Simple Ways to Declutter Your Space
Whether you live on campus at university or commute each day, an integral characteristic of most college students is the struggle for space – our tiny bedrooms and even smaller closets crammed between the door and desk tend to make decor and storage virtually impossible.
Of course, there are a few sneaky tricks to get around this storage (shoe hangers, collapsable storage baskets, multi-clothing hangers…), however at the end of the day, moving into your dorm room/apartment is going to require you to declutter.
This isn’t a bad thing! In fact, it can be a great way of sifting through things you’d forgot you had and starting fresh!
- Donate your clothes to charity – Generally, we don’t wear all our clothes forever. Some get old, or too small, or we simply don’t like them anymore. Sometimes they’re gifts, and we never liked them at all. There’s no point in hanging onto clothes that have seen their day with you; donate them locally and let them make someone else’s day a little brighter, and your closet a little lighter!
- Attend to one ‘aspect’ of your room each day – Through focusing solely on decluttering your desk and office space (for example) for an entire day, you are able to completely ensure that nothing is shoved beneath the surface or slips by unnoticed. Over a few days, your whole room will have been thoroughly and methodically made new! This is also a great way to start feeling on top of things before a new academic year!
- Collect your Cords – With wires and powerpoint and chargers and lamps and toasters and who knows what else, there’s bound to be a whirlwind of cords spiraling uncontrollably through your room. Keep these collected and tidy with extension cords, elastic bands and tape to ensure that they don’t creep out into the centre of your room or get tangled in between your books and shoes
- Make use of the space under your bed – If your bed has space, great; if it doesn’t, get cheap raisers that will elevate your bed to create space! Under here is where you can store all your miscellaneous items, as well as textbooks, shoes, heavy boxes and anything else you don’t need every day and/or don’t want on display!
- Don’t hold onto ‘freebies’ – Perhaps this is just my college (although, I think not), but students get a ton of free stuff. The problem is, most of the free stuff aren’t actually things I or we would necessarily want – I’m talking graphic tees that you think are ugly, massive tote bags, CD’s (even though you threw away your CD player ten years ago), and the like. Just because they’re free, doesn’t mean you have to keep them! In fact, don’t – you thought it, I’ll say it: they’re ugly anyway
- Ditch the paper – Sometimes with certain courses this isn’t super possible (I’m an english/creative writing major, I know). If you can convert your study notes, class notes, textbooks and handouts to electronic versions, this will save you a lot of shelf space in your room for other far more important things, such as your own actual possessions! Tip: make sure you back everything up, and look into using either Dropbox or Google Drive just to be safe!
7. Look Into Self Storage – Decluttering is all about getting rid of the things you do not need. However, when you live in an expensive city like London, and in one of the pricier neighbourhoods like Croydon, you have to think about decluttering differently. You can’t just do away with your clothes, books, papers, and small miscellaneous items. If you need them again, you may be forced to make many an unnecessary purchase. Instead, you can keep your unused items in self storage in Croydon and visit the unit when you need them. It is a quick way to “declutter” your space without having to throw everything away.
