As millions take part in Organise Your Home Day property expert offers his advice on getting your house in order.
January marks Organise Your Home Day – with millions taking part and decluttering in a bid to start the New Year in the best possible way.
Organise Your Home Day officially falls on January 14, but events will be taking place all this month.
Property expert Jonathan Rolande, founder of House Buy Fast, said: “January is one of the hardest times of year for people, following the fun and excitement of Christmas and New Year.
With Summer many months away, and even the colour of Spring flowers some time away, decluttering can help boost your mood.”
Here Jonathan offers seven tips on how to declutter.
- Make a plan. The last thing you need in a month where it’s common to feel down is to give yourself a project that makes you feel overwhelmed. Decide what it is you want to achieve and if there’s a particular area of your home you want to focus on. Too many clothes? Messy kitchen? Want to make space for a new hobby or project? Make a list of all the different elements and tick them off as you go alone.
- Take photographs of before and after. If you’ve spent hours tidying, sorting and throwing things out the last thing you want is to look at it and wonder if it was all a waste of time. Taking a photo shows the difference you have made and motivates you to keep going!
- It doesn’t have to be big changes. You can make a big difference in the kitchen by sorting out cupboards and throwing things away which are past their sell by date, and save yourself some money by moving things which need to be used near the front. The same applies to the fridge. According to research by Tesco, food waste costs the average family £800 a year.
- The bathroom can be a place where you can really relax – and it helps if you can take a well deserved bath without looking around at the jobs you should get round to doing. You can keep lotions and potions tidy by getting baskets and organising things into sections such as ‘everyday’, ‘special occasions’ and ‘nights out’. It’s also a great time to check that medicine cupboard and see what needs to be recycled at the pharmacy and what could do with a top up before that inevitable bug hits.
- Make it an opportunity to create space and make a few pounds. Most of us have things we haven’t worn for years – or maybe have never worn. There are loads of reselling sites now where you can make money rehoming everything from designer shoes to winter jumpers. Reselling is also a good way to avoid any unwise purchases from ending up in landfill.
- Talking about your bedroom, when was the last time you sorted out your bedside table? Throw away anything you haven’t used in a while including out of date medications, old receipts and cosmetics which have been left there for months or years. Having an organised nightstand can help contribute to better sleep hygiene too, allowing you to keep everything you need in one place and ensure that bed is somewhere to relax.
- Tackle the ‘draw of homeless things’. We all have one full of receipts, old keys, batteries, plugs and cables. Do you really need the shed key to the house you lived in in 1995? Or the charger for your Nokia 3310? Make sure anything with your data on is removed and things like batteries are recycled in official collections not thrown away for landfill.
