“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris.
As beautiful a quote as this is, decluttering the home is often easier said than done! While it can be hard to find the time between busy working and home lives, keeping on top of clutter is a habit that can be easily maintained once over the initial hurdle. If you’re not entirely convinced yet, let’s talk through some of the benefits you might feel from giving your house a good old declutter.
Why does decluttering your home feel so good?
There are several reasons why decluttering the home feels good, and it has more health benefits than you might think!
Reduce personal and family stress
Focusing on tasks can be much more complicated when we live, work and (try to) relax in a cluttered environment. With so many distractions in our field of vision, it’s easy to become overstimulated, distracted, and overwhelmed, making us less productive and unable to keep our minds on just one thing for long.
When you really, really need a break, it can sometimes be beneficial to leave tidying and cleaning until the next day (like leaving a big pot to soak). However, doing this all the time can take us out of good habits and make subsequent cleaning tasks longer and more challenging to complete.
Clutter’s effect on our wellbeing is even more pronounced in a busy family setting. In the typical nuclear family, the potential is increased at least fourfold, even more so with children who haven’t entirely managed to get into a rhythm of cleanliness or are not quite as predisposed to its adverse effects as adults.
This added pressure can create excess tension in the home. When we feel upset or unsettled, we can become implicit in our tone, words, and actions, making an already overstimulating environment even more uncomfortable.
Cleanliness and healthiness
Although a bit of time off from cleaning and tidying can give you the mental space you need to function or perform specific tasks, the long-term effects of this can be more concerning than simply being an eyesore or obstructive. Clutter also gives bacteria and dust places to hide and thrive.
While this can have an obvious effect from an aesthetic point of view, it can also have a knock-on effect on our physical health, with dust exacerbating health conditions like asthma and allergies.
With all this in mind, if decluttering your home has been on your ‘to-do’ list for a while, we have noted a few tips and tricks below to keep you on the right track. After all, we are storage experts!
Figure 1: Unsplash/Humairah L
How to declutter your home
Make a plan
Like the Scouts, be prepared! If you look at every room in quick succession, it’ll be easy to become overwhelmed and distracted, making starting that much harder. For a more productive decluttering session, tackle each room separately and write a list of what you want to achieve. We advise you start with the rooms you use less often – this way, you’ll most likely be able to get more peace and quiet to manage the process effectively, away from the stresses of personal and family life.
Take everything out
Once you’ve decided to start a room, our best advice is to remove everything—that means emptying every drawer and cupboard and clearing every surface you can. This will make it easier to know what to keep and what a more minimalist use of the space could look like. Add back what you feel are the most important items, putting the rest aside for disposal, charity shops, or storage (more on this later).
Divide your stuff
We suggest dividing your stuff into three distinct piles. These are:
• Keep – For those items you still use and love.
• Storage – Perfect for clothing, accessories, or household items you still want to keep but no longer have room for in your house.
• Bin – For those items you no longer use.
Be ruthless
If you’re prone to sentimentality, this can be a tough one. If you’re struggling to let go of an item, ask yourself: when was the last time I thought of this item unprompted? Was it in the previous year? If not, it might be time to pull the plug and get rid.
While it can be very hard to let go of items that remind us of other people or certain times in our lives, there may be other items that fulfil a similar function, and so rather than keeping all of them, keeping one or two can work just as well.
Take regular breaks
Depending on how long it’s left, decluttering can be laborious, time-consuming, and quite draining! Even if completing the task takes a little longer, try not to wear yourself out too much. Take regular breaks to eat and relax. Ensure you drink plenty of water, too, as moving many items in a potentially dusty environment can be thirsty work.
Have fun!
As big a task as decluttering can be, it doesn’t have to be boring. If you can, why not involve a family member to help lighten the load? If you prefer to work alone, listening to music, a podcast, or an audiobook while you work can help the time pass faster and make the process more enjoyable. There’s also nothing wrong with taking a quick trip down memory lane as you admire possessions you haven’t seen in a while; just make sure you remember to come back up the lane in good time!
Reorganise and maintain
Clean your drawers and wardrobes and reorganise your items neatly and in a way that will help you stay on top of things going forward. While doing so, make sure your storage approach is practical. If it’s overly complex, chances are you’ll have a harder time sticking to it.
If, after you have decluttered, you still have items you’re not ready to let go of completely, storing them in a safe and secure storage unit can be a great interim solution.
At GTW Storage, we’ll be happy to shoulder the burden until you feel ready. Call us on 0141 221 4727 or contact us via our website.