Decluttering starts with a garage clearance

Feeling overwhelmed by clutter? Got more stuff than you know what to do with and piles of junk that get between you and the organised person you just know you could easily become?

Are you nodding in agreement but don’t know where to begin getting rid of things? Why not start your de-cluttering journey in your garage?

In Dr Marilyn Paul’s best-selling book It’s Hard To Make A Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys, she set out to analyse the deeper lying psychological implications of peoples differing attitudes towards clutter. Think of a few of the people you know; most might occupy that middle ground in which their house is fairly cluttered, yes, but not to a degree which seems to impact on their life. After all, it’s a fact of life that most people are going to accumulate items of all kinds as they grow older.

There will be some, however, who seem to treat their house like the local tip, and end up with a living space which looks like it requires the use of a bulldozer and several strong men to carve a path from the lounge to the kitchen.

As Dr Paul, who is a US-based management consultant explains in her book: “As you begin to get organised, you will begin to have a sense of homecoming. When you come home, whether to your house, your office or even your car, you will become energised and engaged rather than depressed.”

Put like that, it’s fairly hard to argue against decluttering. The idea of getting rid of clutter and the reality tend to be two different things, however.

You may well agree with the idea that you should get rid of all the pictures stuck to your fridge, but then you start having to choose between your young son’s Mother’s Day drawing and the postcard your daughter sent from her new home in Australia.

Before you know it, you’ll be a blubbering, emotional wreck, making up your mind to go up into the loft and bring down a few more of the kids’ old exercise books. That’s because clutter and stuff aren’t just clutter and stuff, they’re treasured objects and valuable mementoes, particularly of your life as a family.

If the thought of going through all of this just seems like too much then the best advice is to start by dealing with all the junk that’s accumulated in your garage. After all, if it’s shoved away in your garage, then how important can it be?

The idea of a garage, of course, is that it’s a place to store your car. But figures from the RAC reveal that of 53% of households with access to a garage, only 24% actually keep a vehicle in it (presumably because the clutter means there isn’t the space for a car).

However, access to off-street parking could increase the value of your home by as much as 15%, according to the property website Rightmove, especially if you live in an area where parking spaces are as rare as hen’s teeth.

Perhaps you haven’t got a car and feel your garage is put to better use as storage space. Up to a point, it is, but it’s room that you could be using to earn yourself some money.

Just Park, a supplier of pre-bookable parking in Europe, offers the following advice: “Take an afternoon and clean the garage inside and out. If possible, throw out all the unnecessary rubbish and junk. You want to have a clean, organised garage to make a good impression on a potential renter. It may make the difference of 10-20% of the agreed price.”

That’s right, not only could a garage allow you to keep your own vehicle away from the prying eyes of would-be criminals, but it could be rented out to a stranger, providing an income with a lot less fuss than a lodger.

There may be so much debris accumulated in your garage that the normal process of filling bins and visiting the tip doesn’t fit the bill. In which case, contact ProSkips today.

With 4, 6, 8, 12 and 16-yard skips available, we have the perfect solution for getting rid of old cookers, file boxes, suitcases and whatever other junk you want to get rid of. As a skip hire broker, we can arrange any permits you need and even provide a wait and load service. Call us now and take the first step towards living your decluttered life.

Image credit: 8one6