Preparing for your dream move but dreading decluttering? Here are 5 tips for calming the chaos in your home.
Understanding Our Minds
While we may not all be psychologists when it comes to understanding how our minds work, there is something to be said about how important a role our brains play in the relationships we have with our possessions. Psychology Today suggests there are negative effects of having an overly cluttered home. Due to our brains viewing clutter as visual stimulus, having lots of it can affect our brain’s information processing and memory. On an emotional level, this excess stimulation can lead to feeling overwhelmed and helpless in our lives.
Decluttering doesn’t only combat negative effects on our minds but, also brings about positive effects too. Psychologists suggest that removing items from our homes or spaces within them, gives us opportunities to improve decision making skills while, increasing our productivity and motivation to complete more tasks during the rest of the day.
2. Make A Plan
If you are struggling on where to start or to get motivated, create a plan. Plans can be simple or very detailed depending on your circumstances. To free up space in your mind, write out your plan or save it on your phone. Whether you need to declutter room by room, or sort through an old collection, plans offer structure, clarity on what is sorted as well as a, visual representation of all the work you have done. To stop your plan getting lost amongst belongings, put it in a separate room or area. Once finished, return to it and look at the next thing you have to do.
Plan ideas:
• Sort through one room a day or week.
• Put tasks into a free randomiser online and complete according to which task is selected.
• Set a deadline for car boot sales, recycling centres etc. Where you will donate your belongings.
• Use a timer. Allocate an hour or even five minutes to sort through something. When the time is up, you can then do something that you have been looking forward to.
Out of home storage solutions can also, aid in freeing up space in your home while keeping hold of possessions. Whiston Farm Storage sacontainers which are safe and secure for equipment, furniture and beloved belongings.
3. Categorise Your Clutter
When sorting through spaces, it may become apparent how many different types of items in your home. To stop items getting mixed up, creating categories for your belongings can make it easier to plan, sell, recycle, or store. Categories can be individual items like books or a collection of items that are linked in some way such as children’s toys, or fabrics like old duvet covers, cushions or curtains.
4. Key Questions
Undecided on what to declutter? Consider some key questions that help cut through the mind’s chaos.
• What will you use this for? What is it’s purpose?
• Have you used it in the past month?
• Why do you feel it is important to keep? What would physically happen if you got rid of it?
• Does it have any special meaning to you?
Our favourite possessions can have special memories and meaning to us. To keep reminders of these items taking photos of things like children’s toys, memorabilia or old hobbies can be a great way to keep these memories alive. Putting pictures into a scrapbook or sticking collections onto a canvas can create framed artwork for a new home.
5. Utilise your new home
It may be the case where logistically, there isn’t enough room for all beloved belongings in a new space however, this can be an advantage when deciding what stays and goes. Finding out measurements for the new home can help in seeing what items can and can’t fit where. This can also push us emotionally to part with old possessions. While we can’t hold on to everything forever, we can embrace the excitement of a fantastic new future heading our way.
Applying these tips can help to cut through the clutter, creating peace of mind for your move.
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