What’s an easy home resolution to consider?
The New Year is often seen as a chance to make plans for the 12 months ahead, and while Vicky admits they’re fun, she tries to be realistic. One easy resolution for the home is to de-clutter, she says, but don’t try and do it all at once!
“De-cluttering your whole home is an epic task, I’d tweak it and just say ‘I’m going to de-clutter some areas of my home, bit by bit, and that’s what I’ll achieve in the end’.”
She suggests a good room to start in might be the bedroom, because having too many clothes and clutter around us when we wake up can mean we start the day negatively.
How to keep those home resolutions
Creating a tidy and organised home initially can often be the easy bit – but Tom asks how we can stop things piling back up or slipping into ‘bad old habits’.
“Usually when it piles back up, it can be because you have too much stuff for the space you have,” explains Vicky, “and that means it’s always going to be harder to stay on top of it.” Deciding what the issue is can prompt solutions, she adds, but it’s also worth thinking about whether your organisation systems are just too complicated to keep up.
“It’s shifting your mindset and thinking outside of the box,” she says – and that includes her idea that you could get rid of 50% of things in your home and not notice it. “I don’t think you’d wake up and constantly spot the things you haven’t got. I think that you’re focusing on living your busy lives.”
Homeworking: do I need an office?
With many people still working at the kitchen table, 2023 seems to be the year, Tom says, that people are ready to embrace home working more permanently and consider creating a dedicated office area.
“Embrace it, fully,” Vicky says. “Go from makeshift, to ‘this is my office’.” But plan the move carefully.
“Still have in mind, do I need to make this room slightly multi-functional? Does it need to be an office 95% of the time, but occasionally does it need to become a spare room? I think that you’ve got to have that in mind when you’re doing it,” she says. If you have to incorporate both, there are things - like which kind of furniture you’re going to have - to consider, along with whether you want to create a ‘shelfie’ background for all those important Zoom calls.
Home office storage solutions
Vicky recommends having bespoke storage solutions that fit your requirements, rather you trying to fit them. But whatever you decide, she says: “It’s about thinking about what you have got that you need to house, rather than buying something that is completely standard and isn’t going to work for your stuff.”
Thinking not just about whether a desk will fit in a space, but what you’re going to put in it, is crucial.
She details ‘hideaway’ storage solutions for printers, files, and paperwork, along with all those wires. Although again, she suggests, bespoke office storage solutions can provide the best answer.
Things don’t always have to be hidden though: “Open shelving can work really well for a lot of people,” says Vicky, “as long as you have implemented a system that is very easy to keep up, so it’s not constantly looking messy and impacting your head space.”
Top tips if you’re moving into a new home in the New Year
It’s so exciting when you move into a new home – and Vicky has tips to make sure the thrill isn’t dampened when you’re surrounded by boxes of ‘stuff’. De-cluttering BEFORE you move is key, says Vicky: “Having a good clear out so you’re not transporting - and paying to transport - things from your old home to your new home.”
That way, says Vicky – who also offers motivation for people, like Tom, who still have boxes they’ve not unpacked years after moving in – you are really starting afresh in your new home.
And, along with advice on not over-buying and creating good habits before you move into your new home, she suggests a pause: “Just live in it for a while and settle in before you go crazy.”
