It might not be the best job, but clearing and organising your home is a necessity. However, we’ve put together our top tips to make the project less stressful.
Plan ahead
Clearing your house from potentially several years of clutter is a large job. Plan which rooms you want to tackle, how long you want it to take and who will be helping you – this way you can see the size of the task ahead and go into it fully prepared.
Donate to charity
It’s time to sort through those old clothes, shoes and electrical goods to find out what you don’t want to keep anymore. Charity bags are a regular feature through our letterboxes so why not give to good causes to help change lives?
Clear one room at a time
We know that sorting through all your possessions can be a stressful job, but don’t try and complete the task in one day.
Start with the messiest room and work in 30-minute bursts, taking regular breaks to keep yourself refreshed, relaxed and positive that you’ve made the right decisions about the items you want to keep or discard.
Get friends and family involved
Having more bodies working together ensures the job gets done quicker because you’ll have someone to make those hard decisions with.
Assign each person a section and organise regular breaks to check on their progress. You’ll be surprised at the difference a fresh pair of eyes can make.
Digitise your documents
Get rid of the stacks of bills and other important documents you have lying around by scanning them onto your computer, organising them into categories and uploading them onto a secure storage site such as Dropbox.
Don’t forget to backup your files and shred all documents you no longer need.
Recycle your household waste
The UK produces over 18,000,000 tonnes of landfill waste every year, but did you know the majority of plastics, paper and metals, including electrical goods, can be recycled?
Organise your items based on material and take them down to your local recycling centre, or contact your local council to get the heavier goods taken away for you.
Find other uses for items you have lying around
A fantastic idea if you want to save money, remove clutter and be creative. Why not turn plastic bottles into bird feeders? Takeaway cartons are also great for storing arts and crafts supplies.
Use your imagination and think of other uses for the items you have. It’s a novel, cost-effective way of breathing new life into unwanted items.
Use vacuum storage bags
If you can’t decide which clothes to discard, this is the storage option for you.
You can place a large amount of items in these bags which then compresses the air out of it, creating an air-tight, flat package – allowing it to be stored away until you make a decision.
Use the ‘one-year rule’
If you want to see results, you need to be brutal about what you’re clearing away. Look through your belongings and decide if you’re going to use it again.
If the answer is ‘no’ then donating it to charity would be the best option. If you haven’t used an item for over a year, then there’s a good chance you have no need for it.
Go to a car boot sale
This is a great way to make money from your unwanted goods. Why not start the new year with extra money in your pocket while freeing your home from clutter?.
Greenline Environmental
