Let’s make 2020 our least cluttered year yet! Get more organized and reduce clutter around your home with these new year resolutions:
#1 Tackle Your Worst Clutter Zones
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Almost every room in the home has at least one clutter zone – the nightstand full of odds and ends; the desk drawer packed with unopened mail; the mountain of shoes stacked in the entryway; the infamous junk drawer piled with all those knick knacks you have no idea what to do. Often just casualties of daily life, these areas are clutter magnets for anything and everything. With the new year upon us, it’s time to put a few minutes aside and transform these out-of-control clutter zones into clean-and-tidy spaces!
- Completely empty out the spaces and organize everything into piles.
- Throw out anything that belongs in the trash or recycle.
- Put anything that belongs elsewhere back in its proper spot.
- Try out a few different arrangements for your contents to find the one that’s right for you and stick with it.
#2 Wardrobe Update: Declutter Closet and Dresser Drawers
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It’s super easy to accumulate clothing that you don’t wear anymore. As the years go by, our styles change, we outgrow things and we keep a lot of “just in case” or “back-up” options. Whatever the case may be, if you have clothing that’s uncomfortable to wear, haven’t touched in the past year, or hate the way it looks on you, donate it. If it’s stained, unusable or just falling apart, throw it away. To figure out what stays and what goes, try asking yourself:
- Have I worn it in the past year?
- Does it fit me?
- Do I like the way I look in it?
If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, then you have some clothes to get rid of!
#3 Kitchen Clutter Hotspot: Organize Your Pantry
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The kitchen pantry often becomes of hotspot of clutter. There’s a lot of things in there you don’t need – half eaten chip bags, numerous canned vegetables, opened boxes of cereal, snack bars and suspiciously old spices, to name a few. We often see these things on the shelf so often that we stop thinking about them, accumulating more and more. Not anymore! The new year is the perfect time to give your pantry a much needed makeover. Throw out stale or expired items, donate anything you’re not going to eat to your local food bank and if there’s anything in there you don’t remember buying, probably safe to say that can go too.
Here’s a few pantry items to start with:
- Suspiciously old spices
- Breakfast Cereals
- Canned vegetables
- Cooking Oils
- Nuts
- Crackers
- Brown sugar
#4 Cut Down On Paper Clutter
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Paper accumulates in our homes fast. Our drawers and cupboards are full of receipts, unopened mail, take-out menus, instruction manuals and flyers. If you’re sick and tired of dealing with piles of paper in your home, here’s a few ways you can cut down on paper clutter:
- Go digital. Change receiving your bank and utility statements and notifications from mail to email. Most banks and major utility companies will offer this.
- Cut down subscriptions. Recycle your stacks of magazines and newspapers and switch to digital.
- Buy a shredder. We often hold onto paperwork we don’t need because we’re worried about privacy. A small shredder is a simple solution for getting rid of that sensitive paperwork you don’t need.
- Scan everything. Notes with information you want to keep, old photographs or artwork from your children are a few of the paper items you can get rid of but still keep forever. Scan everything you can and save them on your computer, external hard drive or cloud storage. A scanner is a relatively low-cost option that will help you cut down on a lot of paper.
Wanting to clear up more space in your home? U-Lock Mini Storage has convenient storage locations across British Columbia and can provide the storage unit and services you need to enjoy a clutter-free lifestyle.