This decade so far has not exactly gone as most of us expected, but the time at home and the focus on functionality has at least been beneficial for the purposes of sorting our homes out. The importance of decluttering has become clear for so many of us, and it’s been a chance to become well-versed in how to organize our “keep”, “throw” and “maybe” piles across the various lockdowns.
The work of decluttering is so fundamental to an organized life – especially if you’re now working from home most of the time – that it can actually be worth extending the principles of decluttering across your family life. It’s not just about sorting out cardboard for recycling or clearing out what you no longer need. Real, whole-life decluttering can aid you and your family in working more efficiently and having a more straightforward life.
As well as working through your house, there are a few other areas that will benefit just as much from a sweep through: your digital life, your admin, your engagements, and the more prosaic aspects of your kids’ lives. Here is how these can be approached with a Marie Kondo outlook.
Digital: Use the cloud, but moderately
Cloud storage has become indispensable to anyone who uses their devices for file downloads, and smart use of the cloud does remove a lot of the burden from your device. However, cloud storage is not infinite, especially if you aren’t paying for it, and so it is worth asking whether your cloud use is more “putting this away for later” or “out of sight, out of mind”. If it’s the latter, then check out how to clean up iCloud storage and make sure that you aren’t just cramming digital boxes in your digital attic. You don’t want to save up all the work to sort through for later.
Admin: Keep it managed
Most of us have at least one to-do that, no matter how well we think we have prepared, still comes back on us every month. It might be a direct debit for which you forget to set aside the money, or a pre-planned food shop that ends up delivering something you or the kids stopped eating back in the summer. Essentially, anything that is recurring – weekly, monthly or quarterly – needs to be looked at critically in terms of whether it is needed, how it should be paid for, and whether it is still up to date for your current purposes.
This may be a chance to make a purposeful change – shake up the shopping delivery with healthier foods, find a better deal on car insurance, or even get the kids interested in a new after-school activity.
Engagements: Take a more exclusive approach
While we’re not likely to enter lockdown again any time soon, it’s still enough of a novelty to even be allowed out. As a result, it’s easy to end up saying “Yes!” to every opportunity to get together with others – for both your sake and your kids’. But when you say “Yes” to everything, you become keenly aware of the benefits of using the word “No” sometimes. Some gatherings are not going to be fun for you or the kids, and the chance to decompress and kick back at home is still underrated. If there’s a chance for any of your number to meet a much-missed friend you haven’t seen for months or years, take it (Covid measures permitting, of course). If it’s just another get together, maybe it can wait.
Kids: more of that ordinary decluttering
Let’s be honest, if you’ve looked around your living room or kitchen recently and felt that it could benefit from a bit of a blitz, then your kids’ bedrooms probably need it countless times as much. At that age, they’re simply not conditioned to value order in the way that they will as they get older. Of course that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up trying! It’s honestly up to you whether or not you involve them in the cleanup. If they can be occupied by a film or a playdate with friends, allowing you freedom to tackle what’s behind their bedroom door, then so much the better. Be cautious about throwing out anything – at least, anything that isn’t prone to start smelling – as kids are likely to put sentimental value on the most unlikely objects.
