There are many benefits to decluttering your home or garage. A decluttered home could help reduce stress, improve your mental health, and boost productivity, and even your confidence. You might want to declutter your home due to kids leaving for college, or maybe you have a second car and need room in the garage.
If you don’t want to sell or get rid of your things, storing items in a storage unit is an excellent alternative to keeping more stuff in your basement or garage. We’ll explore more benefits of decluttering your home and garage and tips to get you started.
Tips to Declutter Your Home
Decluttering can be an emotional experience for some, and the more stuff you have can, it can feel overwhelming and never-ending. The most important tip for decluttering your home is to take it slow and if it feels too much, call on a trusted family member or friend to help you.
- Set goals for decluttering. If you have a large home you’ve lived in for 20 years, don’t expect to declutter the entire house in a weekend. Sometimes decluttering can take a month or more. Set realistic goals and a timeline to meet your expectations.
- Create your sorting system. When you go through your items, you’ll need to put them into piles. Keep – Sell – Donate – Store – Toss are good suggestions.
- Decide how you’ll tackle decluttering. Do you want to go room by room or by category? Categories include books, clothes, papers, dishes, furniture, miscellaneous, etc. You would then go through the entire house and sort your books into your sorting piles. When finished, you would move to the clothes category and go through the whole house where your clothes are and so forth.
- Store the items you plan to keep. If you live in a multi-season area, having all your clothes in your closet at home may not be possible. Storing them in a storage unit might be the best way to keep your closet and home looking decluttered. Invest in simple storage solutions to keep your bathroom closet looking clean and uncluttered. Clear storage containers that are labeled are an excellent choice for home storage.
- Get in the habit of putting things away – where they belong. Countertops and coffee tables are magnets for clutter. Keep these free of clutter, always. Donate or store furniture you don’t use. Extra furniture often turns into another thing to put stuff on. (Remember that treadmill you bought that turned into a catchall for all your clothes?) If it’s not in your room, it won’t become a clothes rack or magnet for every towel, sock, scarf, or gadget.
Once you declutter, you’ll have to maintain it to keep the clutter at bay. You may even find that you have to break bad habits, check in with your buying habits, and create new habits to keep your home looking clutter-free.
How to Declutter Your Garage
Decluttering your garage can be approached in the same manner as your home. You’ll need to set goals and a timeline. Cleaning out your garage is more dependent on the weather. Pick a sunny weekend or time during the summer to tackle this project.
Create a sorting system of Keep – Sell – Donate – Store – Toss. If your garage has lots of paint, chemicals, and other waste that is deemed hazardous, you’ll need to go through your county’s proper protocols for disposal.
Garages are usually built as big empty spaces with little to no shelving or storage areas. If you’re handy with a hammer and nail, build sturdy shelving or invest in steel shelving racks from your local home improvement store. If you have a bike, add a bike rack for off-season storage. For multiple bikes, a storage unit not only keeps them out of the way but out of the elements.
A garage is an excellent place to store holiday decorations. Purchase themed storage containers for an easy visual cue. Green and red for Christmas, black and orange for Halloween, and so on. Label storage containers with items in the box for easy reference.
How to Declutter Your Basement
Keep the above tips in mind when decluttering your basement too! A basement can quickly turn into a dumping ground of sorts. We’ll dump anything and everything that we don’t need right away or don’t have room for in the basement.
- Group-like items stored and stacked together. For example, have all craft supplies in one basement section, construction tools grouped together, and so on.
- It’s a good idea to invest in shelving for your basement decluttering project. Shelving will keep all your boxes and items organized.
- Be sure to donate or toss items that you no longer need.
Pianos, record collections, antiques, and other items that aren’t used every day but need a safe, secure place can be safely stored in a storage unit. This frees up room in your basement for items that are used more frequently or just to free up more space. As with other areas of the house, give yourself time to declutter the basement.
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Decluttering the house, basement, and garage is well worth the effort. You will love how less equals more. You’ll no longer waste time looking for things. You may even have better sleep and a more robust immune system. Your whole house will be cleaner, and you may see a reduction in allergy symptoms.
If you plan on decluttering your home, Fairfax City Storage can help. We offer a wide range of storage solutions, including temperature controlled units. With no hidden fees, drive-up and ground units available, plus 24-hour security, we’re your number one storage solution.