With Carrie's help, you've transformed your home to a calm and clutter-free sanctuary, but how can you stay clutter-free for good? For most of us, it can be difficult to maintain the order of a professional organiser and old hoarding habits are hard to break. However, these tips and tricks will help you keep your home organised and banish mess forever.
Keep the memory, not the item
Do you tend to hold onto an item for sentimental or emotional reasons? This is usually because you associate it with a positive memory. For example, you're never going to wear a dress or shorts that don't fit you, but perhaps they remind you of the party where you met your spouse or the day you ran a marathon. Looking at these kind of items trigger an emotional response. A feeling of happiness, achievement or even love. Understandably, this can make it incredibly hard to part with an item.
So what is the answer? Well, Rebecca Reczek recommends that you take a picture of the item before you donate it. That way you can look at it (and trigger the emotional memory associated with it) whenever you like. If you have a lot of items like this, you might like to start a scrapbook to keep the photos together. Perhaps include a sentence or two about what each item means to you. This would be a wonderful thing to share with your children and grandchildren in the future.
Create better buying habits
The simple fact is that it's easier to stay clutter-free when you own less 'stuff'. Try the 'one in, one out' shopping rule. Whenever you buy anything, you get rid of something. So if you buy a new pair of jeans, an old pair of trousers has to be donated or thrown out. If you buy a new saucepan, you have to get rid of some old crockery or similar. This way you never increase the amount of items in your home. An added bonus is that you start to think twice about buying anything, meaning that you also save money.
Go paperless
Switch as much as you can to paper-free accounts for banking and bills in order to avoid a build up of paperwork. Choose to keep only what you really need to (passports, birth and marriage certificates, the title deeds to your house for example). If you're unsure if a document might be needed in the future (perhaps receipts for tax reasons), take a photo of it and file it digitally instead of keeping the paper copy. Do this regularly so as to avoid an admin mountain. And recycle any junk mail as soon as it arrives.
Of course it helps if you can get your partner, family or housemates on board with keeping your home clutter-free. After all, it benefits everyone. Team up, divide and conquer for a clean and clutter-free home!
This is a guest post by Synsera Homes. Visit our website for property development and investment information, plus more decluttering tips.
Established in 2016 and based in Kent and SE London, Synsera Homes is a young, dynamic, independent property company with an uncompromising focus. We create high-quality, safe and welcoming homes that are functional and practical in design, yet affordable to rent or buy. We believe that everyone deserves a home like this.
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Preparing and organising for the festive period can be exciting and fun, but sometimes it can feel overwhelming and stressful. Here I share my knowledge on how to keep you on track, your house organised and ensure you actually enjoy the holiday.
Firstly break down the one giant job into manageable small ones, you will enjoy the satisfaction of ticking these jobs off along the way!
Compose the gift list for your family and friends; allocate a budget per person to ensure you don’t over spend. Try not to buy for the sake of buying and be conscious of adding to other people’s clutter. Ideal ways to avoid this are to purchase experiences, plants, consumables and drinks. Think about a day you can put aside to shop locally for these items, it’s great to support your local high street and you often find handmade or unusual items you just wouldn’t see online.
Make a guest list for the festive meals you will be hosting, enjoy spending some time perusing those gorgeous food magazines! Pre plan your meals and make a list of all ingredients. Purchase non-perishable items early and book your online shop so that you get a collection/delivery date and time that suits you, by doing this in advance you will avoid the busy supermarkets.
Compose your card list and purchase your cards and gift wrap early, write a few cards each evening, it’s one less thing to do nearer the time. If you have to send any cards or presents overseas you will avoid the long post office queues too!
Go through your decorations, purging any that have seen better days and purchase new ones if necessary.
If you have guests staying over the festive period, now is an ideal time to declutter the spare room. Whilst you are in this mind-set you can declutter your home in preparation for the gifts you may receive. Finally clear out the fridge, check use-by dates on condiments that often take up a lot of space.
Finally, be conscious of your diary during this holiday. If you accept every invitation you may feel overwhelmed. Rather than enjoying yourself over the festive period you will just end up rushing from one place to the next.
It’s about taking time to enjoy the company of family and friends.