5 Practical Tips to Declutter Your Home
It is not just about having enough time to clean. Interior
experts say that one of the reasons why households remain cluttered is because
of the lack of organization and firm decisions. This is especially true for
sentimental people who always find one reason or another no hold on to old
stuff. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but these are the sort of items
that usually stay in disorganized piles or in the back of your closet.
Leading property portal Lamudi suggests five ways to declutter your home,
freeing up space in your house to make your living more comfortable, and your
environment more breathable.
1.
THE FOUR BOX METHOD
© Monique Popp / Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mpopp/
|
Get four boxes and label them the following: Put Away, Give Away/Sell,
Storage, and Trash. This is the easiest way to organize your things, especially
for those who need a little push in decision-making. Put Away are the stuff you
need on a regular basis. Give Away/Sell are items you no longer need, but are
still in good condition, and can be used by someone else. You can donate to
charity or hold a garage sale. Storage are items that you still need, but only
seasonal or infrequently. Trash items are typically damaged, broken, or
overused. Take note of the quantity of each box. Your Put Away and Storage
boxes must not be so much more than your Give Away/Sell and Trash. Ideally,
these two are the smallest of your pile. If not, maybe you need to reassess its
contents and re-categorize. (This article suggests other Boxing Methods)
2.
THE OPRAH HANGER METHOD
© Samuraijohnny / Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/samuraislice/
|
Organizing a closet is one of the biggest headaches experienced
by women. You can’t find your favorite pair of jeans, you have socks in your
underwear drawer, you are not sure which shirt you already wore last week!
Public icon, Oprah Winfrey proposes this solution: Hang all your clothes with hangers facing
backwards. When your return them to your closet after use, turn the hanger
around so that it is facing the correct direction. Doing this for five to six
months will give you a clearer picture of what clothes you wear often, and what
clothes you don’t wear at all. Not to mention, it saves you a lot of folder
time.
3.
IN-AND-OUT
© Thomas R. Stegelmann / Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasrstegelmann/
|
Drawers and cabinets are the easiest prey of clutter. Old
useless pens, receipts from transactions over a year ago, piles of post-its,
stray staple wires… the list is endless in these pull-out treasure coves. There
are two things you can do to declutter.The first is throwing one item out for
every one item you put in. The second is to take everyone out of your drawer,
and to put them back inside one piece at a time. This is also a way for you to
sort out which items to keep, and which ones to discard.
4.
STORE AND LABEL
© Christa / Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ch_cnb/
|
The kitchen is one of the most intimidating places to
declutter.The simplest solution is to make use of empty lidded jars, and using
them as containers for your spices, sugar, salt, flour, etc. to store in your
kitchen drawer or cupboard. This is not only a form of recycling, but these
clear containers make it easy for you to find what you need.
5.
ESTABLISH GOOD HABITS
© Christa / Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ch_cnb/
|
Easier said than done, right? It starts with a simple
visualization of what you want your home to look like. (The power of visualization is worth more than you think.) Having
this vision constantly in mind will help you develop and maintain good habits
that will help you deal with clutter and organize your household on a daily
basis. Imagining all your shoes organized in a shoe rack? Then don’t leave your
shoes lying around. As soon as you take them off, put them back where they
belong. Thinking of having your own little reading nook? Then put all your
books, magazines, and other reading materials in one area.
Also, be a smart shopper. This may be the
true source of your cluttering problems. Only buy what you really need. Don’t
pile up on toilet paper when you have more than enough, and especially if you
have no space to store them all. Don’t buy 3 bottles of shampoo in one go, when
you just need one. The less stuff you bring home, the less clutter you will
have to deal with.
Comments
Post a Comment