WoW! Reset 2024: How to reset your home
Professional organiser Vera Keohane.
PUTTING your house ‘back together’ after Christmas can seem like a really overwhelming task for so many of us. It’s like the contents of our homes literally expanded and exploded in a single week after the arrival of Santa presents and other gifts – many of which may be bulky items that we just don’t know where to put.
Suffice to say if you were already struggling to keep order on your home, things are looking a whole lot more challenging in January. Cork-based professional organiser Vera Keohane shares her top advice on how to reorganise and reset your home this month, and stay on top of things for 2024…
Before ever starting to take control of your home, Vera says we need to ask for help. “We can do anything, but not everything,” she says,
And with help on board, she suggests allocating a dedicated chunk of time to get stuck in. Importantly, it needn’t be an entire day, in fact with life so busy, it rarely will be, so her advice is to tip away, slowly and consistently, and you’ll get there. Or, if you are really serious, reach out to Vera, and get a professional’s input from the get-go.
Vera’s approach to a house reset is to break things into categories starting with your rubbish bins. If you think about it, it’s the obvious place as the whole idea is to get the excess items moving, and out of your house.
So step one is to get your food, glass, rubbish and recycling bins sorted and lined-up to keep things moving in the right direction. If you had a real Christmas tree, the local authority recycling facilities to households free of charge.
While putting up the Christmas decorations can feel joyous, taking them down can feel far less so. But that’s no excuse to toss them carelessly into boxes, says Vera.
“The motivating factor is to think of how you’ll feel next year if they’re all put away nicely. Group all similar things together such as the lights, and coil them gently around something stiff so they don’t get tangled up. Importantly discard or donate anything broken or obsolete,” she says. Lots of us are guilty of keeping decorations year after year that we never put up at all, so be ruthless. Put all items in see-through labelled boxes and store away. While it’s too late for this year, Vera is a strong advocate of sustainable gifting: where people give the gift of time, or a shared experience rather than more ‘stuff’.
“A lot of the time we give and get things that no one needs or wants so we should agree in time next year to stop ... all it takes is for one person to say it, and everyone will be delighted!” she says. Sometimes the best gift you can give to others is to release them of the obligation of buying for you. And to counteract that drab and bare feeling in your home with everything down, she suggests treating yourself to a plant or flowers for Women’s Little Christmas to cheer things up. An excellent idea!
“Older children are naturally better at this, so for younger children it’s best to do this when they’re not around.”
She feels really strongly about this as a cluttered environment affects children the same way as adults, impacting mood and potentially causing anxiety.
“There’s also huge research done in this area which says that less is more when it comes to kids and that they lose focus if they have too many items in their field of vision. I’ve been in playrooms all over the country that have turned into dumping grounds but the bottom line is that complete chaos doesn’t do anyone any good. Children just won’t want to play in there and they’ll bring toys out to spaces like the living room or landing, so that they have clear floor space to play.”
Through her work she can see that children crave order and will actually put toys away after use if there is a place to put them, and she says it’s important to lead by example, urging parents and guardians to repair toys, rather than simply replace.
“Often something just needs a screw tightened or battery replaced or a puncture repaired. Let’s not rear a society who think it’s ok to toss things into a skip when they just need a small repair,” she said.
Don’t confuse your love of reading, with your love of books, says Vera. In other words, just because you love reading, you don’t have to keep every book for your collection. “That’s not doing you, or the books any justice,” she says. The same advice goes for children and she suggested ing the library as a way of ensuring access to books, without having them clog up your home. Cookbooks, she said, can be a huge space-taker and she recently brought her collection down from 36 to six. “You can photograph recipes you like and keep them in a folder and for everything else you can look them up online. Of course hang on to your favourites, and they can make for a nice display in your kitchen.”
Vera is the country’s first certified KonMari consultant but she brings her unique common sense approach to all her clients, especially when it comes to a wardrobe overhaul. In other words she doesn’t suggest tipping everything out from the wardrobe, and onto the bed in one swoop. "I gently encourage clients to make their own choices about what to keep, and I find the more decisions they make, the better they get, and the process brings a sense of mental clarity, freedom and satisfaction. They'll naturally want to do more and more as they begin to enjoy the liberation of living with less ”
“Every house I go into has a drawer full of leads and no one knows what they’re for! Most can be recycled straight way,” says Vera. Her tip, when she gets something new, is to label the lead straight away, or mark both it and the corresponding device with a matching coloured nail varnish.
Sometimes Vera finds that the more space someone has, they more they feel the need to fill it. But her advice is not to be afraid to empty shelves, presses, storage spaces. “If you clear a space, just let it clear. Learn to see an empty shelf as a luxury especially at different times of the year, say at Christmas, if you were having a party.”
“Tidying ought to be the act of restoring balance among people, their possessions and the house in which they live in.” (Marie Kondo) Interestingly Vera doesn’t believe in imposing a decluttering session on the entire family all at once, particularly teens, and as a mother of five she knows! And she stresses the process isn’t about imposing minimalism on a home either, but finding out what works for you.
"Everyone will naturally reach a stage in the process where they’ll say, ‘this feels nice’ and that’s unique to us all but if you’ve things stored under the bed, and in the attic and every other available space that’s no good for you or your home, you have to find a balance.” For those of you who fear that a professional organiser will force you to get rid of all of your possessions, Vera states this is not the case and as long as something brings you joy she will find a place to display it so that when you see it throughout your home it will make you happy. The whole point in both keeping and discarding items is to be happy.
Lots of people have boxes and boxes of photos – while others have none at all, except on their device. It’s about finding a happy medium. Vera encourages people with vast piles of photos to go through them and discard duplicates, anything with red eye etc. For those with photos on their devices, she encourages the same – and printing photos that spark joy. “I’ve been to people’s houses who have kids as old as five, and they don’t have any framed photos on the wall. It’s nice to hang photos that mean something and evoke a happy memory.” She also encourages us all to be disciplined about deleting unneeded photos, texts etc from our phones.
“People often ask me what they need to buy or get to get started and I say absolutely nothing! Declutter first and see what storage boxes you need then after,” she says. Vera did invest in attractive storage boxes for her wardrobe because they’re on show. “They give me a lift when I see them, but even a simple shoe box can be put to good use in a drawer,” she said.
A neat and tidy home is inviting for others but more importantly yourself and January is a great month to get started on that refresh, she says.
Vera is now taking bookings for January and February 2024, you can reach out to her for a complimentary consultation call at enjoyyourhome.ie, @Enjoy_Your_Home_ on Instagram, or “Enjoy Your Home” on Facebook.
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