"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful"
Many people move because they need extra space but often it’s possible to carve out significant amounts of extra room by getting rid of things you no longer need: unnecessary clutter, general junk and furniture that is redundant or takes up more space than it should.
In Cambridge where we are based, the average cost per square metre of space is £4-5,000! It’s worth seeing what you can free up in your home or office before you start to think about the cost of moving.
Streamlining your space creates energy – both for you and within the new-found space. It could inspire you to decorate or move things round. You can re-purpose your space so a spare room might become an office or guest room. A junk-filled garage could become a hobby space. Everyone in a crowded office might just breathe a sigh of relief as unwanted filing cabinets and over-large desks are removed. Look around you, what could go?
Living in a simplified, clutter-free environment, where you know where everything is, gives you great peace of mind and is so good for mental well-being.
Here’s our guide to creating more space without moving:
1. Take it room by room and tackle each area separately. Set yourself the task of clearing out one drawer, cupboard or shelf at a time until it’s done. Although the quicker you get it done, the more rewarding it is.
2. Allocate your belongings to separate piles:
a. Keep: you need or love it
b. throw away: it’s broken, outdated, serves no purpose
c. recycle/charity shop: it might be useful for someone else
d. sell: it has value and purpose but is no longer needed
e. undecided: don’t re-store it until you are sure you want to keep it.
A friend of ours stored unused kids’ toys in the loft and only took out anything that was requested (nothing in fact) – and after a year it all went to the charity shop. A ‘holding bay’ like this can be a good idea if you’re really undecided
We wouldn’t suggest being ruthless but we would say you need to be decisive.
3. If you haven’t used anything for a while, you probably don’t need it. Think of the mantra of designer William Morris – “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” – it’s a great approach.
4. Reconsider the layout of each room. Is there anything in there that really shouldn’t be? Do you need it? Inherited furniture is often a culprit here. Keep thinking William Morris…
5. If you are finding it hard to let go of things but know you need to, take a photo of each item and then move it on. Sell or pass it to someone who can make use of it. That way you’ll feel much better about letting it go.
6. Do you need better storage solutions, more shelving or do some items need relegation to the garage, shed or loft? However, don’t move things just so they’re out of sight, only move things you need and get rid of the rest.
7. Aim to sort by category so group things together and store them in the same place.
8. Take photos of your space before and after for reference and satisfaction.
9. Don’t be tempted to fill every corner of a previously cluttered space, it’ll take some time to adjust to the open space and might feel a little strange at first.
10. Keep on top of it – a pleasing, tidy, organised space is more difficult to mess up!
You’ll need to contact us of course to take away all of your junk – you’ll be so happy to see us!
We will take away anything you no longer want, bagged or unbagged, dismantled or not, and we make sure every item is recycled according to the laws of the land, always aiming for zero landfill. You can read our article on what we do with our collections here if you’d like to know more.
We’ll do the heavy work – we can remove your unwanted stuff from wherever it is – in the garden, house or all over. If you’d like us to come and quote, let us know when you’re ready and we’ll finish off your endeavours leaving you with the fantastic new living or working space.