It always annoys me when I read articles on how to declutter and free up space in the home, and the tips are focused on throwing things out. Obviously, there will be a few things you can give to charity or friends, and everyone has a few items they can just get rid of. But, what if you’ve already done all of that and you still have too much clutter? You don’t want to throw your things away as they might be valuable in one way or another. Instead, here are a few easy ways you can declutter without throwing all your valuable possessions away:
Make Use of Every Room in Your ouse
It’s all too common for people to feel like they have no storage space when they actually have a lot. The secret is using every single room in your home. I’m talking about a couple of places in particular that regularly get neglected; the attic/loft and garage. If your attic is boarded up, then it’s the perfect storage room for loads of things you don’t use on a regular basis. If it isn’t, then boarding it up is such a good investment as you instantly create a storage room. The same goes for your garage; make use of the space available to neatly organise things. Here, you have a way of moving clutter out of the main rooms in your home while still keeping it nearby. So, if you do randomly need something you stored away, you can easily get it out.
Put Some Valuables in Storage
We all have a few family heirlooms or things that are either emotionally or financially valuable. Similarly, a lot of these things don’t really get used every day, and you can live without them in your home. Therefore, you can seriously declutter your interior by putting these things in storage. There are long-term storage solutions out there where you can keep things for months on end locked away in a secure room. A lot of these places offer discounts too, so check online find out if you can save money. Mainly, this idea gets rid of things that are taking up space by not being used and keeps them safe. You still have them, they’re just no longer in your home. We don’t have heirlooms sitting around but I have to admit, there are things that have always moved with us that we never throw out that could be happily located elsewhere!
Use Multi-Functional Furniture
My favourite idea is to use furniture that has multiple functions. Beds or chairs that contain storage compartments are brilliant examples of this. They take up as much space as regular items of furniture, but they allow you to store things in them. As a result, you banish a lot of clutter from the room while keeping it very close by. It’s ideal for things like children’s toys or books that you might use regularly but don’t want to leave out all the time as they clutter up a room.
While it can be a good idea to sort through your clutter and get rid of things that have no purpose, there’s no need to throw away loads of perfectly good things. I said to Roy just the other day “We have too much stuff” but really, I think we just don’t have enough storage. Could you declutter a better way than simply throwing things away?
