Where can you give unnecessary things

What will you take with you? No, you don’t have to rush to pack all your household belongings in boxes. Just pick the things you really love and put them aside (you’ll supposedly take them with you), and then see what remains. Psychologists assure that in everyday life we ​​use no more than 20% of the things around us. Start with at least cookbooks. Remove from the shelf the few that are covered in oil stains from frequent use and take a look at the shelf. Are you willing to pay money to have this entire dusty library migrate to your new home? Are these gifts really so dear to you, or maybe your pride will suffer, because you bought them, amusing yourself with the thought that every Saturday you will begin to master a new Thai dish? If not, find more appreciative readers for these books, for example by posting an announcement on the otdam_darom forum.

Tips & Tricks

• Empty, uncluttered space is not annoying. In addition, it is easier to keep it clean and protected from dust.
• Imagine a potential buyer (or a relative who suddenly comes to visit) who inspects the apartment, looking in all corners. What shouldn’t he see?
• Buy baskets and storage boxes only after you decide for yourself what you really need and what you will part with without regret. This will help you choose the most suitable storage system for your home.

Why does it work

• Nobody forces you to immediately throw away all unnecessary things. To begin with, it is enough to assess the proportion of what is vital for you, and what you can not only do without, but also perfectly manage (just do not realize it).
• If you have ever moved and paid money to movers, it will be easier for you to motivate yourself to cut off all the unnecessary at once.

Take a pen and a notebook and walk around the house, writing on paper what each room serves you for. What do you (and your whole family) usually do with it? After that, write down the desired purpose of the room, even if at the moment the room does not meet this requirement. After that, it will be easier for you to make out the mess. For example, if you want to use the bedroom only for its intended purpose, remove from the room all things that do not correspond to the main purpose. Remove from the “sleepy realm” for some unknown reason the receipts taken here, all kinds of catalogs, the computer, finally.

Tips & Tricks

• Start with one room, keeping the whole house in mind.
• Divide a single-function room (like the living room in most homes) into several target zones. And if all the necessary accessories for gift wrapping are in the drawer in the living room, and in the kitchen you accidentally find a piece of holiday tape or tape, you and all your family members will know exactly where these items belong.

Why does it work

• This strategy serves as the basis for long-term change. Taking a bird’s eye view of your home, you will see how different activities and related attributes randomly settle in the space of the apartment, such as documents, souvenirs or children’s toys.
• Clearing away debris without prioritizing each room is completely counterproductive. By simply getting everything out of sight, you are essentially rearranging things from place to place, instead of organizing the space. Sooner or later, the restless things will again be scattered throughout the house.

It is much easier to get rid of unnecessary things if you know that they will bring tangible benefits to someone. In addition, it is so pleasant to give joy, and not to curse yourself for the money thrown away. Search the Internet, newspapers, magazines and find some charity organizations that collect things for orphanages, refugees affected by natural disasters, etc. After all, even old books, children’s clothes, from which your child grew up, or toys – Someone really needs all this, and right now.

Tips & Tricks

• Don’t just leave unnecessary items on the street. Better to follow their path and make sure they fall into the hands of those in need. You can contact a charity to see if they can arrange transportation of items from your home.
• First, find out specifically what kind of things the organization accepts. And if they don’t want a pretty decent kid’s bike, sledges and skis, can they recommend an organization where they can offer all this sports equipment.
• If the thing has no presentation or cannot be repaired, you should not look for second owners for it. Her place is in the trash.
• Involve children in charity work. Let them learn to give without demanding anything in return.

How it works

• Things lying idle are more likely to be used by other people than they will wait in the wings in your house (or maybe this will not happen at all).
• You can get a tax deduction for donated items. But for this you must keep a record of the things handed out and indicate them on your tax return.

Start at the left corner and work your way from left to right, top to bottom. “Read” the whole room like a book: cabinet – chapter, drawer – paragraph, sections – sentences, things – words. Let not a single superfluous “word” remain in the “text” of the room – those things that make your life cluttered and uncontrollable.

Tips & Tricks

• As soon as you notice that your attention is waning, take a break or repeat to yourself: “Left to right, left to right.”
• Don’t be tempted to skip a chapter. If after 3 hours of cleaning you can’t open a full drawer or stumble over a stack of magazines on the floor, your room is far from ideal.
• Give yourself some motivation. Tear a picture of a neat interior that you would like to emulate from a magazine and hang it in front of your eyes.

Why does it work

• Usually the most difficult moment is deciding where to start and where to go. Our strategy saves you this dilemma, just start at the top left corner of the room and work your way from left to right.
• Imagine tidying up a filing cabinet. The brain itself signals to you that some box is out of the general thematic division and the only possible name for it is “Miscellaneous”. So that your hands do not lose heart at the sight of the next “hodgepodge”, from time to time look back at the results of the work already done. After all, this is what the whole room will look like after you put an end to this mess.

It is best to attract all their households to assistants, because they themselves get bored of looking for the right item in the mountain of unnecessary ones. Or you can involve friends who also dream of perfect order in their own home. Create the “League of the most adorable home trash fighters”. This weekend, the “team of Timurovites” is clearing the rubble at your house, next weekend it will relocate to a friend’s apartment.

Tips & Tricks

• Make sure you have people around you of their own free will and they understand the difference between support and coercion.
• The owner of the thing has the right to have the last word, it is he who must decide his final fate – to throw it away or “let it lie still.”
• Celebrate mini wins. For example, if you’ve finished cleaning the kitchen, then it’s time to have lunch.

Why does it work

• Your friends, by definition, won’t have the kind of sentimental attachment to things that keeps you from giving up on a bunch of goofy items.
• It’s like pushing a stalled car – the more hands, the faster it will go.
• Sometimes it can be very funny to listen to the sentimental stories about why you are so attached to the thing that belongs in the trash can. So, the owner of a completely killed toy hare without eyes and with gnawed ears will not hesitate to cry over him: “When my dog ​​was still a tiny puppy, he adored this toy.”

The next time you’re dry-cleaning or laundry, remove items from the closet that you haven’t worn for a long time. Try them on in front of a full-length mirror. And imagine that you are in a clothing store. Hang the outfits that you would like to buy again in the closet, distribute the rest.

Tips & Tricks

• In order for things to be in use, they must be in shape, do not need alterations and repairs.
• Don’t let the thought that you paid a lot of money for this suit make you feel guilty. If a thing is not needed, why does it take up space in the closet?

Why it works:

• To begin with, decide the fate of only two or three things. You don’t need to turn your entire wardrobe upside down at once.
• If your weight has changed recently, consider this fact. Do not rush to get rid of those things that do not fit you right now.
• Such a wardrobe inventory is a pleasant way to find long-forgotten treasures in its bowels.

To know exactly what you have, sort the items. Take the cutlery tray as a sample. Here are spoons, forks and knives separately. And you know that in each department there are 12 (or 6, or 8). Do the same for the kitchen accessories. Place all scoops, ladles, spaghetti spoons, salad spoons, and pizza cutter in a special rack, and discard any you don’t use. Give names to these groups (you can even label them): “Baking Pans”, “Spices”, “Cereals”, etc. Each shelf and drawer in your home should have one specific purpose, like a cupboard or section for storage of socks.

Tips & Tricks

• Don’t be limited to one room. The same batteries, scissors, or pens can be scattered throughout the house. Collect them all in one place.
• If you have two similar items, pick the newer or more comfortable one and get rid of the other.
• Empty the drawer first, then put only the things you really need in it.

Why does it work

• After you put all the necessary property on the shelves, you can finally decide what to do with the rest of the things.
• Knowing exactly what you have and where it lies, you will stop wasting money buying unnecessary duplicates.
• If you can’t decide where to stick an object, most likely you just don’t need it.