The sun is shining, everyone is in a good mood… what better time to work on those home improvements you’ve been putting off? Being surrounded by mess can put a damper on summer smiles, so you should definitely take the time for home clearance if you want to make the most of lazy days in the coming weeks.
Check out our guide to summer clear-outs below to learn why this is a good time to get going and what you can do to make this huge task a little easier to get the best results.
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Is summer a good time to have a clear out?
Spring is the traditional time to tidy your home in preparation for summer, but if you missed your annual spring clean, summer is still the perfect time to get your home ship-shape. Longer days with more hours of sunlight and less chance of rain means summer is ideal for boosting productivity.
For families with younger children, summer also means school’s out – which translates to more helping hands around the house. It’s a great opportunity to clear out every room in the house, including whatever the kids have been hoarding in their messy bedrooms!
People often flood to the beaches and parks during the summer months, or spend a lot of time in their gardens, but that requires digging out your equipment from the garage or shed. Where did you leave the inflatables and beach toys again? Where did the watering can and the deck chairs go?
If you’re having trouble finding things for your summer hobbies or stirring up a lot of dust, it’s definitely time to get organised and get rid of whatever you don’t need.
Tips for clearing out your house this summer
If you want to sit back and relax in the sun this summer, you’ll need to get your clear-out done as quickly as possible. Here are some tips and tricks to help you declutter and make the most of your home this summer, from reorganising rooms to skip hire in Bolton.
1) Do one thing at a time
When it comes to big clear-outs, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out where to start or getting the motivation. Even if you have a lot of energy and want to just dive in, it’s best to have a plan first.
Don’t try to do everything all at once, or you’ll soon want to give up on a bunch of half-finished projects. If you’re clearing out the whole house, do one room at a time and try to finish each room in one day. If multiple people can muck in, all the better – many hands make light work, after all.
To make things easier, work from the outside in, or from the front of the space to the back. Try not to get distracted by things in other areas before you’ve finished the task at hand. This also makes it easier to see your progress, which can encourage you to keep going.
2) Don’t just move things around
Clearing off surface areas is important, but shoving things away in cupboards or under beds isn’t going to help in the long term. Shifting things around might make things appear less messy than before, but you’re not really doing much.
By working on one thing at a time and completing each section before moving onto the next, you won’t be tempted to just move things from one area to another. If the room is cluttered and disorganised, assign specific space for relevant items or tasks and put everything away neatly where it should be.
You might want to empty out your storage cupboards or shelves and give them a wipe down to make sure everything is clean. Once you’ve tidied up and removed unnecessary junk, you should do a final deep clean to make sure there’s no leftover dust, dirt, or rubbish.
3) Tackle sheds, garages, and attics
It’s all too easy to shove things into the garden shed, garage, or loft space to keep them out of sight. However, that usually means they’re also out of mind, and you soon build up a collection of forgotten objects just gathering dust.
While you’re working from room to room in the house, don’t forget these storage spaces. You’re likely to find a lot of things you no longer need, including long-outgrown clothes and toys. Getting rid of these will leave you with a lot more storage space for rotating seasonal items.
Cleared-out space isn’t an invitation to throw in more junk from the rest of the house, though. Now’s the time to rearrange the shelves and boxes into clearly identifiable areas where everything is accessible. If your extended storage is easier to access, you’re likely to use it more often, so it won’t get that out of hand again.
4) Invest in new storage solutions
What are you going to do with the de-cluttered space available to you? You don’t want it to get so messy and busy again, so as part of your clearance operations, you should look into getting more storage furniture that doesn’t compromise the space.
For example, things like floating shelves, ottoman trunks, and cupboard or drawer separators can help you make the most of your living space while arranging your belongings in a visually attractive way. You don’t have to be Marie Kondo, but a little organising can go a long way.
Smart storage can really help you out if you have limited space even after clearing out the junk. There are plenty of innovative solutions out there, from multi-purpose furniture to made-to-measure cupboards and shelves specifically designed to fit those awkward spaces.
5) Donate unwanted clothes, books, and toys
If you want a thorough clear-out with more clean space at the end of it, you’re going to have to be ruthless. Sentiment can often make us cling onto things that have no real use or worth, so sometimes you simply have to cut the cord. Try sorting things into KEEP, SELL, and DONATE piles as you go.
It’s okay to keep a few things that have a lot of meaning to you, but be realistic. Clothes that nobody wears, books that nobody reads, and toys that nobody plays with anymore are just taking up space when someone else could actually be using them. You can give them away to family or friends if you want to be sure they’re going to a good home.
Anything that’s still in good shape but just doesn’t fit with your family’s lifestyle or home décor can be donated to charity. If you’re looking for a bit of extra cash to fund home renovations, why not try selling things online? Even if it’s not worth that much, you could still earn something at a car boot sale while people take the junk off your hands at the same time.
6) Get pruning and planting
Should you be lucky enough to have a garden or private outdoor space, don’t waste it. Gardens can quickly become overgrown if you haven’t been using them over the winter, and outdoor furnishings can quickly deteriorate if left out in the elements for months.
Whether you’re just focusing on the house or clearing out the garden as well, summer is the best time for flowers to bloom. Make the most of your view while you sunbathe, read, or just scroll social media by tidying up the grass and plants.
This means cutting the lawn, trimming hedges and trees, weeding, planting new bulbs, and getting rid of debris. It’s also a good time to replace or repaint woodwork, including fence panels and trellises, and give worn-out stonework a power wash. At the end of it, you’ll have a garden fit for lazy afternoons, family barbecues, or summer cocktail parties.
7) Upgrade your decking or patio
If your back yard needs more than a little sprucing up, you might need to do some landscaping, and install wooden decking or lay patio tiles or paving slabs for an outdoor seating area. This can take a lot of work, with soil, plants, and stones or rocks to get rid of. For the best output and less effort from your side, you can hire professional decking services.
Decking that’s only a few years old can be transformed with a power wash and a stain treatment, but if it’s broken or rotten from lack of use, replacing it is your best bet. Though it’s more expensive, this is probably the easiest part of a summer clear-out, as you can hire professionals to take care of most of it for you.
The downside of redoing your outdoor spaces is that this kind of work does produce a lot of waste. If there’s too much green waste for your bin or you don’t want to haul all the rubble and garden waste to a recycling centre yourself, the best solution to complete your clear-out quickly is to hire a skip.
8) Save on trips to the tip with skip hire
The best tip we could give you for a summer clear-out is hiring a skip for the duration of your project. You can work your way from room to room and slowly but steadily fill up the skip as you go. No more piles of rubbish lying around or struggling with bin bags full to bursting.
Whether you require skip hire in Bolton, skip hire in Chorley, or skip hire in Wigan this summer, it’s possible to book skips of all sizes and use them to dispose of mixed waste. You get the convenience of having a large waste container right outside, without having to worry about how you’ll get rid of it or your impact on the environment.
The skip company will remove the rubbish and take it to a sorting facility for you, where as much of it will be recycled as possible. From broken furniture to construction materials, you can put most household waste in a skip. You can fit up to 45 bin bags of waste into the smallest 2-yard skip, so it’s incredibly cost-effective, too.