Tips for de-cluttering a small home

Tips for de-cluttering a small home

It isn't always necessary to purchase that bigger home when you start feeling like you are running out of room or like your home isn't growing with your family. Perhaps what you need is a one good weekend devoted to a de-cluttering overhaul of your entire house. . Toss anything you don't use. Simple as that. Don't wear it? Toss it. Broken toys? Toss. Board games missing pieces, ripped books, video tapes that no longer work? Toss 'em. If you find you have emotional attachments to belongings you simply cannot bear to part with, read on and you will quickly discover ways to maximize your storage space to house all of your prized possessions. . Everything you own should have a place. When it gets removed from it's

. One simple step for decluttering a small home is as simple as tossing anything you don’t use

place, be sure to put it back as soon as possible before it gets lost in the shuffle once again. a good rule of thumb is limit how many times you move something. Did you take the car keys out of your purse and toss them onto the kitchen counter? Either leave them where they are or put them back in your purse; don’t move to a third destination. But remember, because everything needs a place, doesn’t mean that every place needs a thing. Be sure to leave some open spaces on bookcases, in cabinets and armoires, and in kitchen and bathroom cupboards. This frees up space for new belongings that you purchase or for those things that just never really seem to belong to a place. Everyone needs a few good junk drawers. • Examine your room left and right, high and low for optimal storage spaces. Areas that people tend to forget, for example, are the tops of kitchen cupboards, under beds, beneath the basement staircase, and the top shelf of coat closets. Maximize the use of these spaces by hiding things you do not frequently use here. • Simply create more storage space. Add affordable shelving to living room walls, add a bulletin board in the kitchen for important papers, and add an over the toilet wall cabinet in the bathroom for extra personal care accessories. • Create a reading corner by putting a small bookcase against one wall and filling it with as many books as you can fit. This minimizes the tendency to have such items scattered around the house, some in each room. Keep like items centralized in one common area. • Select furnishings that are multi-purpose, such as a footstool that acts as a coffee table. • In high traffic areas of your home, have one forgiving area where you can toss clutter, and organize it once a week by putting things back where they belong. Baskets function well in these areas, as do large food storage containers. • When you bring something new into the home, toss out one item in its place. That way you never allow yourself the accumulation of too many belongings. Consider donating such items to charity, and give another family something they need.