Is clutter beginning to overtake your life? While letting stuff accumulate is stressful for anyone, it can be doubly when you’re a New Yorker living in a small apartment. It doesn’t take long before you feel like someone’s going to alert the producers of “Hoarders” that you’d be great for an upcoming episode. While it may be challenging to keep that clutter under control, it isn’t impossible. Here are the biggest steps to take to de-clutter your home.
Ruthless editing
Be honest – how much of your stuff do you actually use? One of the most important steps of de-cluttering is to do a serious assessment of what you own. Do you have duplicates of anything? This isn’t the Great Depression and you don’t need to hang on to everything because it may be useful later. All that does is make you more stressed caring for all the things you don’t use. If you haven’t picked up The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, now is the time to do it. Author and organization expert, Marie Kondo offers great advice on how to part with anything that you don’t love.
A place for everything
Once you’ve pared down your belongings, the next step is figuring out where it will all go. When you’re short on space, it’s essential that every item have a home. Items will tend to pile up in high traffic areas when there’s no designated place for them. Figure out where you’ll store everything from your coats and shoes to the food processor you only use a couple of times a year. And as a back-up, it’s a great idea to sneak in a couple of places that don’t have anything stored in them…yet. You know you’re bound to bring new things into your home, and you’re helping your future self by creating room for those things now.
Vertical space
Even when you think you can’t squeeze any more extra space out of your place, you probably can if you think vertically. First, instead of bookshelves, consider adding wall-mounted shelves. These save visual space and allow you to use the entire wall all the way to the ceiling. Install shelves around the perimeter where the wall meets the ceiling as another place to store little-used books and home décor. Not only will it save space, it also makes your home feel bigger by drawing the eye up. Hang shelves over desks and dressers and install pot racks on kitchen walls. You can even save precious counter space in the kitchen by using magnetic strips to hold knives and other tools.
Multi-purpose furniture
Lastly, give yourself some more space by investing in furniture that does double-duty. Get a cute ottoman that can be used for storage. Or how about a wall mirror that expands into a table? You can even DIY your own multi-purpose furniture, such as this end table/dog bed.
More information
If you’d like more information about buying, selling or renting in New York City, contact Platinum Properties at 646-759-9675. Our dedicated agents are happy to assist you with all your real estate needs and questions.
