Enterprise Canada
Monday, December 18, 2017
ST. CATHARINES, ONT. (DECEMBER, 2017) – With the long, cold winter on the horizon, many Canadians are already starting to dread the idea of being cooped up indoors by bad weather.
Cabin fever can feel even worse if your home is cluttered and cramped with unwanted junk you’ve accumulated over the years. That’s why it’s a good idea to move the calendar ahead a few months and get a jump on spring cleaning with a preventative fall purge.
“It makes sense to do a big declutter session in the fall to create more room for yourself and your family when the snow flies and you’re all stuck inside,” says Mike Thorne, President of St. Catharines, Ont.-based JUSTJUNK.
Decluttering can be daunting. It takes planning, hard work and usually a lot of heavy lifting to sift through the contents of home and determine what stays, what goes and what can be re-used.
After 15 years as a leader in the junk removal industry, a few tips for those looking to reclaim some space before winter.
Start with one room at a time
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It's easy to get overwhelmed once we start to organize and clean out everything that we feel we don't need. Start with one room of the house at a time and divide it into what you're keeping and what you'll be getting rid of. After you've decided on what you're keeping, then it will be much easier moving the pile of "junk" out of the room.
Ask yourself tough questions
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How long has it been since I've used this? Do I even like it? Does it work properly or is it broken? If I keep this, what will I get rid of to make room for this? The answers to these questions will help you figure out what to keep and what to let go of.
Divide and conquer
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Take six categories and divide the belongings accordingly. This will help the decluttering make sense and seem like less work.
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Keep it in the room
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Put it away in another room
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Donate it
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Recycle it
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Trash it
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Sell it
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Write it down
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Sometimes when you write something down and you can physically see what it is that you need to accomplish, it makes completing the task much easier. Take a blank calendar and go through everything in the house that you would like to conquer. Once you have a list of the rooms and items that you want to sort out take that calendar and start to pick days to complete the tasks on.
