Choosing Kitchen Appliances You'll Actually Use

Clutter can easily take over a home, and especially if you're not very good at keeping a space organized or knowing what can be tossed out. This can create stress, as you trip over items or need to sort through them to find things you use every day. If you have a hard time removing clutter because you don't know what you can take out of the home, note a few tips that can help.

Outdated items

Some people keep older newspapers and magazines because they want to read the stories, but keep in mind that those stories become outdated almost as soon as you get those periodicals in the mail! You can subscribe to online news sources and keep updated without clutter. Outdated cosmetics and personal care items can also be very harmful to your skin and may not even work, as their chemistry and ingredients break down over time. To remove clutter, start with these outdated items and feel free to just throw them away.

Furniture

You may have furniture items in your home that are actually clutter, simply because they never get used and only crowd the space. This might mean extra armchairs in the living room or family room, unused side tables that serve no purpose, and dining room chairs you keep for guests even though you rarely entertain. If you're hesitant to toss out these pieces because you might need them for that one rare dinner party, or don't want to shop for new furniture when your current pieces get worn, get a self-storage unit and store them away. If you do know you'll never use those pieces, sell them; that extra money may be just the motivation you need to part with those items.

Second sets

If you have second sets of many items in your home, these can easily become clutter; this would include things like a second set of dishware or a second set of tools. You might also have an old but working generator, lawnmower, or other such item that you never discarded when you bought a new one. As with furniture in the home, you may not be ready to actually part with these items, keeping them around "just in case" you do ever need them, but they may be underfoot in the home. These are also good candidates for a storage unit, as you can store them away from the home while keeping those backup or spare items convenient, if and when you do need them again.