AD | I loved de-cluttering and cleaning before it was made popular by Marie Kondo and Mrs Hinch. Seriously though, I’ve never been one to leave my room a mess or keep unnecessary “stuff” just for the sake of it. I’ve always felt better in a clean and tidy space. If my space is clean, my mind feels cleaner too. De-cluttering can be incredibly therapeutic. But I’m sure most of you, me included, have neglected areas of your home you actively avoid when de-cluttering!
And it’s no surprise, some areas of your home can get so cluttered, so messy and so out of hand that the prospect of dealing with it makes you wanna cry and watch Jane the Virgin instead (it’s been 2 weeks without Jane the Virgin already and life feels so empty).
But your home is an extension of you. It’s your safe space. And it deserves to be looked after. Even the dark and dingy neglected areas of your home you actively try and avoid when you have a de-clutter. So here is a kind reminder of some of those areas to encourage you to sort them out during your next de-clutter:
Photo by Camylla Battani on Unsplash
Loft space
Let me just say it… our loft is disgusting. Honestly. It’s revolting. I wouldn’t ask my worst enemy to go up in our loft. We don’t have a loft conversion, just a big space for storage. So if the loft is one of the neglected areas of your home too, let this be a gentle reminder for your to spend some time to clear it out this year.
Summer is literally an impossible time for us to sort out our loft because it gets like, 45 degrees up there. So I think when Autumn rolls around, a nice big loft de-clutter is in order. It contains so much of my old crap that I haven’t thought about in literally years.
Garage
Unlike a loft space, we don’t actually have a garage in this house. We did in our old house and yep, you guessed it, that was disgusting too. A garage is an incredible easy and convenient place to hoard things and to let things, you know, fester a bit.
I think a clean and tidy garage can be an amazing place to stay organised as garages usually have a lot of room in them with potential storage space. And if you’re planning on de-cluttering your garage, don’t forget to invest in a car cover to make sure your car stays as clean as possible too.
Get proper containers for other stuff you’re storing in your garage. For example, if you’re keeping the Christmas tree in there, use a special tree keeper bag to store the tree upright and prevent damage. Store fragile ornaments in padded bags with dividers, so they don’t chip. This way, you can still use these decor pieces for the coming holiday season and save time and money.
Kitchen cupboards
I went through 2 of our kitchen cupboards a good few months ago now and the expiry date on some of the items was shocking. Like… 2014 shocking. The kitchen cupboards are something I struggle with because I can’t just throw away stuff willy nilly as there’s 3 other people living in the house.
But they’re definitely one of the common neglected areas of your home that doesn’t see much love during a de-clutter. But they can also be a really easy thing to de-clutter: out of date? Throw it away. Having eaten it in 3 months? Throw it away? Don’t like it anymore? Throw it away!
Meanwhile, it might be best to hire professionals to do some deep cleaning of your space. Here’s where to book a professional cleaning service in Brisbane in case your schedule won’t let you spend a day doing some major house cleaning.
Under the sinks
Another area which often gets overlooked in under the sinks. So the kitchen sink and the bathroom sink. We had so many products under our bathroom sink which were either out of date or nobody had used in years and now we don’t have an awful lot under there and it’s much cleaner and tidier.
Shed
We have two sheds in our house. One horrible shed at the back of the garden which contains garden stuff, paint, odds and sods. And a shit load of spiders and bugs. And another nicer shed nearer the house which contains the exercise bike, storage boxes with photos and documents etc and actual household “stuff”.
But both of these sheds are a real mess. And the nice shed started off as being super tidy and organised at the beginning but as time went on, things just got thrown in there to get them “out of the way” and now it’s a complete tip again.
Which areas of your home do you need to de-clutter this year? Any areas you’ve neglected too?
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