Clearing the Clutter Post-Lockdown

We have spent almost an entire year stuck at home with reasons to venture outside the front door being very limited. Many people have simply stopped caring how the house looks due to the lack of visitors.

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Although there are many people that have used the lockdown wisely, as an opportunity opportunity to spruce up their homes, so many of us developed even more clutter than we had before the lock down started.

Additionally, home schooling and children spending more time at home has also wreaked havoc for families far and wide, along with the increase of online purchases being dropped off at the door slowly increasing the amount of clutter. Covid-19 has also caused disruption to waste management services, such as trips and even to the weekly bin collections with bin-men forced to isolate due to either a positive test or coming into contact with someone who has tested positive.

That has all resulted in waste and clutter building up through lockdown which, while we tell ourselves we will get around to clearing up, it continues to sit there in the corner staring at us. Well, as we are hopefully in the closing stages of social restrictions as vaccinations continue to be administered at break-neck speed, now is the time to consider your plan of action for tackling the mess.

Categorize Your Mess

Not all mess is the same, with some clutter potentially able to be donated when it is safe to do so and some able to be recycled, while other mess will simply require being thrown away. With this, we recommend splitting your mess into three categories:

Donations
Recycling
Waste

Ensure that any clutter you place into the donations category are actually suitable to be donated and used by someone else. This means that any old clothes you are planning to donate should be in a wearable condition and not damaged beyond repair (i.e. if there are any holes, stains and/or rips, don’t expect the charity shop to accept it).

In the case of recycling, you should check with your local authority as to what is and isn’t accepted as this can vary by region. However, some of the basic as to what can be recycled include:

Plastic packaging
Glass bottles
Cardboard
Non-glittery/metallic wrapping paper

Everything else should be placed into the general waste category. While you may be able to get through this bit by bit by placing it into the outside bins, you may feel as though you are simply chipping away at a mountain. You might be better to call on the services of a company or waste management collectors, such as Central Junk, to tackle a festering problem in your home.

If you have too many items in the waste category, it would not make sense to load them in a vehicle, drive to the dump and unload them and repeat this process over and over again. You will wear yourself out and not have enough energy to continue the process. In this situation, it would be best to hire a skip bin service that could leave you a large container to collect your waste in and when you are finished they will come and pick up the whole bin and dump it for you! You could search for this by typing your location, like skip hire sydney to see what is available in your area. If you call early enough in the morning, they may even be able to deliver your bin that very day!

Be Brutal

Anything that doesn’t have a use has to go. Do not hold onto anything for longer than you have to as it will only gather dust and make the place look untidy. This is especially true in the case of children’s toys – if they are no longer played with then either donate them to a worthy cause or, if they are damaged, throw them away.

We can all be a little bit guilty of holding on to possessions for longer than we really should, which is why making the effort to rid your home of clutter every now and then is needed for everyone. With us spending almost every hour of the day at home, now is as good a time as any to go through the home and be as brutal as you have to in order to revitalize your home.

With a lot of hope, in the coming months we will be looking back on lockdown as a distant memory and we will be inching our way towards normality. Don’t allow your home to be riddled with clutter when we can eventually welcome friends and families back round for coffee, tea or something to eat.

This is a contributed post.

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