One of the most common problems people have with a household they’ve been living in for a while is that stuff just has the tendency to accumulate over time, for. Before long, you might find yourself living in a cluttered space that’s harder to move around in, harder to keep clean, and generally more stressful to be in. However, clutter doesn’t have to keep dominating your life. Here are a few tips on how to make it a thing of the past.
Curate Everything You Own
The first step to eliminating clutter is getting clear on what’s worth keeping. Take a walk through each room and list every item, separating them into categories: keep, donate, sell, or throw away. Be honest with yourself about what you actually use versus what simply takes up space. If you have any items that you haven’t touched or used in over a year, then there’s a very good chance that you’re not going to use them again, either, so you have to decide what to do with them.
Make Better Use Of Your Storage Space
One of the reasons that your home might be cluttered is that you don’t have the storage that you need to house the things that you actually want to keep. Take a closer look at the space you have and ask if there’s any room for more storage furniture, like drawers or cabinets. You can also look at furniture that doubles as storage. Coffee tables with drawers, ottomans that open up, beds with built-in compartments, or shelving units with baskets are excellent examples. You can even use the architecture of the home, implementing built-in storage to really maximise how much space you have.
Find Some More Space
If you really don’t have enough space in your home for the things that you would rather keep, even if you’re just holding onto them long enough to find a buyer for them, then you should still get them out of the home for peace of mind. In these cases, renting a storage unit can be a smart option. Seasonal items like holiday decorations, sports gear, or bulky furniture you don’t currently use can all be stored off-site, freeing up valuable space in your home.
Start Buying With Intention
Aside from what you should do to handle clutter now, you should think about how you’re going to prevent it in the future, as well. To start with, begin buying with intention. Before purchasing any furniture, appliances, or decor pieces, ask if you really need it and if it’s really going to elevate your interior or bring some quality of life. Impulse buys often lead to regret and clutter, so slowing down the decision-making process helps. Taking 24 hours to think before any non-essential purchase can clarify things a lot.
The tips above can help you tackle clutter and end up with a much more organised and pleasing home space. However, you have to incorporate these habits in the long term to keep it that way.
