Make a New Year’s Resolution: Declutter!

Each January, millions of people go through the ritual of making a promise to themselves to do something different that they didn’t manage the year before.

As a result, gyms throng with a new burst of activity from those who’ve pledged to get fit; DIY stores bustle with positive-thinkers who’ve at last agreed to decorate that spare room, while others stock their bookshelves with the classics they are determined to finally find the time to read.

These are not lazy stereotypes; according to a recently published survey conducted by Channel 4, the top three New Year’s resolutions people claim to have embarked on are

1. lose weight

2. get fit

3. eat more healthily

Pledging to read more was the tenth most popular option.

Of course, the sad truth is that most of these resolutions will have been dropped before 2012 is even a month old, according to responses people gave to another part of the survey. This is understandable; after all, old habits are often the hardest ones to break, and – unless someone possesses a really burning desire to change part of their life – then it’s not going to happen by accident.

Decluttering

Interestingly, people who’ve made a New Year’s resolution to declutter didn’t crack the top-10 most popular choices, which is a shame because it really doesn’t require that much effort.

After all, anyone who’s serious about getting fitter has to make wholesale changes, altering their diet while finding ways of threading exercise into their day, and stick to it for months to see any real results. By contrast, decluttering can be done in just a few afternoons, and doesn’t need to cross your mind during the rest of the week if you only want to do it at the weekends.

The benefits of decluttering are obvious: giving you more space in which to live, work and have fun, while reducing the family tensions caused by arguments about who is responsible for all the mess that litters your home.

It can also benefit worthy causes, as most people give their unwanted stuff away to charity shops, where it can be resold to people who have a genuine use for it.

It may even be a way of netting you some cash – not to be sniffed at in these straitened times (save more/spend less was the most popular resolution after the ones to do with fitness) – if you find you have something lurking in your attic which turns out to be of value.

Even if you do have to declutter things which can only be thrown away, this isn’t as environmentally damaging as it sounds; most councils now run multi-purpose recycling centres where all kinds of scrap metal, wood, plastics and other materials will be reconstituted for a new use, keeping your clutter out of landfill.

National Declutter Week

People often find it easiest to get on with things if they’re given some kind of target date or deadline. With that in mind, Storage.co.uk is sponsoring another National Declutter Week in 2012, scheduled to run from 7 to 18 March (thus embracing two weekends). Please see our National Declutter Week pages for more information.

 

One Response to “Make a New Year’s Resolution: Declutter!”

1. Louise Barson says:

   January 25, 2012 at 10:56 pm

   Hi I’m a member of APDO UK – The Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers so it’s music to my ears when anyone mentions decluttering. There are members all over the UK and I happen to be in Stockport / Manchester area. I am very interested in the new initiative of having a National Declutter Week. What a great idea!