The Ultimate Philadelphia Spring-Cleaning Guide
Janet Bernstein makes playrooms fit for a tea party. | Photograph by Courtney Apple
There’s no better time to revisit your New Year’s resolutions (how are those working out for you so far?) than the beginning of spring. It’s a time to declutter, refresh and refocus on your goals for the year. A great place to start? Your house. We’ve found the coolest, smartest local services that can whip your kitchen, playroom, garage, vanity and more into tip-top shape.
Systemize Your Playroom Pickup: Janet Bernstein Organizers, Main Line
Feel like you’re picking up after your kids every five seconds? That’s because you are. Bernstein isn’t just your run-of-the-mill organizer. She and her staff not only deploy fuss-free tactics that keep playrooms, basements and bedrooms looking neat; they also set up organization systems in a way that incentivizes cleaning, so kids learn how to pick up after themselves. She even has ADD-specific strategies. Starting at $85; jborganizers.com.
De-Clutter Your Cosmetics: Béke Beau, Manayunk
Makeup drawers have an unparalleled knack for getting unruly fast (see: the dozens of lip glosses you haven’t touched in more than a year). Enter Beau, who will descend upon your vanity, audit the cosmetics you own, pare them down to only the most flattering essentials, streamline your beauty routine, and recommend the best strategies, products and tools. Afterward, she sends out the unwanted products for recycling. Starting at $200; bekebeau.com.
Streamline Your Digital Life: Springboard Media, Various locations
Chances are all your e- and i-things aren’t fully optimized to really make your life easier. Call in the experts at tech mecca Springboard, who make house calls to organize the online lives of even the most tech-savvy clients. They’ll sync photo-stream sharing, set up a Sonos music system, get Netflix running on Apple TV, organize your email, create digital photo folders, back up important docs and basically automate your entire life. Starting at $30; springboardmedia.com.
Tackle the Garage: GarageTek, Pottstown
The local outpost of this national company has created an ingenious system of racks, cabinets, shelving and overhead storage, all of which is fully customizable (starting at $2,000; garagetek.com). This means each item in your particular stash — paddleboards, old trophies, baby pools — gets its own easy-to-access space. Once the system is installed, they can stick around to help organize it, too. While you’re at it, show your car some love: Car Concierge, a Center City-based company, will come to your house and detail your car (starting at $195; carconcierge.com). Sign up for a membership option so your ride always looks fresh.
Cluttershrink’s Crystal Sabalaske whips kitchens into shape with expert organization and colorful labels. Photograph by Courtney Apple
Organize Your Pantry: Cluttershrink, Bucks County
Families with food allergies or those seeking to streamline their kitchens should look no further than HGTV-approved Crystal Sabalaske. With 10-plus years of experience and her food allergy knowhow (her family suffers from 19 in total), Sabalaske has developed tried-and-true strategies for creating a practical, methodical organization plan that deters cross-contact. After clients fill out a worksheet about their kitchen use, dietary preferences and allergens, she’ll designate storage areas and appropriate containers and start labeling. She’ll even meet with clients over Skype. Starting at $80 an hour; cluttershrink.com.
Consolidate Your Camera Roll: Mailpix.com, Online
Sign of the times: Some of your favorite photos are posted all over social media instead of in a frame on your actual wall. Mailpix.com fixes this with its easy upload and box-checking system, which culls photos from your desktop, Facebook and Instagram so you can finally get hard copies of your most prized pics. Photos print on high-quality paper and are delivered in days. Starting at 10 cents per photo; mailpix.com.
Originally published as “Clean Slate” in the April 2015 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
