Now that more of us are working at home many people are tripping over things and each other in areas from the kitchen to the living room.
Amazingly, the average home has 300,000 things in it. Organizing and eliminating some of these items will reduce clutter and improve efficiency in your life.
A lot of us have closets that are packed with clothes and shoes. The average person regularly wears only 20% of the clothing they own.
Some people now use a spare bedroom mainly for storing stuff, turning it into anything but a functional area of their home.
If the Clutter Villain has taken over one or more of your rooms, here are six ways to declutter your home a free up space at your place.
1. Give things away
NextDoor.com is a good site for selling things or for giving them away. You can post your free items without publishing your street address. Just ask people to private message you in the description of your post.
You can donate your things to the Salvation Army or a veteran's organization.
2. Take stuff to the town or county dump
When you can’t give something away for free, that’s a good indicator that the item should be included in your next dump run.
If you don't have a pickup truck, you can always borrow one from a friend or neighbor.
3. Call a junk pickup service
You can use a junk hauling company to remove your things. You may have seen ads that are part of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?'s successful campaign with the signature words "All you have to do is point."
While everything may not disappear instantly, a junk removal service is an excellent way to go if you're willing to pay a premium to have someone haul off the clutter.
4. Build a storage shed
Need a project? You can build a shed to house some of your things. Here’s a time-lapse made by iCreatables of Santa Rosa, California.
Remember that certain items will not do well inside a shed during the summer heat.
5. Move your office to a shed
Vendors of prefab sheds like Tuff Shed have many customers working out of them to escape from clutter and noise. Of course, you’ll want to install a heater for cool months and an air conditioner for hot months.
You can also build a backyard home office from the ground up.
6. Rent a Storage Pod
Storage pods are an excellent short-term solution for decluttering a house. However, they are unsightly for you and your neighbors.
The inside can have oven-like interior temperatures during the summer months.
7. Move some of your items into a self-storage unit
Your guest bedroom, which is now your office, may not be visited by a guest any time soon. But you don’t want to dispose of a bed frame and mattress. You want to get them out of the way for a while.
Taking items like a bed frame and mattress to a climate-controlled self-storage facility will give you more floor and wall space. It will also save you from banging your shins on the side of the bed. Seasonal clothes can be added to a storage unit.
Hopefully, you can use one or more of these tips to drive the Clutter Villain from your home.
