Written by Aiman Khan

Thumbnail Photo by Andrea Davis on Unsplash

Cluttered spaces are not only un-aesthetic, but can also be a source of trouble. You start losing things, struggle to find working space, or spend hours cleaning up when you expect company. While decluttering requires a little work and patience, it’s worth the effort – especially now that we are working and studying from home. If you’re looking for tips to declutter your space, here are some small ways you can get started.

Declutter the Bedroom

As the controversial Jordan Peterson famously said, "If you can't even clean up your own room, who (…) are you to give advice to the world?” That might sound harsh considering we’re in quarantine and are likely to spend a lot of our time cooped up in our rooms. But in the long run, you’ll feel better if you can consistently keep this intimate space tidy. Below are some tips that can help you get started:

Make your bed. The first order of the day is to make your bed, and we’re all familiar with this by now (thanks Mom!). As small as it is, making your bed can be the first accomplishment of your day. Even if you plan on spending the entire day in bed, try making it as soon as you get up (it doesn’t even need to look that great). You’ll find that you’re less likely to want to mess it up again, and that might even motivate you to stay out of it for the rest of the day. In the long run, this small step can lead you to start paying more attention to keeping the rest of your room tidy.
No more nightstands. If your nightstands are always cluttered, maybe it’s time to give them up. You’ll have more space in the bedroom and you’ll likely be more mindful of what you bring into bed with you in the first place. It can also help you to stay more organized since you have the option of leaving your things on the floor beside your bed or you have to get up and return them to their original places. If you’re in the habit of reading hardcovers before bed, you can opt for a floor lamp instead of table lamps.
Keep your closet in order. It doesn’t matter that almost nobody sees the inside of your closet – it’s enough that you see it. Now don't take it too far - it's not necessary to organize all your clothes by colour and length. That's a huge task, and it will never stay that way. Instead, think about downsizing. A good rule of thumb is to donate or throw out anything that you haven’t worn for over a year. Chances are, you won’t be wearing them anytime in the future either. A great way to find out which items should go is by hanging all of your hangers the opposite way to how you would usually hang them. Every time you wear something and hang it back in your closet, hang it the right way again. At the end of the season, you will probably have a good idea of which items you didn’t even touch throughout the entire season and can start thinking about letting them go.

Your Living Space

If you live off-campus alone, with your friends, or your significant other, you most likely have a living room. Generally speaking, this is the tidiest room in one’s apartment since we entertain our friends and family here. But almost a year into quarantine, you might have started using your living room as a makeshift office or study area, so it’s even more important to keep this space tidy.

Invest in a bookshelf. It’s important to have a space where you can keep all your knickknacks and miscellaneous items that always seems to end up around the room. This is especially true if you have roommates, and everyone has something they either want to put on display or have no space for in their own bedrooms. A console table or bookshelf can come in handy here and are great for storage.

Don’t suffocate the coffee table. The coffee table bears the brunt of all that goes on in the living room and can get messy very quickly. You can start off by putting everything that should not be on the coffee table back to its original place, and make a habit of doing this every time. For example, if you study on the couch, put your books away in your bookshelf before going to bed, and the same goes for your laptop, coffee mugs, or dishes. You’ll love waking up to an organized space.

What about your Working Space?

For students, nothing gets as messy as our desks, and for good reason: When you’re struggling to keep up with online courses, the last thing you want to worry about is tidying up your space every night. There aren’t any hard or fast rules about keeping your study area tidy, since we all have our preferences. However, ample storage space is one thing that might help across the board, so you can think about investing in a filing cabinet or storage rack where you can put away your items at the end of the day. It can also help to set up your desk for the next day every night. If you know what you are planning to study the next morning, you can lay out everything you would need the night before, so that when you wake up, your workspace is already ready for you.

Delineate your Space

It can sometimes help to define what each space means to you, and stick to that certain activity in that area. For example, don’t bring out your phone to scroll on TikTok while you’re at your desk. Take a break, and go somewhere else – even if it’s just a few steps away. You want to wire your brain to go into work/study mode as soon as you sit down at your desk, and not associate that space with activities that lie outside of what you would consider work.

Similarly, create a space in your room or apartment for your leisure activities instead of doing them on your bed (like most of us are prone to do). This can even help you fall asleep faster if your brain starts associating your bed with sleep rather than as the space to spend hours on social media on (or attend classes on, for that matter).

Reset the Room Before you Leave

A great way to keep your common areas tidy is by resetting the room to how you found it when you came in (given that it was clean when you entered!). So, when you’re done cooking, clean up your pots and pans (or load the dishwasher) immediately instead of waiting to do it after your meal. Put away your dishes as soon as you are done eating, instead of leaving them in the sink. Not only does it take you a few minutes to get them done, you won’t have to worry about them for the rest of the day – and your roommates are probably going to appreciate it too. It might not be fun starting out, but once you get into the habit of it, you’ll be surprised at just how easy it is to clean up after yourself.

Divide up your Chores

If you live with roommates, you might already have a cleaning schedule. Generally, it helps to have a rotating schedule where you take turns doing certain chores every week. For example, if you’re taking out the trash and your partner is vacuuming the apartment this week, you can switch chores next week and so on. While this works for most households ( based on anecdotal experience), some people may prefer to do certain chores over others. So, if you and your roommates prefer complementary chores, you can just stick to one unchanging schedule. Whatever the case may be, it can help to do your chores together on the same day. Not only do you get everything done at around the same time, you get to spend some quality time with your roommates and make an activity out of something that’s otherwise rote and boring.

If you live on your own, it might be a little more difficult to keep yourself accountable. Setting up reminders on your phone is one way you can keep yourself on track. It might also help to take on different chores every week instead of tackling it all in one go.

Sell, donate or throw out unnecessary items

Sometimes we hold on to things that no longer serve us. And sometimes, we do that often enough that there’s no room for us to get new things. While there may be many things that hold true sentimental value for us, more often than not we end up hoarding things in the name of keepsakes.There are probably some items in your apartment that you don’t need – whether that’s a pair of ill-fitting shoes, last year’s Halloween costume, or a mini fridge you no longer have space for. Set up an ad for them on an online marketplace like Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace, and you’ll be surprised at how many people are interested in these items you no longer use. Once you get into the hang of monetizing your disposable items, you will find you’re less likely to hoard old things. You can also donate old clothes to homeless shelters around the city, the Salvation Army Thrift Store at Strawberry Hill Street, Dress for Success Halifax Society at Gottingen, Big Brothers Big Sisters at Dartmouth, or even at the donation bins located all around campus.

We all have different ideas of what neat and tidy look like, and there’s no pressure to conform to someone else’s definition of organized. Hopefully, these tips will help you find what makes you comfortable in your space, and start you off on your own journey on making the most out of what you have.

Tips for Decluttering Your Space: Make the Most of What You Have

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