If you have surfaces around your home, then you will have already noticed that every bare surface acts as a magnet for “things”. “Things” are keys, cups, plates, screws, pens, pencils, letters – anything and everything will find its way onto those surfaces, cluttering them and filling them until there is no more space. Not only does this create an atmosphere of disorganization and mess, it also creates spaces for dust to settle and more dirt and clutter to collect. In order to do away with the clutter once and for all, you have to be very strict about how you handle it and not just put things away in the nearest available drawer space, for the clutter to spontaneously reappear again. Also, what is currently clutter is actually a medley of items that are often used and often needed again – so hiding them is only a short fix as they will soon be summoned and will reappear on your surfaces again. Today we are going to go through some home storage tips to give that clutter a proper home, thus keeping it off your surfaces once and for all.
Home storage tips:
1.) Use the walls
There is a secret space in your home that you are probably not adequately utilizing and that space is the walls. Keys, screwdrivers, and similar items can all be given a permanent home with the use of a drill and screws. Handyman equipment in particular works very well on the wall of a garage or shed, so instead of chucking everything in boxes and drawers (which is a terrible solution for items that you will regularly use) hang them up so that they are clearly visible and you will find that these items will always make their way back to their place, away from surfaces. The same goes for keys (the number one clutter starters!). A hanging area near the front or back door, or even a dedicated key bowl will mean that keys end up in their home rather than you on your freshly polished table.
2.) Arrange your storage space
Storage space is storage space, and the whole idea of it s that you can put items away, preferably never to be seen again. In reality it doesn’t always work out that way, as some items are used more than once or twice a year. What happens in a lot of homes is that all of these items are given the same priority as far as the storage space is concerned, and so in order to get to the items you are going to use, you must remove and disturb items that you don’t want to use, messing up the storage space, and taking out things that you have no intention of reorganizing each time you revisit the space. What you are left with at the end of this process, is a lot of clutter which doesn’t actually find its way back to the storage space because you intend to reuse the item “soon” – so rather than store the item, it goes on the nearest available surface in the form of a kitchen bar or dining table and voila! Your clutter has begun! Try to avoid this by investing in storage spaces or storage hire that have an easy access area such as a flip top lid with a shallow tray. Storage units (and you can get these quite cheaply from most home furniture stores) will have a set of drawers (for your once or twice a year storage) and a deep tray at the top with a see through lid. This deep tray is excellent for regularly used, but never-want-to-be-seen type equipment and takes that clutter away from your surfaces and into the storage area.
3.) Store strategically
Items that you never want to see again should not be stored in accessible storage areas, and so if you are still storing your Xmas tree under the stairs, then you are setting yourself up for clutter madness. Items that only make one or two showings a year should be stored in the hardest to reach areas of your home, and items that will be more regular used should be in the more accessible storage areas. This kind of storing will have two effects on the clutter in your home. The first is motivation to store, as no one can really be bothered to move a Christmas tree, baubles and a picnic table to put the screwdriver back where it belongs (and therefore you end up with clutter) and the second is ease of storing, as again the easier it is to put something back in its place, the more likely it is to go there, away from your surfaces, clearing out your home.
