Guest Blogger: How to Declutter your Autumn Home on a Budget

 Guest Blog #196, Entry #681, September 29, 2011

Whether you are getting ready for Autumn or you are trying to dig yourself out from summer’s end. Today’s Guest Blogger gives you tips to declutter, purge and get your Autumn home ready!

Declutter your home this Autumn

Do you feel that? It’s the cool autumnal breeze blowing in from the west. Autumn has finally arrived and it’s time for a bunch of seasonal changes to be made to our lives. Summer’s finally over and it’s time to put away all the beach, water, and outdoor gear. Wait? Where are you going to store these things? Summer has been a wildly addictive and unpredictable ride that’s lasted three months. You haven’t had time to think about where you’re going to put all your summer things. Don’t fret – we have some ways that can help you make some extra room in your home and prepare you for the upcoming fall and winter seasons. Let’s talk about the 3 main ways that you can organize your home and prepare for fall — organize, build, and cheap self storage.

Organize

Organizing your home can be one of the most dreadful tasks if you have let stuff build up for a long time. To be honest, summer can be addictive fun and sometimes we get lost in it, but that’s okay. Fall is a time for change and the first change that you’re going to make is to reorganize your home. The first rule to organization is to separate the “keep stuff” from the “junk stuff”. Warning: fight the urge to keep everything! We all find reasons to keep our stuff, but it’s time to stop this hoarding-like activity. If you haven’t used an item in a year, chunk it. Discard old bathing suits, that rusty kayak in the garage, and that slip-n-slide the kids never use. If you can’t let go of things like this, there will be no room for those new stylish interior decorations you bought specifically for autumn. Once you find the items you want to discard, put them in a worn box and ship, sell, or throw them away. There are services that can help you sell or donate your items such as Goodwill and Craigslist.

Put your summer items in storage to keep your home uncluttered

Build

If you’ve completed a full organizational sweep through your home and you still don’t have enough space, it’s time to come up with some creative ways to make more space. One way that you can do this is to build shelves into existing spaces in your home. Adding a shelf or two to the garage or in the foyer can really add some extra storage space that’s stylish. Autumn is naturally associated with warm colors like brown, dark red, and dark yellow. You can find wood and materials for your shelves that match these colors. It can make your house look great. Another way to build some more space into your home is by altering existing pieces of furniture. Maybe you wanted to add another drawer to that dresser? Perhaps, you wanted to add some extra shelves into your office desk? These are some viable options that will allow you store more things.

Cheap Self Storage

As a last resort, you can rent a cheap self-storage from a storage facility. There are many different options to choose from and they all have different features. Make sure to do your research and find out what’s

Margot 

best for you.  If you stick to these guidelines, preparing for the upcoming fall season will be a cinch.

Margot is a guest post writer on the subjects of homes and lifestyles.

For more autumn ideas on Stagetecture, click here.