With the May bank holidays approaching, why not take the opportunity to declutter your home? Marie Kondo, Japanese decluttering and organising expert, tells us that tidying the right way can be life-changing and help create a more serene and inspiring home environment.
In our latest blog, we look to three de-cluttering experts for their pearls of wisdom…
Ease yourself in
In a recent feature from US magazine InStyle, 3 Things to Know Before You KonMari Your Home, journalist Annie Vorrasi explores the best order in which to de-clutter your home, based on Marie Kondo’s tidying up process, now widely hailed as the ‘KonMari Method.’
It appears we’d be best to take baby steps, starting with the easiest, least sentimental category, before working up to more challenging items such as school memorabilia and old diaries. Marie Kondo recommends working through items in the following order:-
- Clothing
- Books
- Documents and papers
- Miscellaneous items
- Memorabilia
“By tackling the purging process in this order, your sensitivity towards the “spark joy” feeling improves,” says Annie. “So by the time you’re ready for the most difficult items […] you’ll have the ability to quickly determine whether it’s a keeper or not.”
Far from sight, far from mind
Leading UK self-storage company, Big Yellow Self Storage, promotes removing certain items from your home entirely. By investing in a secure storage facility, you can reclaim the treasured space in your home that is currently used to stow items that aren’t used all year round, such as Christmas decorations, roof boxes or bulky seasonal sports equipment.
If you are able to recoup just the right amount of space, you will be able to get better day-to-day use out of your home. Fancy converting the area under the stairs into a home office nook? Or turning your attic into an exercise space?
And there’s more – by bringing order to your home, not only can you improve the look and feel of your interior space, you can also enhance its selling prospects as and when the time comes to sell. According to Big Yellow research: “Almost a fifth of buyers (22%) wouldn’t make an offer on a property because it was too cluttered, so it’s important to maximise the space in your home to clinch that sale.”
Take the 12-12-12 challenge
“The best things in life aren’t things” – so reads the strapline of American blogger Joshua Becker’s blog, becomingminimalist, reminding us that physical possessions can be a distraction from the more important pursuits in life.
“The idea of living a simplified, uncluttered life with less stuff sounds attractive to many,” says Joshua. “They have considered the benefits of owning fewer possessions: less to clean, less debt, less to organise, less stress, more money and energy for their greatest passions.”
However, knowing where to start can be a daunting prospect if you have a tendency to collect, hoard or hold on to things longer than you should. One item in his list of 10 Creative Ways to Declutter Your Home is the 12-12-12 Challenge.
Joshua explains: “A simple task of locating 12 items to throw away, 12 items to donate, and 12 items to be returned to their proper home can be a really fun and exciting way to quickly organize 36 things in your house.”
So, whatever you have planned this coming bank holiday, whether you’re working as usual, busy with the kids, or taking some R&R time out for yourself, try to steal a quick half hour to make a start on living a more simplified life!
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