The 2017 festivities are well and truly over, and you wouldn’t be alone if you feel like you’re drowning in clutter!
It’s long been believed that a clear environment can help to create a clear mind, relieve stress and promote a greater sense of control, but sometimes it can be a little hard to know where to begin. To help you get started, I’ve put together a few top tips to help you declutter your home and enter the new year with a fresh approach.
- Return duplicate or unwanted gifts
While you may initially feel a little guilty about returning unwanted gifts, it’s not uncommon to receive more than one of the same gift or some items that you know in all honesty you’re never going to use.
We all know that when it comes to gift-giving it’s the thought that counts, and I guarantee whoever gave you the gift would rather you return it than feel anxious about your increasingly disorganised home.
- Keep/Store/Dispose
I know the thought of a major overhaul of your home can seem overwhelming and very tempting to put in the ‘I’ll do it another time’ category, but if you take a little time to formulate a plan of attack, the process can be a lot more rewarding than daunting.
The key is to make sure you don’t bite off more than you can chew by recruiting family or friends to help you out, only approaching one room at a time and creating a simple sorting system which makes it easy to decide if you want to ‘keep’, ‘store’ or ‘dispose’ items.
If you haven’t used something in the last 12 months or it simply isn’t adding value to your life either functionally or aesthetically, then it’s time for it to go.
When deciding how to get rid of the things in the ‘dispose’ category, further divide them up by working out what you can sell, donate, recycle, or throw away.
If you’ve been holding onto broken items with a view to getting them repaired, do a quick web search to see how much it would cost to replace them. Unfortunately, most appliances aren’t built to the same quality standards as they were in bygone eras and quite often, it’s more cost-effective to replace items than repair them.
- Get organised
Don’t let all your good work go to waste by forgetting to set up some simple systems to make sure it’s easy to stay organised this year. Make sure the clutter doesn’t reappear by following these simple tips:
- Invest in some smart home organisation items like large plastic containers to store away items which you only use every so often. Store ‘like items’ together and label them clearly with sticker labels so you can quickly find an item when you need it without having to open box after box;
- For smaller items, invest in some stylish jars, containers, boxes or baskets to hide away items you use less than once a month. Plastic zip-lock bags are also a handy way to store things like nails, screws or other small loose items;
- Double your closet space by replacing bulky coat hangers with slim-line non-slip clothes hangers;
- Purchase some cable management accessories to tidy your desk or home entertainment area;
- Register to receive your bills by email to stop letters piling up around the house. It’s also a smart idea to invest in a document tray where you can put any ‘in progress’ paperwork that you can’t receive electronically in one place so it doesn’t get lost;
- Create a rule that every time you bring a new item into the home, something else has to leave, whether you sell or donate.
With this approach, I’m sure you’ll be able to enjoy a clutter-free 2018!
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