The holidays do a number on our homes and businesses. As one of the busiest times of year, it’s far too easy to let things pile up while we celebrate. And do they ever! The detritus of the season finds its way into our cupboards, drawers, and bookshelves, but it doesn’t stop there. Almost anything with a flat surface is the perfect place to stack papers, magazines, and bills. While you may not have had the time to deal with the mess during the holidays, by the New Year, you’re ready to take on that holiday clutter. Ease into your task by following this organizational guide to 2018, and you’ll eliminate clutter from your life fast.
Say goodbye to things you don’t use. We all have that item (or several) that we keep just because we think we’ll need it months down the line. This thinking doesn’t make much sense when you consider you haven’t used that pierogi maker set since you bought it ten years ago. You need to go through you home to find those items, and break up with them. It may take a while. Recent surveys indicate Canadians wear only 20 percent of the clothes in their closet 80 percent of the time. Review your belongings with prejudice and remove those that haven’t seen the light of day in over 6 months.
Follow a system. Throwing all your old clothes and obsolete kitchen items in the same pile won’t do anything but make a mess. Before you start de-cluttering your house, implement a system of categorizing the stuff you want to keep. This can be easily done by sorting clothes and other items according to colour, sleeve length, or even according to the seasons of the year.
As for the items you want to lose, split them into a charity pile and a garbage pile. Anything that could have a second life with someone else should find its way into the charity pile, whereas anything broken or damage should be thrown out.
Think seasonally. Set aside seasonal clothing and other timely items (like camping gear or decorations)from the rest of your possessions. Depending on how many seasonal items you own, they could sit on a shelf or in a few boxes in your basement. If you have an exceptionally large amount of seasonal items that you can’t get rid of, consider placing these extra items in storage. You can find a secure storage facility to affordably store your summer equipment and winter gear to get these items out of your home until you need them.
Research Richmond Hill self storage rentals to learn the standards of the industry. As the home of an award-winning facility, Richmond Hill self storage rentals provide exceptionally clean and secure units for their customers. Though you may not live in the area, you can still use their climate controls and physical security features as benchmarks for your local facility.
Don’t forget your kitchen. Kitchen duty is a must. As the second most used room in the houseafter the bathroom, the kitchen presents many challenges for the New Year. You can start by throwing out all the plastic containers with missing tops. Don’t try to find them; they were tossed out a long time ago with the trash. Likewise, expired spices, canned goods and boxes, and leftover themed party plates and napkins are other items that can head toward the trash can.
By the end of it all, you may have a huge pile of things that need to be donated, and the pile that needs to be thrown out is probably twice as large. But that’s okay! Just think of all the clear and clean space you’ll have once you remove all this clutter. Don’t be discouraged by the effort or time it will take to impose order in your space. Like with any New Year’s resolution, you need to keep your head down and tough it out if you expect to keep it. Though it won’t be pretty, the end result of a clean and organized home will be worth all the sweat and tears.
