The Secret to a Neat & Tidy Living Room: 8 Simple Steps
Picture this – there are pillows strewn across the floor, the TV remote is nowhere to be found and you’re simply too embarrassed to have guests over. The worst part is that you step on a Lego piece every time you try to navigate this battlefield. Sound familiar?
The average family’s living room will usually look something like the above, with parents often throwing their hands up in defeat at the mess their kids create. However, parents might sometimes be part of the problem, creating clutter and hanging onto trash, while kids could be part of the solution!
So what’s the secret to creating a neat and tidy living room? We’ve devised these x simple steps to get your living room from catastrophic to impeccable.
Storage, storage, storage
How are you supposed to tidy up your things if you have nowhere to put them? The first thing you have to do is invest in multifunctional and sleek storage. Think TV cabinets with in-built storage, media stands with shelving, and shelving cubes that can be stacked on top of each other or tucked away. Setting aside storage boxes allows you to create your own lost and found box, which Marieta Ivanova from Fantastic Cleaners Brisbane highly recommends. “This trick not only prevents clutter but also comes in handy when cleaning time is limited. Throw all items in this box and just sort through them when you get a chance.”
Once you’ve got the right storage items handy, you can start to implement the strategies below.
Start small
Does the task of tidying up seem too daunting? Make sure to start small! It can take as little as 5 minutes to clear one area of your living room, so break the task into smaller, easily-manageable pieces instead of trying to tackle the entire room in one fell swoop.
Start now
The best time to start any decluttering job is now. Leaving it till tomorrow simply lets more junk accumulate! Marieta urges us to be ruthless when deciding what to keep and what to chuck, saying “Make quick decisions – When you start a decluttering project, there is no room for sentiment. You can achieve your goals faster by being decisive and realistic about what you really need.”
For more cleaning motivation, look into Fantastic Cleaners’ Facebook page.
Enlist the help of your little minions
Do your kids’ toys represent the bulk of the living room clutter? Kristina Duke from Decluttering Diva suggests that “if you share the lounge room with your kids’ toys, it is essential to teach your kids to pack up. They are expected to do it at preschool so why ot at home? In my home, we used to put on a fun song from Hi 5 and that was the signal that dinner was nearly ready, and the kids knew that it was time to pack up the toys. The best bit was that once I’d fed, bathed and put the kids to bed, the lounge was back to normal and I could relax!”
For more of Kristina’s brilliant decluttering tips, give her website and Facebook a browse.
Cut down on paperwork
Paperwork is often one of the biggest elements of clutter that we might keep in our living room bookcases. If you find yourself cramming all your paperwork into a folder, remember that filing is about retrieving – anything you file away actually needs to be useful to you at a later date! If you have paperwork and documents you’ll never need again, tear it up and recycle it.
Weigh up practicality and sentimentality
When choosing what to hang onto and what to throw out, it’s important to ask yourself a few questions before making a call. Does the item you’re holding make you feel happy, or serve a practical purpose? Have you used it in the past year? The answer should be yes to at least 2 out of 3 of these questions if the item is truly worth hanging onto! Anastasia Dinos from Mood Design comments on our irrational attachment to things, saying “It never ceases to amaze me how much ‘stuff’ we humans accumulate over our lifetime… We emotionally attach ourselves to things that symbolise a memory, experience or feeling, yet that ‘thing’ could be a piece of degrading torn paper that’s no longer legible!”
Prevent future clutter
Of course, it’s not enough to simply clear out your current junk if you’re just gonna replace it with more! Anastasia suggests to “let go of things to make room for things that matter. For everything you bring into the home, commit to removing two things (or more!)” By following this sage advice, you can be sure that you only ever buy things you need and have room for.
Visit Anastasia’s website for more insights, or take it to the next level by tackling her decluttering challenge!
Consider professional help
If you have tried all the above tips and still find that your home descends into chaos, it’s time to call in the big guns. Hire a professional organiser to not just provide you with tips and tricks, but completely alter your mindset and habits.
Your living room is the focal point of your home, and by tidying it up, you can feel proud when you have guests over while also reducing your own stress and attachment. Follow the tips above to transform your home.
Tidied up your living room but still feeling like something’s missing? Transform the look and feel of your living room with a stellar sofa lounge from MyDeal!
