to wear a variety of clothes. You’ll probably end up just choosing the same 5 shirts!
I place my shirts in 4 categories – sleeveless, short sleeve, 3/4 sleeve, and long sleeve. And then in each category and arrange them by color. My dresses are also in color order.
I use a 3-drawer plastic organizer like this one for my t-shirts. I fold them in thirds and stand them up in the drawers (the KonMari way!) so I can see each one. It was getting a little too stuffed, so I went threw and took out several that I don’t wear anymore.
You can watch this video to see how exactly to fold your clothes the KonMari way to make them fit nicely and to be able to see all your shirts easily!
I keep my sweaters in fabric totes on the top shelf in my closet. I roll them up and stand them vertically, so I can clearly see them all when I am choosing which sweater to wear.
2. Jewelry
I keep most of my jewelry in a jewelry box on my dresser, but my necklaces go in my closet. A towel rod, like mine here, actually makes the PERFECT hanger for your necklaces! iI love it because it’s sturdy (unlike how I used to store them – on a hanger), I can clearly see each necklace, and my necklaces don’t get tangled up. Score!
3. Shoes
This is a great time to get rid of any shoes that have holes or are falling apart (ahem-hubby!). Also put in your sell, throw, or give away piles any shoes that you don’t wear and don’t see yourself wearing in the next year.
I keep most of my shoes on this expandable shoe rack. I use shelf liner on it to keep the shoes from sliding off.
Check out more tips for organizing your closet here!
4. Vacuum
Then, go ahead and vacuum in your closet as well to give it that finishing touch and make it look great!
That’s it for the master bedroom organization! Next month, we’ll tackle the other bedrooms in the house.
The last job of the month is to change out the air filters in your house. Like I recommend here, we don’t get the highest quality air filters. We get cheaper ones and make sure we change them every 3 months. They’re not as thick as the more expensive ones. So they don’t make the air condition system work as hard to pull the air through.
To help purify the air, it’s also a great idea to have a few air purifying plants in your home. It’s also a great idea to get an air purifier, like Air Doctor. This one is Ultra Hepa and has an auto sensor. It can sense when the air has more pollutants in it and will bump up it’s power. I don’t have this high-quality air purifier yet, but it’s on my list to get SOON!
The carpet is the biggest air filter in your home. So make sure you are vacuuming often and getting the carpets in your hope cleaned twice a year.
Have fun organizing! Let me know how it goes and any other master bedroom organization tips you have to share!
