If you worked on the basis that you kept nothing in your house that you did not consider to be useful or believe to be pleasing on the eye, you would probably have a fairly empty house.
Many of us seem to live life in a cluttered home, whether it is intentional or not and we seem to be particularly good at squirreling away objects that we don’t really need and often forget that we even had in the first place.
If your cupboards are full and every available space in your home is occupied, it may be time to clear your clutter and clear your mind, as it easier to de-stress and relax when you have had a good clear out and your home is looking more like an oasis of clam than a junk yard.
Benefits of de-cluttering
Sometimes your mind may feel like it is full of clutter and it is hard to concentrate or relax with so many distractions going on.
This same feeling can be experienced when you are surrounded by clutter in your home, so make a plan to set aside a weekend and junk proof your home, so that you can enjoy a greater level of peace and tranquillity in your mind, and have less dust and dirt to deal with as well.
Getting started
You need to create an action plan and make a list of which rooms you are going to clear and what you are going to do with your unwanted items.
Organise a skip through someone like Birmingham skip hire so that you have somewhere to easily get rid of all your unwanted junk, and anything else that is not going to charity or going to be recycled.
You can also do a service like Freecycle to get rid of functional household goods and furniture that you no longer want, but would be welcomed by someone else.
One room at a time
Decide which room is in the most urgent need of de-cluttering and make that your priority, then make sure that you complete your task in that that room before going on to the next one.
It is always advisable to tackle one room at a time, otherwise you will probably find that you are actually creating more clutter unless you are particularly disciplined in your approach to ridding your house of all the unnecessary items that you have accumulated over time.
Organised clearance
Your task will seem much easier if you take an organized approach to your clearance and arrange your rubbish into different piles, such as what is going for recycling and what is going straight into a bin bag or in the skip.
Make sure you have a charity pile if you are going to donate some items and remember that these days, over 50% of household waste can now be recycled, including old computers and electrical appliances, as well as items made of cardboard, wood, textiles and some plastics.
Make the task easier
There is a proven strategy to a successful clearance and if you stick to it, your task will be made a whole lot easier and less stressful to deal with.
Start off with the largest objects in the room and work your way down to the smallest items and trinkets.
Be ruthless, if you haven’t worn or something for at least a year, you probably don’t need it and should aim to ditch it.
Organise items into groups as you go along and aim to group like with like so you can see what you are dealing with and what you are ditching more easily.
As part of your clear-up exercise, store any out-of-season clothes using vacuum packs or suitcases to store them away as neatly as possible.
Remind yourself why you are de-cluttering in the first place and how long it is taking to sort. With this in mind, promise yourself that you will set aside some time each month to regularly de-junk, so that you don’t have to tackle your house again to such a large extent.
Don’t accumulate
To get the most benefit from your clearance exercise, try to commit to slowing down the accumulation of possessions in the future.
This is often easier said than done, but if you can reduce the amount of clutter you introduce into your home in the first place, you can manage more easily and enjoy a less stressful environment all year round.
Take a look around at what you have in your home and then decide to set aside a weekend to clear your clutter and clear your mind.
Steve Briggs is a home improvement fanatic and avid writer. He likes to spend his free time fixing up his old house, as well as sharing what he has learned for others to read online. His articles appear on many home improvement, DIY and better living websites.
