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If you are trying to bring beauty to your home, and the mess still remains, know that you can get rid of it once and for all. If you think that nothing can fit in the house, we assure you, there is a place. If the kitchen, nursery or dressing room looks more like a store warehouse, they can be transformed. And now is the time to do it!
Breakdown
It is always worth starting with decluttering. Even if you are not a shopaholic, but a supporter of conscious consumerism, there is probably Narnia somewhere in the back of the closet with deposits of unnecessary things that you forgot to even think about.
Clean clothes in good condition can be donated to other people or to a charitable organization. Something can be sold, and something should be taken to the trash. You will be surprised how much space you free up in the end if you walk around the apartment or house properly.
Key principles of smart storage
After you free the house from all unnecessary, organize competent storage of the remaining things.
Items of a certain group should be located in one place. This means that clothes are stored only in the closet, and not in the bathroom, kitchen and hallway. The exception is the storage of outerwear – it is logical if jackets, fur coats and coats hang in a separate closet near the front door.
This rule also applies to other categories – toys should only be placed in the children’s area (again, with the exception of those, for example, intended for bathing in the bath), cosmetics – in a cosmetic bag, cups – only in the kitchen cabinet or specially designated for this. place.
Almost all items can and should be stored vertically. Stationery, makeup brushes, cutlery – all this can be put in glasses (plastic, ceramic, wooden). Clothing, including socks, tights, and bedding and towels, should be neatly folded and stored upright. So things will take up less space.
Where to store?
For storage, it is convenient to use shelves, drawers of cabinets and chests of drawers, where you can put plastic containers or cardboard boxes.
If there are not enough shelves in the closet, place things vertically in baskets or containers. When you need something, you do not have to pull it out of the pile, and then carefully fold the whole pile again. Also, you will not have to experience difficulties with the search if the shelf is located high, not at eye level. It will be much more convenient to pull out the basket, get the thing out of it and put the basket back on the shelf or on the floor in the closet.
If you use containers that are closed with a lid, then they can be stacked on top of each other.
Use hinged hooks or hooks without fasteners. They hang them, as a rule, on the door – a bathroom, a wardrobe, a kitchen set, a room, a shower cabin. It is only important that the door and the hook fit together. Not only in style, but also in size.
Why is it convenient:
- no need to drill anything – the hook just snaps onto the door;
- the door at the same time remains safe and sound;
- Hinged hooks are mobile, they can be attached and removed as needed.
What to do with books?
Take a look in your bookcase. There you will surely find the first “candidates for elimination”:
- books that you could not finish reading;
- new books that have never been touched;
- books bought by accident, “in the heat of the moment”;
- “wrong” books donated by someone;
- read “disposable” books.
It is better to part with all this goodness – sell it or give it away. You definitely won’t be re-reading everything you keep. And there is no point in saving books for grandchildren in the modern world, if we are not talking about rare or collector’s editions.
Get rid of excess. Only the most beloved books should remain, and there are usually not so many of them.
History
My friend’s dad was a creative person, in Soviet times his salary was 120 rubles. Of these, he spent 100 rubles every month on books. I bought a lot, considered it an excellent investment of money, and told my family: sell it later, you won’t need to know. This person is no longer alive, and the inheritance remains in the apartment where his daughter lives now. It is a sad sight – there are a lot of books, they are heavy, old, very dusty, they are not thrown away, they try to sell them, but they sell poorly. Books take up space, clutter up space, literally do not allow you to breathe freely. And most importantly – in such a volume and condition they are simply not needed.
How to store
Here are just a few of the ways you can save space in your home. It can be:
- horizontal shelves above the interior door and vertical shelves behind it;
- a bed drawer or one large shelf made around the entire perimeter of the bed below;
- narrow shelving in the kitchen (at the level of the table), if space permits, of course;
- cells in the stairs, if there is one in the house.
Whatever you choose, remember: your home, your rules! Paper books are likely to be with us forever, it’s just a matter of how much you’re willing to store in your space.
How to store bed linen?
In many homes, linens are kept haphazardly, with no space or aesthetics. What to do?
To begin with, carefully inspect everything: feel free to throw away linen with holes and stains or give it for recycling. If you don’t like what doesn’t fit, donate it or sell it. After decluttering, you should only have those kits that you really use (if necessary, then also guest kits).
Don’t forget to take new kits out of the packaging as it eats up space.
How to store
Fold in a stack, vertically, in rolls. Each set can be stored as a whole (duvet cover, sheet, pillowcases lie together) or separately (sheets from all sets separately, pillowcases separately – convenient if you change linen in parts).
Suitable for storage:
- ordinary shelves in the closet;
- hanging shelves (cells located vertically);
- drawers where insert dividers can be added;
- fabric organizers that fasten with a zipper;
- baskets, boxes, containers that can be put on a shelf (we took out a box, carefully took what we needed from there, just as carefully put it upstairs – this is more convenient than pulling out the bottom set and pulling the rest along with it);
- bed trays, while it is worth using organizers to protect linen from dust;
- vacuum bags – they save space perfectly, they can be used for those kits that you rarely get out (for example, guest ones);
- if there are many sets, each one can be stored in a pillowcase so as not to confuse anything (that is, a stack of one set is placed in a pillowcase).
Laundry care
- It is better to change bed linen once a week. In order not to get confused, you can assign a specific day of the week for this.
- Wash bedding should be at a temperature not lower than 60 degrees, if there are no special marks on the label.
- Store only when everything is completely dry.
- In the place where bedding is stored, try using fragrances (herbs, a bar of soap).
- If the bedding is too bulky, then you can fold them and tie them with a ribbon.
How to organize a first aid kit?
First aid supplies should be on hand, so check the contents regularly. Collect in one place all the medicines that are in the house.
Get rid of the following medications:
- expired;
- marked “after opening, store …”, if it is clear that it was clearly bought a long time ago or it is not at all known how long it has been in the first-aid kit;
- from those where two drops or half a tablet remained;
- from those that were incorrectly stored: on a shelf, for example, and not in a refrigerator;
- from medicines that do not suit you;
- from children’s medicines not by age;
- from many of the same drugs.
How to store
- It’s better to throw away the boxes – they take up too much space.
- You can also get rid of the instructions, all the information is now on the Internet. If this option is not for you, keep the instructions in a separate file, a zip package.
- Arrange the remaining medicines into categories: tablets to tablets, ointments to ointments. Or by appointment. It is also better to separate children’s and adult preparations. Sign them using stickers.
- The expiration date can be tracked according to the checklist (write down the name and date there), check it periodically. Or use a mobile application for accounting for medicines.
- After taking, immediately return the medicine to the medicine cabinet. And check back from time to time.
Maintain order
The next step is to maintain order. Once you’ve decided on your storage options, every item in your home has its place. And now your task is to return every thing to this place.
Make sure that this rule is followed not only by yourself, but also by those with whom you live. This will make your home look neat. Not only will your space change, but your life will too!
Text: Olga Abakumova