50 Organizing Tips You’ll Wish You Knew All Along You may think you own your stuff—but it actually owns you. Use these easy pro tips to take back control! ( courtecy reader's digest )BY CHARLOTTE HILTON ANDERSEN

50 Organizing Tips You’ll Wish You Knew All Along

You may think you own your stuff—but it actually owns you. Use these easy pro tips to take back control!

BY CHARLOTTE HILTON ANDERSEN

Before you can get clutter out, you have stop it from coming in

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"The first step to winning the battle against clutter is to control what comes into your home. Unsubscribe from junk mail and catalogs you do not read. Stop shopping in bulk and buying non-necessities. Once the incoming flow of stuff and papers slows down or stops, you can focus on decluttering and organizing what you have." —Joanna Monahan, chief of external communications for Major Organizers

Channel Alice in Wonderland with an "Eat Me First!" fridge bin

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"Most households generate a lot of food waste, but you can cut it down just by having a dedicated—and labeled!—place in the fridge for leftovers and food that needs to be eaten quickly. This way the food actually gets eaten and you will be aware of what you have to buy soon." —Lauren Haynes, expert in home organizing and maintenance at Star Domestic Cleaners

Keep your "ice" on ice

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"Ice cube trays placed inside a drawer can really help you store and organize all kinds of little things that can easily get lost. They're perfect for small pieces of jewelry, paper clips, or craft supplies." —Lauren Haynes (Check out these other brilliant uses for ice cube trays.)

Kid's clock and schedule, all in one

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"To structure your kid's daily routine, get a simple white-faced clock and use different markers to color the time segments for each activity like sleeping, bath time, or doing homework. Attach an activity list under the clock and you can keep your kid on schedule and on time." —Lauren Haynes