De-cluttering
and organising your home is one of the most therapeutic things you can do. Not
only is the whole process quite calming, you are left with a wonderfully clean
and tidy home in which everything has its right place. The New Year is the
perfect time for fresh starts and a new way of living, and a big part of that
is starting how you mean to go on. Spending a bit of time during December
clearing out things that you no longer want or need is a great way to make way
for Christmas, and get your home ready for a new start in 2014.
Be ruthless
A
proper de-cluttering mission involves working your way methodically through
each room, making decisions on each and every item in each area. Work out if
the things you find are things you really need, or have just kept hold of out
of habit. A good rule of thumb is if you haven’t used it in the past year, you
probably don’t need it. The same goes for things you forgot you had, they
obviously weren’t that important to you in the first place. There is no room to
start keeping random things “just in case”. Be ruthless and only keep what you
really need and you’ll be well on your way to reclaiming your home.
Waste not-want not
Just
because you don’t want something, doesn’t mean that someone else might not. The
expression, “one man’s trash is anothers treasure” is often true, and
something you’ve cast off as useless could make you some money in the right
market. When you’ve decided what to get rid of, sort it into different groups.
Large items you might want to try to sell locally on online platforms or in the
local paper, smaller items can go on eBay to reach a wider market, and things
that you don’t want to sell that are still in good nick can go on to the
charity shop – anything else you can bin.
Replace important things
On
your mission you may well find things that need throwing out, but that must be
replaced. Kids wardrobes are a top place for this - when you have cleared out
30 items of ill fitting clothes you are going to have to replace them somehow. As
it is the school holidays it is the prime time to check uniform too and replace
shirts, shoes and everything else, binning the old ones. If you don’t want to
spend a fortune you can buy everything you need in the supermarket, from George's
boys school shoes to girl’s tights and backpacks, so you can bin, replace
and refresh with no hassle.
Once
you have ditched all your clutter you need to remember to keep it that way.
Think about every purchase you make and remember where you have decided to keep
your existing things so you can put everything back in its right place. It’s
much easier to keep a tidy home that way rather than starting the process over,
so make sure you are organised and maximise the space you have. All being well
you should be well on your way to a clutter-free 2014!
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