How to get rid of rubbish in an apartment

Schedule a sequence of actions

Experts on the organization of everyday life advise to begin the analysis of an apartment not on a territorial basis, but according to the type of things. The following sequence is recognized as the most effective:

1. clothes and toys for children;
2. books and documents;
3. cosmetics, medicines and hygiene items;
4. dishes and household appliances;
5. memorabilia.

Souvenirs should be left for last, because their analysis is the most difficult. Take care of them at the very end, an apartment cleared of large things will give you the necessary inspiration.

Start with clothes

Determine what exactly cannot be left

The desire for hoarding is most often associated with stress, fear of tomorrow, or trying to hold onto the past. However, there are things that under no circumstances will improve the quality of life. They are just ballast that you need to get rid of as soon as possible.

• Broken items, damaged clothing and faulty equipment. Introduce a rule into your life: if there was no time and money for repairs within a year, the spoiled must be ruthlessly thrown away.
• Expired cosmetics and medicines. At best, they are useless, at worst, they are hazardous to health.
• Unnecessary souvenirs and gifts, especially if they were presented by a person with whom you are not currently communicating.

Using broken dishes is unpleasant and hazardous to health.

Identify the problem areas of the apartment

If, at first glance, it seems that everything is in order, you can take a photo of the rooms and try to look at it from a distance, as if you are evaluating someone else's apartment. Superfluous things will immediately become noticeable.

Leave things that are not related to decluttering, but spoil the appearance of the apartment (wallpapering, repair of sockets and skirting boards) in the end.

The "outside view" will help to define the field of activity.

Start small

It is impossible to completely rid the apartment of rubbish in a couple of days. So that the desire for cleaning does not disappear, and the hands do not "drop" from fatigue, limit cleaning time or work front... For example, 30-60 minutes or 2 shelves a day.

An excellent task of the day is parsing a shoebox

Divide things into 4 categories

Everything that has been idle for more than six months needs to be sorted by categories:

• throw it away;
• sell or give away;
• leave;
• think.

Put the things you need to think about in the box. If they are not needed for another 3-4 months, feel free to give them away or put them up for sale.

Disassemble documents and books

In most modern apartments there is no room for large libraries, so books are stored as needed. Leave the ones that you re-read from time to time, and sell the rest... This is especially true for textbooks or fiction.They can gather dust in closets or dressers for years and serve as a source of insects in the apartment.

A separate topic is utility bills, insurance contracts and loan documents. They must be stored for exactly three years. This is the statute of limitations for most civil cases.

Do not store things "for a special occasion"

An expensive china service or obscenely expensive shoes most often move from the category "for a holiday" to the category of "trash". This is because things deteriorate from long-term storage, lose their relevance and attractiveness over time. Use them here and now, it will improve the quality of life and prevent the need for global decluttering in the future.

Crystal and porcelain rarely left the Soviet sideboards. And now they are of no value

Don't make a warehouse out of the balcony

You can really get rid of unnecessary things only by throwing them away or giving them to other owners. Everything that was taken to the dacha, to the garage or taken out to the balcony does not cease to be rubbish.

Instead of storing something that "may come in handy" on the loggia, equip it with a cozy corner for relaxation.

The balcony is also part of the apartment, so you shouldn't take all unnecessary things there.

Arrange a challenge

It is now fashionable to participate in challenges and promotions. Challenge yourself and get rid of 15 to 30 things every day for a month. At first glance, it seems that this is a lot, but in the process comes the understanding that too many unnecessary little things have accumulated in the apartment.

The advantage of the challenge is that in 21-30 days a new habit is formed, so after the end of the challenge, the trash will simply not linger in the apartment.

Only regular cleaning and the fight against your own pathological accumulation will help to get rid of unnecessary things. Start today and in a couple of weeks you will be amazed at how the apartment has changed.