By Sungula Nkabinde
None of us are strangers to clutter. For some it has followed us from our teenage years when, irrespective of how many times our parents ordered us to do so, our rooms were constantly in a mess. Nowadays, though we may keep cleaner spaces and have dedicated home executives to maintain the upkeep of our homes, there is always a garage, or pantry or area of the home that remains cluttered. For some, this comes from the very serious addiction to hoarding, while generally it is more the result of an apprehension to throwing things away.
Has this ever happened to you?
You find something cool. You’re not exactly sure what you’re going to do with it, but you love it; you know you’ll think of something. Maybe it needs a bit of work but, well, you’ll get to it. Except you don’t. For years it sits in a corner collecting dust; you may even move it to another house … or two, but you’re so going to do something with it someday. And then finally you face the fact that will never use it. So you donate or give it away and practically the next day you see online or in a magazine the very thing, but spruced up or used creatively in a way that would have been perfect if only you hadn’t gotten rid of it!
My guess is this has never happened to you. And, if it has, you are one of the very unlucky few. Otherwise, know that keeping stuff you don’t need is a one way ticket to clutter-ville. Here are a few tips to help you to keep your home clutter free.
Know your clutter comfort-zone: One man’s clutter is another man’s organized mess. So it’s important to know what levels of clutter you are comfortable with. The standard test should be to ask yourself whether organizing and decluttering is something that you have to do often.
Ask yourself what you would grab in a fire. In an actual fire, you should think of saving only people and animals, but asking yourself this in the abstract can be a helpful exercise in pointing you to what really matters.
Keep things that work with the current style of your home. Sometimes people keep things because they are unique or beautiful. But what good is that if it really doesn’t work with the look and feel of your home.
Know that it will be difficult. Throwing or giving stuff away is not a great feeling, especially if you paid a lot of money for the particular item. Come to terms with it and know that you are doing this for your home.
Rent some storage space. Of course, you could rent a far-away space to keep all the things you would rather not dispose of. And there is no pressure to keep such a storage facility tidy, but it will set you back.
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