Now is the time to declutter and get your spring cleaning done for the summer months! Here we have some basic spring cleaning tips to help you declutter ready for summer!
The world is awash with spring cleaning tips! Everywhere you look there’s a picture of a fed up woman with her marigolds on and a caption in capitals underneath talking about spring cleaning tips. You might already be fed up of these constant reminders to get your spring cleaning done but… it really is time to get your spring cleaning done! Before long it will be hot, sticky and humid – wouldn’t you rather be sitting on the sun lounger in the garden supping sangria rather than angrily washing the kitchen down wishing you’d gotten it done in Spring? Now is the time to take action and get your house bright and breezy for summer, and the very first step you need to take is to declutter!
Here are some tips from a Bedford self storage provider for decluttering each room of your home:
The Garden
Many of us forget to declutter the garden, after all we’ve barely been in it all winter! Get the brown bin out and clear all the leaves, weeds and cuttings out of the way for an instant garden refresh. Throw out or clear away any old toys or redundant plant pots lying around and get stuck in to the greenhouse. Old seeds that aren’t fit for planting need chucking away, rusty tools need to go and again, any plant pots not being used need to be cleared up as well. If you have a shed, organise it and tidy it before putting anything else in it.
The Garage
The extra house storage area for many of us, the garage collects a lot of rubbish and often gets neglected. It is a good area for holding your ‘to be car booted’ boxes and bags, or your self-storage boxes, but if it contains random boxes of junk and corners of clutter, it needs to be sorted out. Be ruthless with this room as it really is the final destination for much of your junk.
The Kitchen
How easy is it to move into a property with the best intention of keeping six to eight mugs at most and ending up with enough to supply all of Starbucks customers with hot beverages for a day? The kitchen can easily become a place of clutter, and clutter that’s hard to get rid of because it usually does have a use! Keep two ‘outdoor mugs’ (mugs you don’t mind getting smashed) at most, and cull any you don’t really like, or that are chipped or stained. Go through kitchen cupboards and try to get rid of anything you have never used (and honestly don’t plan to). You don’t need six wooden spoons, 65 butter knives and 8 tin openers!
The Bedrooms
The biggest enemy of bedrooms is clothes. Anything you haven’t worn in the last six months, get rid of. Any odd socks, old underwear, ‘one day I will fit back into these’ jeans and battered shoes – get rid of them. Be brutal, the more space you make the more room you have for new additions remember! If you have kids, you’re going to have a major job decluttering their rooms without any drama. Try to encourage them to put any toys in a bag that they don’t play with any more, but be aware they may well go back into the back and get the items back out again! Often a swift clearout while they are at school is necessary – if they haven’t seen you take it, they probably won’t notice it’s gone. If the toys are potentially valuable or will be in the future, or they form part of a substantial collection you don’t want to let go of, it might be worth looking into self storage units where you can keep them safe until you want to sell them and/ or display them again.
Remember, when decluttering never simply throw items away. Have a throwaway pile, a charity shop pile and a car boot pile. If you are selling items at a car boot ban those items from entering your house afterwards. Whatever is left over, goes straight to the charity shop or in the bin, otherwise you’ll just have the clutter back again which you don’t want! If you really do need to keep hold of items for the future but simply don’t have room in your current home, consider cheap self storage.
To declutter successfully always:
- Be committed
- Be brutal
- Be strong!