Living in a regular property can sometimes feel like an uphill struggle. No matter how hard you try you never seem to be able to get on top of all your chores. Youâd love to be able to relax, but thereâs always more to be done. Itâs a nightmare.
In this post, we take a look at how you can work harder, not smarter, to make your property an enjoyable environment in which to live. You donât have to live on a bomb-site. You donât have to feel stressed. You just need the right strategies to make your homework for you.
Be Careful What You Buy
When you see a piece of homeware in the store or a magazine, it always looks immaculate in its context. Everything makes visual sense and it never looks cluttered. But when you try to recreate the same effects in your property, you wind up in trouble. It never looks as good as youâd hoped.
This effect doesnât happen by chance. Itâs a direct reflection of your homeâs setup – you simply have too much stuff.
Being careful about what you buy can, over the long-term, lead to substantial improvements in your home. You feel as though youâre in control because everywhere has its proper place.
Before you buy anything, create a plan. Work out how the new object is going to complement the rest of the room. If it doesnât add to it, donât get it.
Plan Out A Place For Everything
Many people go about interior design without doing any planning. Itâs an improvised process, where they just add things they like without adhering to an overall scheme. Theyâre then surprised when they discover that the aesthetics donât work.
Smart homeowners have a place for everything. They plan it all out in advance because they know that the only way to control the chaos. Just going with the flow doesnât work if you want a picture-perfect interior. You have to work out how it is going to work on a practical level too.
Call In The Pros
There are all sorts of professionals who can help you take back control of your home. And each of them offers a specific type of service that provides you with the support that you need.
Take maid services, for instance. These allow you to spend less of your precious leisure time cleaning and more of it just having fun.
You can also get professional interior designers to create rooms for you from scratch. You then use their ideas as a template to construct something that really works.
If you have a pest issue in your home, then you can use pest control services. These guys root out the problem, eliminate it, and then prevent it from occurring again.
When it comes to taking back control of your home, thereâs nothing wrong with calling in outside help. In fact, itâs sometimes instructive because these people can teach you how to make things more organized and controlled.
Delegate Jobs To Other People
Military generals often used the tactic of divide and conquer to overcome their opponents. But interestingly, the same strategy works remarkably well on your house. The more you can break it down with the help of other people, the easier the job becomes.
Letâs say you have clutter in all of your rooms and you donât know how to attack the problem first. One approach is to delegate the task to friends and family and get everyone involved. The people who love you will be more than willing to put in a bit of work to get your property looking good again if they feel itâs having a detrimental effect on your quality of life. Often, all you have to do is ask, and all sorts of people will show up to help you.
Create Home Habits
Imagine that you recorded everything that you did in your house and watched it back on tape the next day. Youâd soon see all the ways that you sabotage your desire to keep your interiors clean and tidy. Youâd immediately see all the times that you left plates in the sink without washing them up or clothes on the floor. Youâd notice just how many ingredients you left out on the kitchen side instead of putting them away in the cupboard. And youâd soon discover just how willing you are to allow grease to build up on surfaces.
Interestingly, though, none of these behaviors are strictly necessary. In fact, a few quick clean-up tasks can radically change the dynamic in your home. Washing up dishes immediately removes the clutter. And because the food is still wet on the plate, it is easier to remove than if you leave it.
Whatâs more, clutter actually makes tidying up harder because youâre having to perform a more complex operation.
Remove What You Donât Need
Taking back control of your home often requires being more honest with yourself about what you need. Do you really require a spiralizer in your kitchen drawer or ten pots and pans to make your meals. Almost certainly, you donât, but you hang onto those items anyway because youâre fearful of getting rid of something that might come in handy in the future.
Getting rid of what you donât need is actually easier than you think. Kondoâs advice is to look at every item in your home and ask yourself âIs this bringing me joy?â If it isnât, get rid of it. You wonât miss it.
Once you remove all the DVDs, books, and records you no longer want in your home, you suddenly feel much freer – like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders. And youâre able to proceed with your life quite naturally.
Leave Shoes Off At The Door
Lastly, itâs worth mentioning the importance of leaving shoes off at the door.
There are two reasons why so many families institute this practice. The first is to protect their carpets and rugs from damage. And the second – and perhaps more interesting reason – is to stop the spread of allergies.
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