As experts in large clearances and waste management, we know how stressful they can become without the right team and planning. RecycleZone has compiled a list of six top tips on how to minimise stress on your large clearance, to ensure you can cut the hassle from large clearance jobs. So, whether you are clearing your home in preparation for a renovation or relocating office, here is our guide to reducing stress during a clearance job.
1. Plan Ahead
Being prepared for a major clearance project is among the best ways to make your large clearance less stressful, since there is little more stressful than leaving a big clearance to the last minute.
When trying to prepare for your large clearance, we recommend planning ahead by going the following:
- Keep your ideal clearance date pencilled into your diary and plan realistic goals for decluttering and organising your waste.
- Take time to research waste management companies, the packages they offer and the price differences to determine the cheapest and most convenient option for you, if you do choose to use a clearance company.
- Make others in the house or property aware that you are planning a clearance so that they can prepare either to help or to organise their own space in preparation.
2. Be Ruthless
Clearances are demanding at the best of times, but it can often be difficult saying goodbye to items, no matter how little we use them or how large our clearance needs to be. More often than not, we hoard things in the hope to get enough use from them later, which is often not the case. If you are looking to complete a large clearance successfully, it might be time to become ruthless when deciding what to get rid of in your home.
Some general rules to deciding what waste is worth keeping and which waste is destined for clearance are as follows:
- Ask yourself, have you used it in the last month, or will you need it within the next few months?
- Consider whether somebody might make better use of your clutter than you are, or if they might need it more.
- Follow the rule that if it doesn’t have a home or somewhere where it can be stored out of sight, it can create clutter.
- If you are hoarding photos, drawings and physical memories, it is worth considering transferring these to digital storage instead.
- Remind yourself of the goals behind your large clearance. For example, if you are renovating and investing in new decor, then it might be worth considering what decor or furniture might become redundant. Alternatively, if you are moving out, you will need to only take the essentials that can be moved into a new property. Use these goals to guide your waste clearance.
3. Approach One Room At A Time
Most stress that arises during large clearances comes from trying to manage too many tasks at once. For that reason, we recommend that you approach your property one room at a time when preparing for a large clearance. Not only does this allow you to keep on track of your progress in each room, but it also means fewer things go missing and additional space to store waste until it is collected and cleared, therefore making the process less stressful.
We recommend starting with the room that feels most daunting, since getting the hardest part out of the way will motivate you to complete the other rooms knowing that they will be less work. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the biggest room, but it might be the room which harbours the most clutter, is used most frequently and is most impactful to your life or project. Typically these are the areas we spend most time living in, such as the kitchen, bedroom or office.
4. Choose The Optimal Timing
One of the biggest mistakes people make is leaving a large clearance to the last minute and choosing a bad time as a result. Homes and workplaces are typically busy, so completing a large clearance can become complicated, disruptive and stressful when done at the wrong time. Part of being more organised is choosing optimal timing for your large clearance.
For example, we recommend choosing a day where your family can either help, or are working or at school. Likewise, we recommend approaching your large clearance during evenings or weekends if you are clearing a busy office since office hours are far from ideal. That way, you can move things around and clear the space without being disruptive or getting distracted!
5. Use The 3 Box Method
Deciding what to do with your waste can also be fairly stressful, particularly for those of us that are indecisive. To alleviate this stress, we recommend using the three box solution whereby you get three boxes or bags and label each of them with the following labels:
- To throw away
- To donate
- To keep
By doing this you can quickly decide and visualise what you are keeping and what you are clearing. What’s more, once the waste and clutter is in boxes or bags, you are far less likely to rummage through to retrieve things! This tip is particularly helpful if, like many, you have a hard time getting rid of things.
6. Book A Clearance Company
Above all else, making numerous trips to the tip or between properties can become both tedious and time consuming. This is particularly true because often your vehicle isn’t large enough to contain all of the necessary waste in one run, or because you are struggling to find somewhere to dispose of your waste during a clearance altogether.
For this reason, the best way to minimise stress on your next large clearance is to contact a waste removal company to do all of the heavy lifting for you. From collecting and clearing your waste to finding the most eco-friendly and ethical disposal route for your waste, reputable clearance companies take on all of the challenging stuff for you, meaning you can cut most of the stress out of your large clearance.
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If you are looking to take the stress out of your next big clearance, contact our friendly team today who will be happy to assist you with all of your rubbish clearance needs.
Feature image credit: Charlie Goodall / Shutterstock