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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Duck Brand. All opinions are 100% mine.
Who wants to work towards a cleaner home? Most of us do, and the solution is simple: SIMPLIFICATION and ORGANIZATION!
Most of us have SO MUCH stuff, and we can’t find it half the time. That means that our STUFF has taken over our TIME.
In fact, I read once that the average person spends up to 2.5 hours every day searching for things: car keys, shoes, hats, paperwork, etc…
When we simplify and organize our homes by only keeping the things we need and love, we can have more time for the people and things that we love. We can eliminate the negative feelings associated with the extra clutter that surrounds us.
This allows us to allocate our newly saved resources (money, more free time, less cleaning time, etc.) toward life experiences that will enrich your life.
Just imagine how much extra time we could spend making unforgettable family memories.
For today’s post, I am organizing our garage. It was semi-organized, but in order to know what I had in which places, I was constantly pulling down bins, opening boxes, etc… A lot of these containers are filled with gifts for our kids, our nieces & nephews, and our kid’s friends (I shop all year for these kinds of gifts, so when I find something that I love, I store it until the holiday)
Here is the before: 
The garage is the place that many of us dread, so I get our whole family involved, and we get it done in no time. I stopped by Walmart and bought Duck Pack & Track™app-basked labels with a storage and location system. You can See how it works. It was so useful because it tracks our stuff, so we’ll know where to find everything:
How Duck Pack & Track works:
1. Label the Box.
Write a descriptive name on your Pack & Track™ label about the contents of the box. Make sure that each box name is only used once. Do you have more than one box that contains similar items? Use labels like “Kitchen 1, Kitchen 2 and Kitchen 3” for those situations. Here are a few of our Duck Pack & Track labels: Baby Gifts, Boy Gifts, Girl Gifts, Miscellaneous items, Electronics (wires, etc..), Cups/Straws/Lids (disposable):
2. Scan the Label.
Access the Pack & Track™ app on your smartphone and use the “Scan” button. This will open your smartphone camera and you can now scan the barcode off of the label on your box. When prompted, speak or type the name of your box – make sure to use the same name for your box in the app that you used on the label.
3. Speak or Type the contents.
Start adding items to your box by speaking or typing in the app. Use the word “and” to add more than 1 item at once. For example, “pots and cookie trays.” Be as descriptive as you can with the items you list in your box and use phrases that are familiar to you. This will make it easier when you search in the app to find your items. It also has you add your location and an image of what is inside of the box.
We added this pictures of the Paint Supplies to the appropriate label on the app.
4. Find the Items.
Scan the label on the outside of the box with your smartphone camera to pull up a full list of the contents. Or, use the “Find” function in the app to locate items. Simply speak or type the item you are looking for, and Pack & Track will tell you the box it is in.
We put these labels on all of the boxes in our garage. It only took a few minutes and it will save me so much time in the future!
It will be so much easier to find what I’m looking for now. 
If you have more questions, check out their FAQs here.
Some thoughts on how to keep your home organized LONG-TERM:
1. Everything must have a place. EVERYTHING. Use Duck Pack & Track to label everything, so you know just where to find it and where to put it back when you no longer need it.
2. Deal with the mail as soon as it comes into the house (pay, file, shred, etc.)
3. Keep on top of your paperwork
4. If you haven’t used it in 6 months, get rid of it (unless seasonal)
5. After you, grocery shop put everything away (where it goes and organized!)
6. Don’t bring stuff into the house (or garage) that you don’t need
7. Put everything up wherever it makes the most sense
8. Use tubs and baskets to organize
9. Work as a family to keep your place tidy
10. Create a simple routine or cleaning and organizing daily
11. Have an entryway or organized space at your front door for keys, wallets, purses, etc.
12. Use one piece of furniture for two uses (ex. mirror that opens up to store jewelry, ottoman w/storage)
As you continue to declutter and organize, we know sometimes it will feel like you don’t have enough time or energy to complete it. Remember your WHY and take it one step at a time. Consistency and handling one room or area at a time is crucial to staying on top of clutter.
