Here’s your chance to get rid of clutter at home as the next kerbside collection in Mt Gravatt and Mt Gravatt East is set for Monday, the 9th of March 2020. Time to get moving and gather up items the weekend before the scheduled collection.
Take note to bring out only acceptable items, such as sporting equipment, bath and laundry tubs, carpets and rugs, electronic waste, white goods, furniture, small household appliances and wood products less than 1.5 metres in size. If you need to get rid of bottles, glass, mirrors, hazardous wastes and other unacceptable items for kerbside collection day, you can make arrangements with resource recovery centres instead.
Whilst kerbside collection helps reduce the clutter in your home, you can stay clutter-free by adopting these simple ways.
1. Have a proper filing, organisation, and storage system.
Where does all your clutter come from? In most homes, the most common clutter sources are:
- Bills, lists and documents
- Children’s items
- Clothes
- Tools (kitchen, gardening, related hardware)
- Electronic devices and chargers
- Decorative stuff and knickknacks
If you are able to identify the source, you will be able to see what needs a filing, organisation, or storage solution. For instance, if you’ve got piles of paperwork at the kitchen counter, you might need a filing rack in that space to keep documents orderly. If you have gardening items, you might need a console or cabinet in the backyard so that these are not all over the place.
2. Chuck out things you “might” use one day.
Professional organisers have one rule of thumb: give items away if you haven’t been using it for more than a year. So, that bread maker sitting inside its box at the back of your pantry, which you only used once in three years, could be of a better use for someone else. Maybe a relative or a friend will want this unexpected gift.
3. Essential items should have space in your house.
As soon as you walk in your front door, where do you put keys, phones, wallet? Where do you hang your coat, jacket or scarf? These are basic essentials that you always need when you leave the house so these must have an accessible and organised space in your house, such as a table, shelving or cubby hole by the door.
In the same way, your kitchen pantry or cabinet must have a special space for essential ingredients. If you use certain items more often than others, it must be stored and placed where you can easily see and reach out to it, rather than putting these all the way to the back of the storage.
4. Get rid of old items if you bring home a new one.
Cycling through your items regularly greatly reduces the clutter. If you’ve got a new mop, there’s no use to keep the old one since you won’t use it anymore. You also don’t need to dump old items in the garage. Why not have a garage sale or donate your old stuff at tip shops?
