Have you accumulated lots of unwanted or seasonal products that are just not needed around the house anymore? This is a common occurrence to many family homes which leads us to find ourselves with a lot less space to move around.
The winter (especially new year) is a great time to have a proper home refresh before the spring arrives to keep everything feeling clean, spacious, and zen.
Christmas has been and gone, you’ve likely gained a lot more items than several weeks ago, so whether it’s the leftover festive decorations which are taking up space, or big bulky coats lying around, there’s plenty of ways to declutter your house.
Create a checklist
The prospect of decluttering can be a daunting one at first, but the best way to do this is by pre-planning and getting organised.
So, create a checklist and split things into sections. What needs recycling, what can be taken to the charity shop (or tip if not in good enough condition), and what can be stored until a later date. Splitting your list into sections will help you feel in control and tackle everything easier!
Start small
After checklist creation, the best way to get started is to start small, and do a few minutes a day, especially if you have a large load declutter. This will also enable you to see just how big or small the job in question is so that you can plan ahead how much time is required to get the task complete.
Start dedicating 15 minutes either after or before work to get things organised, and it won’t feel like such a big task after all. You will be surprised how far you have come after just one or 2 weeks.
Plus, as it’s winter, the only thing you want to do is be wrapped up warm indoors anyway. That way you won’t feel as though you’re missing out on anything. If you’re like me, the idea of a clean, clutter-free house is enough to get me going anyway and a day inside re-organising my house is a day well spent!
Hire a storage unit
If you have a large amount to declutter, one of the best ways to get everything organised is by hiring a storage unit. Personal storage from Safestore is a great way to keep everything safe and secure while making sure it’s out of the way.
Safestore’s personal storage units are also very well-priced, so there’s no need to worry about cost repercussions when decluttering.
Get the correct packaging materials
Whether you’re opting for a personal storage unit, or just need to pack everything away in your house somewhere, ensuring you have the right materials is a sure-fire way to keep things safer for longer.
Make sure any delicate items are packed up properly padded, through bubble wrap or similar, and everything is wrapped tight enough with tape. Often when packing fragile items away it is a good idea to find soft items that you can use to place around them in order to ensure nothing gets broken in transit. This can include towels, pillows, cuddly toys, cushions or even clothing.
If you have lots of smaller items, make sure you have thick, sturdy boxes which can stand the weight when lifted and moved around. You should use strong duck-tape or box tape to ensure that the joins do not rupture. It is always an extremely painful moment when you lift a box of kitchen wear and they fall through the box before smashing into 1000 pieces on the tiles floor!
Correct Labelling
One thing that is often a second thought for people when packing away old items is the label them correctly. When packing away your thing you should always go through the extra effort of putting the correct labels on the boxes so that when you come round to un-packing them or even clearing them out permanently, you know what is packed in each box. There is nothing worse than realising that you’ve thrown something important away when it is too late or having to look through every single box to locate an individual item that could have been found in no time at all.
This simple process may sound like a big job but when it is carried out in a methodical manner, the process can in fact become quite satisfying. If you would like to find any more useful articles, please check out our lifestyle category which has a large selection of useful articles.
