If your living space has started to look disorganized and untidy, there are so many good reasons to embark on a decluttering project in your home. It will be easier to find the things you need, and you’ll have to spend less of your time cleaning and tidying. Once you get used to living with less hardly-used stuff around you, you’re less likely to waste your hard-earned money buying more. A well-organized and tidy home feels more relaxing and will be more welcoming for visitors.
But embarking on a massive cleanout can be daunting. Here are some simple ideas to help you transform your home to create a haven of tranquillity where you are surrounded by what you use and what you love.
Take your time
If you’ve been accumulating ‘stuff’ over a period of years, be cautious about piling everything into the living room floor and trying to sort it all out. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed by the task and even to give up. Much better to give yourself an achievable deadline to complete your project and achieve the home you want. For example, decide that you’ll give yourself a total of four weeks. Then break the task into easier chunks – maybe one or two rooms per week. That way, you’ll be able to see clear results which will motivate you to keep going.
Remove 1 item per day
If you are just too busy to undertake a massive project, or just don’t know where to start, commit to removing one unwanted or unused item from its usual place, each day. You won’t see the same dramatic transformation as with a room-by-room clear out, but you’ll be taking control, and step by step, you’ll notice your living space becoming less overcrowded
Set up ‘throw-it’ point
Next question is – what to do with items you want to discard? It’s important to have a dedicated container – say a laundry basket, or some shelves – to throw them into. When the storage is full, it’s time to decide whether to put them in the trash or donate them to charity.
Make space in your garage, shed, or workshop
These kinds of spaces, half in the home and half separated are notorious dumping grounds for things that ‘may come in useful, someday’. They’re a good place to start with your de-cluttering. First, work out what needs to be thrown and what can be kept. If something has been waiting to be mended for more than 6 months- you know what to do with it. Invest in some tough cabinets, with a variety of drawer sizes, for example from Quantum storage systems, or other reputable suppliers, which will allow you to store your tools equipment out of sight and under lock and key.
Wardrobe nostalgia
Back inside the home, untidy drawers and closets mean it’s likely that we have accumulated too many clothes. It’s not easy to decide to throw away items we love but have never even worn once. Or those that hold special memories. One way to tackle this area is the ‘reverse coathanger’ technique. Turn all your coathangers so the hooks are facing inwards. Each time you wear a garment, replace it, this time with the hook facing outwards. After a few months, it will be obvious which clothes you need and use, and which have outlived their usefulness in your home. Let them find a new use somewhere else, and let someone else love them.
Use walls
Rather than buying new furniture to take up more floor space, think of new ways to create floor space using your doors and walls. Fabric pockets hanging on the back of doors are an easy way to organize underwear and socks, freeing drawer space. Good old-fashioned pinboards can be adapted to store and display accessories, jewelry, or scarves. Using brackets, you can add adjustable shelving or storage boxes to the hardboard with drilled holes, for make- up and beauty products, to create a clutter-free dresser top.
Photos before and after
Before embarking on your transformation project, be sure to take plenty of ‘before’ photos of any clutter and excess stuff. These can keep you motivated as, room by room, you clear the unwanted items from the room and your mind. Keep them in your phone as mementos of your success and only look at them again whenever you notice the clutter creeping back in…..
There’s no doubt that a home is more comfortable when it’s clean and well-organized, Hope these simple hacks will help you on the road to reclaiming your space.
