You love looking at interior design magazine covers, right? Those with no clutter, just elegance and space. Or websites with clean, minimalist designed living spaces? Who doesn’t? But then you go back and think your home can’t possibly ever look like that. Well, it can!
Getting rid of unnecessary clutter will not only be a simple step to freeing your living space, but your life as well.
In eventful modern life, the stuff we amass can rapidly get away from us and become overbearing, but there is no benefit to feeling remorseful about it. Instead, focus on a few simple rules that will reorganise your house and ensure it always stays that way.
1. Try to declutter on a regular basis
Clutter can pile up in a blink of an eye and, in a matter of days, have your place looking like a total mess. Luckily, decluttering is a quick step that will lift up your home almost instantly too. With little effort, devote a single morning or afternoon of the month to sort the place out. Throw in the bin what should have been there already, such as leaflets and other unnecessary miscellanea and then move to other matters. Those jackets on the back of the chair can go in the hanger and pop those bigger items back into their cabinets.
2. Return every item to its intended place
Everything has its designed place, and you should dedicate to each of your items its own rightful spot – even when it’s down to commonly used items such as remote controls or house keys.
If you have trouble putting things away, if you do it two, three and more times, it will create a habit. In no time, you will be doing it instinctively – especially when you notice how your home is looking better without random items lying all over the place.
3. Spare 15 minutes per day to tidy up
A few minutes each day for some tidying up your home will save you from back-breaking hours on your off days. You’ll notice how much more manageable and calm your Sunday mornings will be.
4. Consider wisely before buying
Bargain items, instinctive purchasing are all threats to your minimalist and organised house project. We are not claiming these items are not useless for your life and won’t go for that route. Instead, we appeal to you to consider when picking up one of these items if you have a dedicated place to put them in, or if they will add more clutter to your tables and countertops.
Impulsive purchases are an organisation killer so think if they are worth it.
5. Be honest with yourself
Allow the size of your home do the talking on how much stuff you can have, and not the other way around. When you can’t keep your closet’s doors closed, instead of craving a bigger closet, reduce the number of clothes you have to fit the space that already exists. Don’t just overfill your house to then try to find more storage. Be honest with yourself on what you really should keep and decide what doesn’t have a function anymore and just let go.
And for those items that you don’t want to give away but are taking up space in your home, you can also consider renting a self storage space for that stuff you want to keep but don’t necessarily need to have inside the house.
At U Store It, we’re more than familiar with people requiring more space than their house can handle, and they love our self-storage units’ flexibility. Just drop your items and pick them up again whenever you need them and as it suits you best!
6. Have some accountability
Not only you but anyone that shares the house, if that is the case. If their room is the space your kids use most, they should be responsible for keeping it tidy. Or if your partner has their own office or garage, then that space should be neat and organised by them as well. This will make your house organisation objectives easier by not worrying about every square inch of the household.
7. Don’t overlook the importance of having a junk drawer
This is the counterbalance for all the tidying up: removing all small junk items from tabletops and shelves will leave some little stuff like pens, rolls of tape and whatnot to end up in the bottom of a drawer. Though no one really is in love with this prospect when looking to get everything in its lawful place, not every single item needs to drain your mind to find a particular inch, just keep it in a junk drawer. Over time, it will be the home of the rejected items, and that’s fine.
8. Dispose of any duplicates
Any redundancy we end up finding in cabinets – as three combs in the bathroom, two spatulas or those five napkin holders you got from Christmas – get rid of them! Doubling up can be a great backup, but if you’re coming across items you’ve never even used, just throw away the one you like the least and save the space for other items you do use.
9. Focus on where the clutter accumulates the most
A clean and uncluttered home is one where you aren’t walking into the dining room in the morning to gaze at what looks like a war zone. Have a look around the house and work out the spaces that become disorganised more quickly and try to find out the reason why this happens. Is it because it’s a very utilised room and people just get lazy and don’t bother putting things back into their dedicated place? Is there a lack of available drawers to put things away? Figuring out and fixing the cause of the problem will make it easier to keep everything neatly in their allocated place.
10. Don’t worry and try again
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and nobody can hit every milestone in one go! The homes you dream with from the magazines aren’t perfect either. It takes designers, stylists and many attempts to create perfect sceneries!
If you’re really determined on getting your house up to your standards, then use your off week to do it! And if you can’t get it 100 per cent by then, try again on the next day off! If, along the way, the house becomes messy again, don’t be frightened and quit. It’s just a matter of trying again.
