If you have the time to watch more Netflix now, watch Tidying Up With Marie Kondo.
Even if you have not watched it yet, we are sure you probably have heard of it, or the amount of people that suddenly decided to organise their homes after watching this series. In this TV show made for Netflix, the queen of decluttering embeds herself in several homes in an attempt to help mend messy ways and move on with a healthier, decluttered living style.
Decluttering itself, can become a very difficult task in homes where storage is an issue, as it requires giving things away or storing things away, rather than tidying up and finding a place for everything.
With that in mind, Elephant Storage has a few tips and suggestions when it comes to decluttering and storing your goods. The main thing to keep in mind is: if all the items in your home spark joy in you, you don’t have to get rid of them, just think and consider smart storage solutions, even if this means storing your goods away from your home for a while. Why? Because whether you need to store the contents of your entire house, or just want to keep some small personal items secure for a while, a self-storage unit can provide a practical and cost-effective solution.
With Elephant Self Storage, you can store as much or as little as you like, and for as long as you like. If you find that you need a larger or smaller storage space on the day you move in, we can transfer you to a different storage unit – with no hassle.
Now, let’s get have a quick look at some useful tips on how to tidy up your home:
Do it all at once – Ignore all the advice about tidying for 15 minutes at a time, or getting rid of one thing a day, or starting with the bedroom. You need to set aside some time and tackle everything all together, otherwise, it just won’t get done.
Get rid of things first, then sort and tidy afterwards – You can think about where to put things when you’ve finished getting rid of everything you don’t need.
Start with the easy part – Don’t begin by going through old photo albums or love letters. These are the hardest things to throw away. Unless you’re a style maven and clothes are your ultimate passion, you need to begin with your wardrobe, move on to books, then papers, miscellaneous items and, lastly, items of sentimental value.
Create and separate by categories – If you’re sorting and tidying clothes first, find every bit of clothing in every part of your home. Then move on to discarding things.
Throw away everything you don’t love – If you want to achieve true tidiness, you need to really think about the things you are throwing away – don’t throw away randomly, instead hold each item in your hand and think about its meaning to you. Kondo says that if the item ‘brings you joy’, you’ll feel it straight away. If it doesn’t, it’s time to let it go.
Get rid of useless paper-work – This one is tough, but ultimately fair. Time to throw away elaborate filing systems. Kondo argues that all your paperwork should fit in one place, in two groups – papers to be saved, and papers to be dealt with. This means being absolutely ruthless about what you keep. Ditto old bills, credit card statements and payslips. The only thing you need to keep are contracts and insurance policies. Avoid piles of papers – store them in an upright holder to avoid the collection getting too big.
Learn how to store clothes – With the exception of heavy coats and trousers, delicate dresses and suits, most items of clothing do better folded than hung, and properly folded clothes take up far less space . To store your newly folded clothes, don’t press them down on top of each other in piles, and help yourself to locate them more easily and use things in more regular rotation by standing folded clothes upright at the height of the drawer they’re in.
After all the tiding up if you still find yourself with a lot to store away, it’s probably time then to consider practical and cost effective self storage solutions!
