DECLUTTER IN 1 HOUR!

I’m often asked how long it takes to declutter a room, or an entire home. Obviously it’s difficult to put a time on this without seeing the level of clutter there may be in a home, how large the home is, and a number of other factors such as the type of room.

The important thing to remember is that it may take a lot less time than you might think. And in this newsletter I want to give you a few ideas of some areas in your home that you could declutter in just one hour. When you take a look at this list, which is obviously endless, it will hopefully provide you with a few ideas on areas you would like to tackle in your home, and you only need to set aside one hour at a time.

While I acknowledge that many people are very busy with children and their many and varied activities both in school and after school, not to mention often a busy career thrown into the mix. However, I would like to think that even the busiest of us can find one hour during our week which we could dedicate to our ‘decluttering goals’.

The first step of course is to find that hour when you will be free to completely focus on the job at hand. In other words, this will ideally not be when the children are around needing your attention.

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After a simply wonderful holiday in Italy with my family I’m now back and looking forward to some warmer weather like that I experienced in Italy.

This month I want to talk about one of the transitions that many of us will be involved in sooner or later, and that is helping our aged parents to make the huge leap in moving out of their home and into residential care.

It’s probably mainly the baby boomers among us who are facing this tough time, and I know first-hand how emotional this can be for all parties involved, and especially for our loved ones who may be unwell and needing special care.

Although my parents have been gone for a few years now, those memories of that difficult time are still vivid. Mum had to go into a specialised care facility as she had Alzheimer’s disease and was no longer safe in our family home. We were so fortunate that she settled in easily and with my sister, brother and me visiting her often she still knew she was cherished. Dad remained at home for another two years and our attention was also focused on him and making sure he knew he was loved, was secure and got to see us most days. Sadly he also reached a stage where regular falls made his living in a 2-storey home untenable. He settled into a rest home in Browns Bay, close to where my sister lived and not too far from me. With his fancy little red scooter he was able to get out and about and enjoy his surroundings.

We were fortunate in a way that our parents had both reached a stage where moving to a care facility was not a question but rather a necessity. For many families this decision can be a struggle with a parent not wanting to budge from the family home, and all their possessions.

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Sometimes we read a tip on how to do something better, and it resonates. I won’t be writing my usual monthly newsletter in August because I’m taking a holiday and going back to Italy to see my family for a couple of weeks. So for this newsletter I decided to share just a few miscellaneous tips with you, in no particular order, and hopefully maybe one might prove useful.

– No more orphan socks: forget the hours of trying to find mismatching socks, you’ve definitely put 2 in the washing machine but only 1 comes out! Before you put them in the wash, use a large safety pin to pin them together and they’ll remain attached through the wash and dryer cycles. [Read more…]

DOWNSIZING TO A SMALLER HOME

This is something many of us will face at least at some point in our lives. It may be that you’re moving to a smaller home because the kids have left and you don’t need the 3 or 4 bedroom house anymore. Or maybe you’ve decided you’d like to live in an apartment rather than a house which comes with maintenance of lawns etc. There are many reasons and my co-writer, Peter, and I explored this subject in an entire chapter of our book “Make Space For Life” – you can see this featured on the homepage of my website.

Whatever reason is having you downsize your home, this is a huge decision making process, and not an easy one. The biggest hurdle though for most of us is working through the mass of belongings we own, not only the furnishings from a larger home, but also sports equipment, the contents of a busy tool shed, and of course the many mementoes we’ve gathered over the years.

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WHERE ARE YOUR DUMPING GROUNDS?

Honestly we’ve all got dumping grounds in our home and often in our work environment as well. It may be one or two areas where we pop something ‘for now’ until we get around to actually putting it away – or in some cases, until we can figure out a place where we can put it away!

The problem with dumping grounds is that they attract more of the same; in other words clutter works like a magnet and basically says “come to me…” I also believe that clutter sucks the energy and joy out of us. It becomes overwhelming and there’s certainly no joy in overwhelm!

Okay, so what are the two most common dumping areas in the home and what can you do about them?

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