Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and many families, including the non-Chinese, are spring cleaning their homes to prepare for the festivities. This is a tradition observed annually because cleaning the house is symbolic of driving away the past year’s bad luck to allow for a fresh new start.
Even if the Lunar New Year isn’t a significant holiday to you, cleaning and decluttering your home is an important part of living as it ensures that you get to live in a healthy environment. Whether you’re spring cleaning your coliving space as part of tradition or for your mental and physical health, here are some tips to help you effectively clean and declutter.
1. Create A Sorting System
Before you go through the items in your home, create a sorting system to make the tidying process a lot easier. For example, you can categorise items into things to throw, things to keep, and seasonal or sentimental items. As you go along, place items in their respective bins for visibility and to keep your space neat even as you’re taking all your belongings out of their storage units. This helps you clearly see what you have to do with each item and prevents you from accidentally throwing away stuff that you need.
2. Rent A Self Storage Unit or Valet Storage
Communal living does not allow one to hold on to many personal possessions because your room can either be too small or you are not permitted to store items in the communal space. In this case, self storage units or valet storage services are extremely beneficial as you can rent an outside space away from your coliving apartment for the safe storage of your belongings. This also frees up space in your room for more useful necessities.
If you’re a tenant at Coliwoo, you’ll be thrilled to find out that Coliwoo tenants get up to 25% off storage space rental at Work+Store!
Learn More: 5 Co-living Etiquette Tips
3. Dedicate A Space For Everything
In order to ensure proper organisation, it is important to dedicate a suitable space for everything you own and keep the same category of items together. For example, your daily belongings in one drawer, first aid supplies in another, and your snacks in one kitchen cabinet. This forces you to keep your environment neat and tidy, and increases the likelihood of you returning items to where they belong instead of throwing them around the room. It may also be helpful to label your storage units accordingly such that you’ll never forget where to place each item.
4. Clear All Flat Surfaces
Empty flat surfaces in your coliving space, such as your shelves, tables, and countertops attract clutter. While it is fine to place a few things on these areas, you should make it a goal to keep these spaces clean. Because when things start piling up, more will accumulate, making it tougher to clean up. These surfaces are where you’ll prepare your food, do your work, and hold belongings you use daily, and they should be kept tidy for those purposes.
5. Bin Items You Haven’t Used In A Year
Items you haven’t reached for in over a year should be thrown away or donated even if they’re still as good as new. This is because not looking for these items for so long shows that you don’t need them and not having them does not affect your lifestyle. By using this mentality to clean your house, you’ll realise that a lot of the items you’re holding onto are only taking up space and serve no purpose.
With the new decluttering knowledge you’ve gained, you won’t have to worry about not being able to maintain cleanliness and tidiness when you’re living alone.
Ever thought of moving out? Check out Coliwoo, a coliving establishment with multiple serviced apartments across Singapore for you to rent from. Find your home today.
