Welcome to the ultimate guide to decluttering your personal spaces! If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the clutter or just ready to freshen up your space, this article aims to help you create clarity where there was once chaos. We’ll suggest practical tips and advice to help you declutter, giving you a home that feels together and helps you fulfil its potential as a space for family and entertaining friends.
Decluttering is a mindset. Picture this: you walk into your living room and instead of being greeted by dozens of objects that you don’t need or use, you see space and room to breathe. That’s the magic of decluttering. Research shows that decluttering improves motivation, self esteem and personal focus.
Take it from Tara, a Ballito mom who decluttered her home with the help of a professional organiser: “What started as a New Year’s resolution, soon highlighted that I needed some help. I’ve been committed to simplifying things for a while, but once I got started, it all became a little overwhelming. Bringing in a helping hand really was a great investment.”
Decluttering demands having a plan of attack. Focus on a single area at a time and nothing but pen and paper. Enlist the help of of a family member, and take a quick inventory of items. It helps to give each a score on a scale of one to five, with one being rarely used or needed and five being an essential item used all the time. Be as objective as possible and get as even a spread of numbers as possible.
Don’t base it on monetary value, base it on utility or aesthetic appeal. Valuable items like heirlooms don’t necessarily have to leave your possession, but they don’t have to encroach on your living space either.
The most important part of the process is the process of separation, and how much goes depends on how much decluttering is necessary. If your goal is to remove about a third of your clutter, then the ones and twos on your list are the items that have to go.
Then determine what your goal is with each item. Some may be destined for the bin, others for the charity shop, and others for the auction. Auctions can be a great way to liquidate items, and occasionally result in an unexpected windfall.
For those possessions that you neither want in the way or to get rid of, storage is a great option, and there are a range of options in this area to consider.
The first thing to consider is storage you have but aren’t using. Storing items in ceilings, sheds or basements makes economical sense, but consideration needs to be given to heat, cold, damp and the possibility of rodent damage. Also, beware the trap of moving the furniture around on the titanic. Filling convenient voids with possessions you don’t need can compound the problem down the line. The better bet is getting unneeded items out of your orbit completely.
Now that you’ve decided what to keep and what to move on, and moved the items earmarked for removal into quarantine, it’s time to organise and streamline the disorganised areas into logical, compartmentalised sectors of your home. Start by investing in sturdy storage boxes or bins to corral loose items and keep them neatly contained. Label each box clearly so you can easily find what you need when you need it. As you organise, think vertically and make use of shelves and stacking solutions. Getting creative can make a big difference in achieving a clutter-free home.
If you find yourself struggling to find space for everything, self-storage provides an economical, safe and convenient way to hold onto items you need but aren’t using at the moment. Whether it’s seasonal or sentimental items, hobbies on hold, or just stuff you’ve got future plans for, self-storage can be a game-changer.
As Tara discovered, self storage was the solution she didn’t know she needed: ”I’m a fashion designer by trade, but recently have moved from dressmaking to drop shipping. I don’t want to give up making beautiful clothes, but for the moment my dummies and overlocker is just gathering dust. Now that it’s at North Store, I can focus on growing my e-commerce business.”
One of the joys of self storage is that it offers an extra room to the home at a fraction of the price of alternative options. Once your space is decluttered and organised, you can use self storage as a quick pick up and drop off location to rotate items in and out as you need them. For Tara, that means moving retail stock into her storage unit to free up her desk for sewing with a five minute drive to North Store.
“North Store is located only a couple of minutes drive from Umhlali Primary, where I drop the kids off every day. I can be in and out in under five minutes, so it’s really convenient”.
By now, you should have a clearer understanding of the benefits of decluttering and some practical tips to help you get started. At North Store, we’re helping people up and down the KZN North Coast to declutter their lives and get their personal spaces back. If you need secure, stress-free storage, we may be the first step towards a happier, more organised home. Want to find the perfect unit for you? Give us a call on 076 604 9698 today.
If you’re looking to store household goods, business documents, retail stock, equipment, vehicles or just about anything on the KZN North Coast, give North Store a call now on 076 604 9698, or drop your details below and we’ll get in touch with you. We have a wide range of units to choose from.
Unit 1593, North Point Ballito, R102, Shaka’s Head,
Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal, 4420.
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