Home storage and organising expert Hannah Stickland gives one reader a containerful of advice.
Q: I’m scared I’ll become a hoarder (it runs in my family). How can I prevent this from happening?
A: Hoarding is a sickness we do come across from time to time, although we’re more likely
I am a reformed messy person! Not being able to find things was creating anxiety in my life, which is why I went about making some changes.
It’s about creating a home for everything. It’s also about thinking and stopping before you buy. Ask yourself, do I really need it? Will my family benefit from it or am I just buying for the sake of it or because it’s on sale?
If you haven’t used something for 12 months, it needs to be donated. The best question to ask yourself is: do you value the item or the space?
Contain, contain, contain
Having a basket or jar to group like items is a sustainable way to maintain your organisation and contain your mess. This keeps you accountable for not keeping too many of one item.
I like to have separate containers for items such as lightbulbs and batteries. Then you need containers to separate your camping gear from pool inflatables. Medication, first aid kits and inhalers. Stationery and arts and crafts or gifting items. Whatever it is, there needs to be a home for everything within our homes.
When it comes to linen cupboards, people often overbuy multiple sheets and duvets but you tend to only need two sets of sheets per bed. Cull it down, donate what don’t use or need, store everything else.
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Advertise with NZME.Children will become more independent if everything is labelled: toys, undies, socks, PJs... Put kids’ artwork in a box, labelled for which year of school. Make your arts and crafts area accessible. Employ toy rotation: store toys away, cycle the new ones, replace them so your kids are constantly stimulated.
Other stuff
Keep paper and important documents within a box: things like warranties for appliances can go in clear files. Then there’s the junk drawer or “s*** drawer”. Everybody has one. It’s not bad to have one, but it’s about resetting it and going through it once every six months.
Don’t hoard takeaway containers — anything that has a lid that matches, keep it. If it doesn’t, use it as a divider within a drawer.”
Hannah Stickland is the director of storage and organisation business Simplify My Home.
