By Pegah Aarabi
Your home should be your castle but sometimes it’s more of a storage warehouse. Anyone that works all day (at home or outside the home) and takes care of the kids/pets/husband/family/friends and all, can’t be expected to add filing to the list. And all the while the stuff keeps piling up.
Studies show that a cluttered home can lead to increased stress levels, because not only is the clutter draining in and of itself, it's also stressful seeing what you have to tackle someday. The only way to get over this stress is to make that “someday” today. Home organization is the first step to getting everything together, your stress level, your finances (once you find those bills) and even your weight.
- Get it all out. To even begin sorting through what you may or may not keep, on a sunny day, put everything except the furniture out in your yard or if it’s winter or you live in a condo, choose a separate, ideally less cluttered, room.
- Sort. Once everything is removed you can begin to see what you can actually fit in each room, and how much stuff you really have. Start by sorting what you want to keep, ONLY choosing the very minimum. Be realistic and don’t keep items that you haven’t used in 20 years justifying that you might want it tomorrow. Keep anything with real sentimental value, not a movie ticket stub for “Kill Bill Volume 1”. Next, sort what you can sell/donate and what you have to throw away. You can’t sell old worn-out shoes, torn table linens, and any broken or personal items (I’ve seen bras at garage sales!), so be prepared for a disproportionately large “throw” pile. Remember that these rules apply to the kitchen as well, so get rid of broken dishes and of course, expired food.
- Organize. Whatever you’re going to keep has to be organized so you won’t be left with clutter again. Make specific areas for everything, for example, if you have a figurine collection – maybe you didn’t even know it until you de-cluttered – then buy a display case and display them proudly. Buy folders and file all your documents or if you don’t have time, buy a drawer unit (plastic ones will do if they’re being hidden away) and divide all your documents into what makes sense (bills, medical, school, home, taxes etc.). Organize in a way that you’re comfortable, that makes sense with your life, so you can easily stick to it.
Now that you’re de-cluttered, you ask: how is this going to help me with my finances and weight loss? If your kitchen was so cluttered before that you couldn’t even make a meal or fit groceries in the fridge on top of the ketchup bottles, then no wonder you had to resort to fast food! Cooking in a clutter-free kitchen will be a treat, so will eating in it, which will undoubtedly be healthier than eating out, contributing to a healthy weight. Similarly, having your bills in an easy to find file or drawer makes it easy to stay on top of payments. Of course walking into your organized and airy home will instantly decrease your stress level, letting you focus on your health, finances and anything else that was lost in the clutter – even those figurines.
Find storage solutions at the HomeDepot.ca
