Daily Archives: July 17, 2013


Top tips for organising your living room

If there’s one thing that people tend to complain about when it comes to their home, it’s storage. No matter how much stuff we throw out or donate to charity it just seems to continue accumulating.

The worst room is usually the main living room as this is where the whole family gather and leave their stuff behind but that can make it really difficult to kick back and relax.

Whether your home is littered with shoes, DVDs, books, magazines, newspapers, school work, remote controls, photo frames or even fireplace accessories here are some top tips to help you get organised.

Newspaper and magazine rack

If there are more magazines in your living room than in the local doctor’s surgery, it’s about time you had a clear out. You don’t have to bin all of your favourites but throw away anything more than a month old. Store the ones you’re keeping in a tidy magazine rack next to the sofa instead of letting them clutter the coffee table.

Invest in adjustable shelving

How annoying it is that shelves tend to be the same height? Our stuff is all different sizes with books tall and pocket-sized, folders can be A4 or A5, photo frames are landscape or portrait and so on. If you’ve got adjustable shelves, you’ll find that you can finally fit all your belongings without difficulty.

Tidy up that hearth

An old traditional fireplace can add a bit of character to your home but you’ll need all sorts of stuff to maintain it, such as the logs and coal but also the poker and other accessories. If you’ve got inset gas fires in the house, you might still have bits and bobs lying around the hearth. Use some wicker baskets or boxes to keep your belongings tidy and use your fireplace as a feature of your living room rather than seeing it as a nuisance.

Make the most of your walls

If you’ve got a smaller floorspace to work with, you’ll need to really utilise your walls. Rather than spreading your furniture around the living, work your way up towards the ceiling to create a feeling of openness.

Think carefully about your furniture

It’s easy for the living room to become full of furniture, so the fewer pieces you have, the more space that is available. Obviously, you will need most of it, such as sofas, bookcases and television units but some will be solely for displaying other items that are also cluttering the room. Think twice about your furniture choices, literally. If a TV stand or ottoman can also be used for storage then that’s all the better!


The Ultimate No Spend or Low Spend Bored Jar list 6

Let’s play – Read a book
Go on your DS for 30 minutes
Research the Romans on the computer
Let’s cook – Biscuits
Let’s cook – make pizza
Tidy your room
Pick a flower and paint a picture of it
Go swimming
Call on a friend
Do the washing up
Make music
Go to the library
Make rocky road or fridge cake
Hopscotch
Make an obstacle course
Groom the dog
Colour in a book
Clean your bedroom
Learn how to skip
Help pair socks
Draw round your brother
Write 5 things you love about each member of your family
Play with Lego
Do a jigsaw
Paint rocks
Scoot round the block
Make fingerprint animals
Feed the ducks
Put up the play tent
Play with the toy cars
No electronics for the rest of the Day
Make cards
Have a bath
Write a story starting with “David had to find out where Rocky had gone…………………”
Draw a map of our house
Find out how many bones are in the human body
Have a shower
Draw a robot and label all his parts
Pretend you are a knight
Sort the laundry
Make paper aeroplanes
Have a tea party with your friends
Empty the dishwasher
Jump up and down 20 times
Let’s cook – cupcakes
Let’s cook – you choose
Put on a DVD
Go out on your Bike
Get the paint out
Go to a park
Water the plants
Make homemade bubbles
Have an ice-cream
Make hot chocolate
Vacuum the stairs
Craft with Mum
Set the table
1 chore of Mums choice
Draw a comic
Play with Playmobil
30 minutes on the Wii
Make Jelly
Feed the ducks
Make a bird feeder
Build a den
Science time
Draw a picture of our house from the outside
Time for a Science Experiment
Make a rain water collector
Climb a tree
Make wooden spoon people
Spend 30 minutes on Moshi Monsters
Let’s cook – muffins
Make’/fly a kite
Let’s cook – Make popcorn
Go out on your Scooter
Board game
Roll down a hill
Go to the beach
Sort out your shoes
Borrow the camera
Find five toys to give away
Go for a walk
Sweep the ground floor
Do some stitching
30 mins with Mum
Wash the car
Football match upstairs
30 Minutes on the Xbox
Go to a Museum
Make a volcano
Plan dinner, write a menu, help cook and serve
Have a race
Wash the pots
Plan a bean in a jar
Make finger puppets
Find shapes, animals and objects in clouds
Write a poem
Watch Phineas and Ferb
Pretend you are a cowboy
Make a family tree
Empty the dishwasher
Make a treasure map
Make a paper plate monster mask
Pretend you are a pirate
Learn how to use the washing machine
Go to soft play
Steam mop the bathrooms
Steam mop the kitchen
Make a paper boat
Take dog for a walk
Write to your penpal
Make a card
Prepare dinner