Helpful Tips to Declutter Your Home
Spending more time at home means you might have become more acutely aware of the clutter and mess created from day-to-day living recently! Or maybe you’re really noticing the accumulation of belongings that comes with a growing family having lived in a dwelling for a number of years. This is the perfect time to take stock of your stuff and pass the time decluttering and tidying up your home from top to bottom, and we’ve got some helpful tips to get you started!
Emotionally Detach
The first step is to prepare yourself to emotionally detach yourself from your belongings. While it’s important to keep some sentimental and nostalgic items, it’s hard to keep every single birthday card you’ve been given or all the beautiful artwork your children have created for you over the years! Keeping a few of these items from milestone events for sentimental sake is fine, and those special pieces of artwork can be stored in a folder, or scanned digitally and printed in a collage, Ideally you should be recycling things and clearing your desks and cupboards of too much paper to make way for household items to be properly stored. The same can be said of furniture and larger items you’ve inherited simply because no one wanted to donate them. Holding on to someone else’s memories adds to the emotional and physical clutter in your house. If a large item doesn’t have sentimental value to you, ask family members if they would like it and if no one does, donate it to someone who needs it more than you do to free up space in your home.
Be Methodical
Instead of looking at your whole house as one huge project, start small and work your way up. Focus on smaller spaces like cabinets and cupboards in bathrooms and laundries, then move on to kitchen drawers and cupboards. Spending half an hour each day on smaller spaces will give you a sense of achievement that will motivate you to move on to bigger projects like studies, wardrobes, the pantry, and play rooms. It’s helpful to divide things into three piles: throw away/recycle, donate, or keep. Anything that hasn’t been used in at least two years can be discarded, since you’ll be safe in the knowledge that because you haven’t used it recently you won’t miss it when it’s gone! This is a particularly helpful strategy when you declutter your wardrobe – since many of us tend to hang on to clothes long after they’ve gone out of style, focusing on what you really don’t wear anymore will make it easier to donate it so that someone else can find value in it long after you’ve let it go.
Storage Solutions
Once you’ve decluttered your home, you may find you’re in need of new ways to store things. Investing in a good storage solution for certain areas of your home will help keep things tidy and organized, preventing clutter from building up again. For example, using clear, air-tight containers in the pantry to visually keep track of your flours, grains, and pastas will ensure you don’t continue to repurchase grocery items until you’ve used what you already have. In your wardrobe organising shoes on shoe racks or in plastic shoeboxes will remind you of what you already have in your closet and encourage you to use all your shoes rather than a select few items. The bathroom vanity is a great place to implement a clear storage box or tray arrangement for make up and skincare neatly on the bench top. Again, this will keep your products on display and ensure you’re using things up before repurchasing and adding more clutter.
Whether your home needs a full declutter and clean out from top to bottom, or you just have a few problem areas you just can’t seem to streamline, starting small and focusing on dedicating a little bit of time each day means your home will be looking tidy in no time! For more home organisation inspiration, visit the Hotondo Homes website today.
