Use Your Extra Day and Make February Work For You

We Brits love to hoard but cast a critical eye over the contents of your home and there’ll be tons of stuff that you haven’t worn, haven’t used or haven’t seen for an age!

So, rather than wait for a house move which is when most of us tend to sort through our stuff, we have been urging homeowners across the country to tackle their clutter before the words ‘spring clean’ are even mentioned and make this February and its extra day work for you.

Pretty much everyone will be guilty of hanging onto memories by keeping specific items but also keeping things that are broken, clothes waiting until they come back into fashion and toys that their children’s children might play with one day.

We want to encourage homeowners to streamline their possessions, recycle, upcycle, sell, exchange or simply throw away, if there really is no hope of redemption, and ultimately reclaim their homes.

And, with many people having tried ways of doing this and documented their findings in the media, help isn’t far away. One of the most effective ways we found was one that encouraged you to throw away 435 possessions in just one month – 1 on day one, 2 on day two and so on. Designed to slowly introduce people to the prospect of de-cluttering it has made its users feel empowered and also disbelief at just what a lot of useless stuff they were hoarding.

Early in a new year everyone is pre-occupied with dieting and detoxing – this is just de-toxing for your home. There are a host of health benefits derived from having a tidier home  - including feeling less stressed and the negative health connotations this brings and feeling more energized when completing household tasks - you may find this is more successful and a bigger boost to your wellbeing than any diet fad.

If you are looking for guidance on how to declutter you’re home look no further than the wise advise from Marie Kondo, the world's most celebrated decluttering guru. Her decluttering method is known at KonMari and with the help of her best selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, she has helped millions of people across the world declutter their home.

In her book she encourages readers to empty out wardrobes and cupboards and then ask yourself if each item ‘sparks joy’ or is useful.  The KonMari movement has a variety of celebrity followers including Hollywood actresses such as Jamie Lee Curtis and Kate Hudson to young Brit YouTube star Zoella.

How do you declutter you’re home?

Image by Emily May and licenced via Creative Commons