It’s been almost a year since the world became homebound due to the spread of Covid-19, and that means you are probably loving some spaces and loathing others. This Valentine’s Day, rather than splurging on a fancy dinner, strike up a romance with your home. As we all continue to spend more time at home, loving your space has become more important than ever before. This month, we’ve curated a list of tips to help you love, rather than loathe, your spaces at home.
Create Functional Spaces
Many of the rooms in our homes serve multiple purposes these days. The kitchen table doubles as a school desk or work from home space for both children and adults. The living room also must function as a home workout studio as you live-stream the latest yoga class from your favorite instructor. The first step in turning loathe into love is identifying what specific functions each space needs to serve. What rooms serve multiple purposes?
Evaluate and Sort Items in Your Space
Once you determine the functions of the space you’re determined to love, next comes the evaluation and sorting phase. We recommend gathering decluttering supplies to help in the big sort. Begin your organization project by labeling containers “donate”, “store”, “relocate”, “toss” and “repair”. Start the process by removing every item, especially in traditionally hard-to-reach spaces. This gives you the opportunity to improve the space and evaluate one item at a time.
Purge Unused Items
Getting rid of personal belongings can be a challenge for many people, but the purge can lift weight off your shoulders. A few questions you can ask yourself to aid in the sorting and purging process include:
- When was the last time I used this?
- How many of these do I have?
- Do I love this?
- Is it broken or past its prime?
- Can someone else benefit more from this item?
After deciding you will get rid of an item, you must next determine how you will get rid of it. Many places accept household donations, including thrift stores, homeless shelters and consignment shops. You may also be able to take advantage of the tax deduction that comes with donating household goods.
As you sort through your belongings, you may decide to sell certain items, which can be done through websites like Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark and eBay, among others. With spring approaching, it may also be beneficial to start planning a garage sale if you have enough items you would like to try selling.
Other items may be worn out, broken or past their prime. In this case, you will want to recycle items that can’t be donated or sold. Your local waste management company likely offers a guide for recycling and reuse.
Organize and Contain
Rather than running out and buying new organizing products without a plan, it helps to first declutter, because what’s the point in organizing things you don’t use or want? After mapping out your organization plan, feel free to splurge on the clear or rainbow bins and containers a la The Home Edit. If you want to give yourself the best opportunity to stay organized after the big sweep, try labeling your containers so their contents are easy to find.
From Loathe to Love
Professional organizers tell us that, once we’ve gotten organized or fall in love with our spaces, keeping them that way requires a lifestyle change — an ongoing effort to maintain the space. The love for your new space may fade if you don’t establish processes and routines to stay organized. Clean out the refrigerator the same day as trash day, sort through the mail daily, return items to the correct container after use.
Rent a Storage Unit and Reclaim Space at Home
Donating unused items, moving belongings to storage seasonally or permanently, throwing away broken toys will help you create spaces that you love. We’re all experiencing quarantine fatigue, but renewing your love for your home space can provide a needed boost to get through the rest of this forced time at home.
Do you have items taking up precious space at home? Browse our locations and find the Security Public Storage facility nearest you. Use this time at home to reignite the love you have for your space.