As locals or expats in Qatar, over the years, most of us have accumulated a lot of stuff; stuff that we probably don’t need anymore or stuff that has just been sitting there because we just haven’t bothered to do anything about it. And, to be totally honest, our homes are not equipped to, and are probably, not big enough to keep all the things that we have accumulated over the years. What do we do then?
Well, this is the perfect time to declutter your home and get rid of all that unwanted stuff or keep the things that you do need neatly somewhere where it doesn’t take a lot of space. Decluttering your home is a great way to keep your home more organised and free up space or getting rid of stuff when you are moving so you don’t take unneeded stuff to your new home and clutter it all up again.
The question is what can be defined as clutter, where do we start decluttering from and how do we finally take the plunge to declutter our homes!
Clutter could be just about anything that is in your home that you probably
Decluttering is all about reorganising things around the home, making room for those things that do matter or getting rid of items that are not really adding value to your life, that are not needed anymore or have simply outgrown their life in your home.
Choose a room that you want to declutter first and then move from one room to the next, sorting out and then placing in the different piles or boxes mentioned below. Start small and then, slowly and gradually, build up your pace as you get into the swing of things.
You don’t have to declutter your home all at once. Take your time so you can go through your stuff and assess whether you really need them and decide what you want to do with them.
A great way to declutter is to use the keep-chuck-box method. You could use three boxes, bin bags or baskets and mark them with ‘keep’, ‘chuck’ and ‘store’. This will make it easier to declutter your stuff and organizse it depending on what you want to do with it. As you move from one room to the next sorting out stuff and starting the decluttering process, the box method will help you along and within no time, you will have three sorted boxes, bin bags, or baskets.
For items that you decide to keep, place them neatly in designated areas and rooms where they belong. Depending on what they are, you can keep and label them in containers, drawers and cupboards.
For items you decide to chuck, there are a few different things you can do with them.
If the items (clothes, toys, shoes, electronics, etc.) are in good condition, you can donate them to different charities like Qatar Charity, place them in one of the ‘Tayf’ charity boxes dotted around Doha, give to people living in housing communities like Baloch Colony on Wholesale Market Road or store it to take home to your home country where you can give it to the needy.
A lot of the items you have put in the ‘chuck’ box may be recyclable like glass, paper, plastics, cardboard, etc. along with some electronic items. To know where and how to recycle these items in Qatar, click here.
Some of the items may be beyond repair, or useless to someone else. In that case, you will have no choice but to throw them away
Hold a garage sale and make some money out of your clutter. What may be your clutter, may be helpful and useful for someone else.
Why not advertise any items that are in good condition and you want to sell on our Classifieds page.
There are bound to be items that you have placed in the store box that you either want to keep for sentimental reasons or because you know for sure you will need them at some point. These should be further sorted out and placed either in labelled boxes or suitcases and kept somewhere where they are out of the way and your home looks neat and organised.
Now that Qatar has a fabulous resource in the shape and form of the Qatar National Library, you don’t really need to buy books. QNL has a vast array of books, magazine, digital reads and videos of all kinds and genres. Go there and take your pick.
Everytime you buy something new, make it a point to declutter your home by getting rid of something at the same time. This way, you will avoid decluttering.
Before you go out and feel compelled to buy anything, ask yourself if you really, really need it and also if you have the space to accommodate it in your home. Do not buy anything just because you are on a whim and feel that you must buy.
Do you know that, in general, we wear only 20% of the clothes we have, 80% of the time? The same rule can also apply to other household items like kitchen items, books, toys, DVDs, video games, etc. This means that 80% of your clothes and other items are not necessary and can be removed by using one of the keep-chuck-store box methods.
If it isn’t already a habit, make decluttering one! That way, your home will not overflow with clutter and will always look neat, clean and organised.
Do you regularly declutter your home? Did you find these life hacks helpful? Do you have any decluttering life hacks you can share with us? Do let us know your thoughts in our Comments section. Like and share the article - it keeps us going!
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