Purity guru Marie Kondo is sure: the mess in the house is the result of accumulated unnecessary things. And in order to restore order, it is necessary, first of all, to get rid of excess. How exactly?
Divide all things into categories
This means that you need to disassemble not a chest of drawers or a closet, but all the clothes that are in the house. Not mezzanines and shelves with books, but all printed materials, including magazines and newspapers. If there are a lot of things, divide the categories into subcategories. For example, all home textiles for bedding, bath towels, kitchen towels and so on. Clean not a room, but certain things.
Lay it all down on the floor
Literally dump all things there – to see everything at once.
Start with things you don’t mind throwing away.
First, get rid of something that doesn’t cause nostalgia like “oooh, I wore this dress on my first date with my husband!”, And end with souvenirs, postcards, and other items with which you have certain memories. Believe me, at the very end you with a light heart send them to the landfill. After all, these same memories can be stored in one’s own memory without prejudice to order.
Listen to your feelings
Before throwing away a thing or, conversely, leaving it in a house, Marie Kondo advises holding it in her hands. If you feel joy from the touch, feel free to leave it. Items that do not cause positive emotions, without regrets, send to the trash. In order not to feel guilty for wastefulness, literally thank them for their service.
Ruthlessly get rid of unnecessary
After sorting, you will have a bunch of unnecessary things left. What to do with them?
Throw away unnecessary clothes
- Things that do not fit are scrapped! When you lose weight or get better, you still do not wear this dress, but want to buy a new one;
- Do not leave old clothes even to wear at home. First, it psychologically makes you feel shabby. And, secondly, the stores are now full of beautiful, cozy and stylish home sets;
- Things in good condition can be taken to the help center for those in need – they are in every city.
Take apart books and magazines
Get rid of books that you have already read and will not re-read again or do not want to read at all. Send children’s, educational and other literature from the category of “what if you need it”, as well as operating instructions, send them to the trash: you definitely won’t need them!
If it is a pity to throw away books, give the literature to the library, and you can turn over all the printed matter to the waste paper recycling center.
Take the little things to the trash
Everyone in the house has an unclosed shelf with small trash: spare buttons, used batteries, broken headphones, business cards, and much more. Perhaps a couple of things from there will turn out to be really important, but just rake everything else in a heap and take it to the bin.
Store the right one
Fold in a special way
- Do not turn clothes in the closet into identical stacks, but twist them with dense rollers or fold them in special rectangles (see below);
- Store them by type of file in the drawers. By opening the chest of drawers, you can see all things at once. In addition, the clothes below will not wrinkle under the load of the pile. Fold large things, such as T-shirts and pants, with rectangles. Socks, underpants, scarves are more convenient to store in the form of rollers;
- Forming a rectangle, do not stretch the fabric, but fold the thing two to three times;
- Clothing that should be stored on hangers in the closet, let it remain there. Just distribute it by type: start with a coat and down jackets, and end with light chiffon blouses and silk dresses;
- Use boxes, not shelves, for storage. Rectangles and rollers are more compactly stacked in square boxes. And put special organizers on the shelves in the cabinets.
Sort and store compactly
- Put documents, receipts for payment and other necessary papers into files: what you always need (passports, policies) – in one file, temporarily (warranty cards) – in another;
- Use vertical containers for storage;
- Have medicine, cosmetics and household chemicals in separate places, remembering to regularly check expiration dates.;
- Fold your bags according to the type of nesting dolls: put small ones in the largest.
Do not re-accumulate trash
To never engage in general cleaning again, do not re-litter the house:
- Buy new things only in exchange for old ones, and always throw out the last;
- So that new items can be folded compactly, remove them from the packaging and remove all tags;
- For the things of each family member and for each category of things should be assigned a strictly defined place. And under no circumstances should children’s socks lie with yours;
- Get rid of garbage right away. Shake out all receipts, candy wrappers from sweets and other rubbish from bags. Do the same with shelves, pencil boxes, and more.
After the work done (not easy, by the way), you will never again want to casually throw a thing into the closet: you put it in the right roller and send it to its rightful place.
