Post Yom Tov, it’s time to clean up, organize, and whip your home back into shape!

Compiled by Ariella Schiller

Out of the Box

When shopping for furniture or other big-ticket items on Wayfair or Amazon, consider checking if they have the same item available in an open box. These items are usually returns in perfect condition and are sold at significantly lower prices.

Faigy Rabinowitz is a shopper extraordinaire for Metziahs, a frum deals site.

For the Foodies

Leaky mixer? If your Bosch is leaking and there’s dough in the hole under the mixer, replacing two rubber pieces (the steel bowl drive pin gasket and the bushing gasket) is a cheap and easy fix that’ll make all the difference.

Tip submitted by Liba Bauminger.

Shape Up

If you’re like me and hate being locked into color choices for kashrus reasons (yes, my fleishig set is blue) — here’s a great tip straight from the Mishpacha watercooler.

Skip the colors and choose a shape:

Make your fleishig tupperware all rectangle and your milchig all round and you’ll never need to worry about colors again.

Eat It or Wear It

Tell me you had spaghetti for lunch without telling me you had spaghetti for lunch… just look at my five-year-old’s shirt. How is it even possible to miss your mouth that many times?

Never fear, Messy Eater Spray is here.

Tip submitted by Hadassah.

Power Through It

There are lots of pots these days, and lots of accidental burnt bits. I accidentally bought this on Amazon a few months ago, and it quickly made its way to my subscribe and save. It’s super effective for soaking pots and getting off burnt on bits without much elbow grease. (The lemon scent is amazing!)

3 Gs

In order to declutter properly, you need to know what your options are for the items you encounter. It’s helpful to establish categories beforehand to keep focused. As you take each item out of the drawer/closet/bin, ask yourself, “Do I want to keep this?” If the answer is yes, great. Make a “keepers pile” and you’ll find a home for it later. If the answer is no, I like to offer the 3 G’s as options: Gemach, Garbage or Genizah. Bring three garbage bags and fill them appropriately.

And once we’re on the topic of genizah, boy, can it cause chaos and confusion in our homes. Does a picture of a rav go into genizah? Is my son’s parshah sheet sheimos? When you’re unsure where items belong, they often drift from place to place, finally getting stuffed into a drawer only to emerge as Pesach rolls around. Ask your rav your genizah questions so that you’re not unnecessarily jamming papers into your bulging sheimos pile. And know your genizah options. Where’s the closest drop-off? Can I assign this job to a child? A spouse? Is there someone in my family who regularly passes by these areas? Maybe it’s you, and sticking the bag in your car is all you need to encourage you to get it done.

Dvora Henner is a home organizer and life coach, who coaches women in time management and concerns related to home organization.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 916)