With children comes clutter. This much, all parents know to be true. The ‘stuff’ that comes along with such a small person seems unfathomable, yet many moms and dads will find all storage solutions practically bursting at the seams with baby bits and pieces. It’s hard to avoid this, but, despite feeling otherwise, it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, decluttering can do an awful lot for the wellbeing of everyone in the household.
Marie Kondo’s Netflix series ‘Tidying Up’ has taken the world by storm. Her passion for sorting and streamlining belongings has infiltrated the lives of many and the result is making people feel pretty good, actually. Why? Because (in short) clutter makes us stressed and unhappy and decluttering can do a world of good for your wellbeing.
Accumulating ‘stuff’ is a very human habit, albeit an outdated one. Many scientists have theorised that the pull to buy and store things we don’t need or even really want stems from a natural and adaptive instinct run amok. To hoard food, furs and all of those essentials for survival that are simply not essential anymore. As a result, we are still compelled to gather but rather than fulfilling a need, instead we are now left feeling anxious, unable to focus and unsatisfied.
On the surface, this means Gubbins on shelves, unused kitchen appliances and mounting trinkets but to reap the full benefits of Decluttering (of which there are many), you must extend your clear out to the hidden away too. Wardrobes full of clothes you don’t want should be streamlined to contain only the items you love and of course kitchen cupboards and drawers should be the same.
One of the things parents love about our Babycup First Cups is that, from 6 months – 2.5years+, these are the ONLY cups your little one will need.
A pack or two will see you through (and they’re so dinky, designed perfectly for little hands, that they stack up neatly and take up no space at all!) and those cabinets filled with damaging sippy cups, beakers and straws can go. So that’s one area sorted, but what about the rest?
Tidying superstar Marie Kondo uses what she calls her KonMari method to transform a space. Here are some of her top-tips (in short) to get you started:
- Tidy all at once.Set yourself a 6-month time frame and clear the decks. Don’t let it drag out any longer or you will only start accumulating ‘stuff’ again.
- Visualise your destination.Before you begin, you must create a firm idea in your mind of what you want to get out of decluttering your home. Visualise your ideal lifestyle and think up affirmations to help to work towards that.
- Identify why you want to live the way you envision.For every answer ask yourself “why?” again. For example, if you want to live clutter free so you get a better night’s sleep, ask yourself, “Why do I want to sleep better?” Do this 3-5 times. When you find the answer to why you want to be tidy, you are ready to move on.
- Determine if each item “sparks joy.” Reorganising your life in this transformational way should be a pleasure, not a pain, so focus just as much on what sparks joy rather than focusing solely on throwing things away.
- Tidy by category, not location.It is commonplace for groups of things (think clothes, for example) to be stored in various places throughout the house. Marie Kondo recommends tackling the tidying process by category not location to help clear your mind.
- Tidy in the right order.Kondo says that the following order is the way to tidy: Clothes, Books, Papers, and then Komono (miscellaneous.). She goes into further details for other categories in her book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying: A Simple, Effective Way To Banish Clutter Forever
- Discard before you place things back.Take joy and relief from discarding unwanted items. This purge can bring up a lot, so take time over it but ensure you are finished with discarding before putting anything away again.
