With IKEA’s fine taste in home design, you’d be crazy not to at least consider visiting one of its stores worldwide to find items that enhance your space. The wide range of furniture, accessories, and home improvement must-haves likewise make it easier for you to be as elaborate or minimalist as you please.
But if you’re leaning more on the latter and would want to simplify your life at home as much as possible, then what you need is some IKEA Philippines organising tips for decluttering, recycling, and everything in between.
Also read: IKEA Philippines is Hiring Almost 500 Employees for Its Local Flagship Store
IKEA Philippines says: “When home starts to feel just a little too full, the time has come to step back and see what you’ve got. Begin by breaking things down.”
To do this, categorise your belongings from those that you think are still important versus those that aren’t.
Group everything by usage. Clothes and shoes go together. Another group is for books and documents. Then, there are those that you use for hobbies. From here, consider going even more specific, like categorising clothes per size or the purpose of wearing. For books, it can be by genre. For hobbies, it could be per season.
More important than the items is where you will store them. “Draw up an overview of all your storage spaces. What’s available, both indoors and out? Think about temperature, moisture, and surfaces, and make sure you factor this in when working out what should be stored there.”
Ideally, everyday items should be in easy-to-access areas while those that you use occasionally can be stored in high or out-of-way spaces.
IKEA Philippines says: “Overcrowding. It tends to just happen while you’re not watching. How do cupboards, drawers, and sideboards end up like that?”
By sorting your things and keeping those that matter, it’ll be easier to see what you’ll be dealing with. And consequently, where you should put them.
For this to happen, IKEA Philippines organising tips also include thinking in 3D. “It’s not square meters, but cubic meters, that count. Make sure you use all potential space in the home – high up on walls, under windows, above a wardrobe, or on ceilings. Don’t just focus on what the floor can accommodate.”
From here, invest in hooks, rails, and stackable boxes large enough so that once you put things inside, there will still be enough space to move them around. Also, the more hazardous something is (think construction tools), the higher in placement it should be.
In a family, be sure to prepare the kind of storage preferred by who owns the items that will go in it. “Storage suited to the user gives them ownership and reduces the number of times you will be tidying it up. There’s nothing like having the power to put things where you want them – whatever age you are!”
IKEA Philippines says: “Don’t need something anymore? That doesn’t have to mean ‘throwing away’. Instead, it can mean a new start.”
The things you won’t be needing might actually benefit someone else. That being said, donate or resell them, which makes up the final phase of the IKEA Philippines organising tips for simplifying life at home.
If you prefer selling, it’s always good to go for the usual yard sale or signing up for a seller account in a secondhand online shopping site. Otherwise, donate or give them to groups, charities, or organisations that collect used items for others’ use. Why not even give them to individual people in need?
“This process not only feels good, it also extends a product’s life. On top of all that, it’s also made someone else’s day, since they found just what they’d been looking for.”
Furthermore, you can also opt to recycle the items. “If it can’t be used, it can be reborn. Give used furniture and household items a chance to become something brand new by recycling them.”
Also read: Modular Houses Give Filipinos Budget-Friendly Options for Their Homes
See how easy that was?
By the time you reach the recycling stage, there are a few ways you can go about it, too — from personalising, reusing, or completely renewing an item. But that’s for another story! In the meantime, if you want to join the IKEA Philippines’ family, they still have openings available. Find out more here.
All images credited to IKEA Philippines.
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