helping seniors live well in later life

033 3014 7053

Tag: Decluttering

  • Helping you tame your admin

    Helping you tame your admin

    Is your admin out of control?  Do you have papers everywhere?  Do you miss appointments regularly or miss deadlines?  Here are some of our top tips to get back on track, whatever your age.

    1. Write it down.  If you use paper and pen, great, but have it in one place.  If you are embracing digital technology then here are some places to keep track of to do lists:a.      Evernote https://evernote.com/b.      Todoist https://app.todoist.com/app/c.      Notes app on your phone
    2. Put things straight in your diary when you get an invitation or an appointment letter.  And if you need to do a task at some point in the future, diarise a time to do it (you can do this instead of writing it on a to do list)
    3. Check your emails and WhatsApps at the end of the day to make sure you haven’t missed anything (we’re guilty of reading but not actioning immediately).
    4. Use your smart speaker to remind you of things and add items to your shopping list (or other lists you create).  You can review these online or through your smartphone app or get the speaker to talk to you!

    We’re happy to discuss how to make these work for you practically.

  • How to effectively deal with post

    How to effectively deal with post

    Do you find you get post that you don’t deal with?  It is very boring after all! You do need to open it so it doesn’t get lost, but you don’t need to deal with it straight away.  Here’s our video from last year and three top tips:

    • Open envelopes on the day you get the post
    • Flatten the post and throw the envelope away
    • Either deal with it or file it there and then or put the contents in a magazine file to file or deal with later.

    For more information on how and why we recommend the above, have a look at our video here:

  • Getting online to make your life easier – part 2

    Getting online to make your life easier – part 2

    Following on from our first ten reasons to learn the internet last week, here are some more reasons to learn the internet, if you want to:

    • Search for recipes to use up food in your fridge or larder
    • Check the news and weather
    • Check your bank statements
    • If you’re still driving you can use it for directions (satnav)
    • Research for holidays or day trips
    • Participate in courses
    • Receive information (e.g. schedules and timetables)
    • Check spelling and grammar
    • Book theatre and concert tickets
    • Renew or get a passport (useful for ID as you get older even if you won’t be travelling abroad)

     The list is endless but we find these are the most popular.  There are many charities helping people go digital, and our PAs can also help with bespoke lessons.  We can set you up with a mobile and then you can learn an ‘app a week’, or go at whatever pace is comfortable for you.

  • Getting your home ready to downsize

    Getting your home ready to downsize

    So you’ve decided to downsize and you are putting your home on the market.  So, what should you do to get it ready?

    •  Take advice from the estate agent you are using, but note they will all have different opinions on this!
    • If your home is likely to need a lot of work by your buyer to modernise it, feel free to ignore most of the rest of this advice, as it won’t make much difference to the outcome.
    • Tidy the front garden and make sure any issues with the front of the house (peeling paint, dirty or cracked pathway, weeds, etc) are sorted.  You can add some vibrant pots of plants.
    • If you live in a flat, do what you can to keep the communal areas clean and tidy.
    • Create the feeling of space in the rooms by removing clutter into cupboards or taking it away from the home.
    • If you are tempted to remove furniture, only do this if you are re-purposing the room  for prospective buyers.  And it is always good to have a double bed in bedrooms where possible to show how the room can be used.

     If you need help with choosing an estate agent or de-cluttering either before you go on the market or before the move, we would love to help.

  • When should you downsize?

    When should you downsize?

    There is never a good time to downsize.  Many of our clients wish they’d done it much sooner, but acknowledge they probably thought they were invincible 10 years earlier.   So when you do it is up to you.  But the younger you are the more energy you’ll have to do it.  As specialists in downsizing parents and grandparents we can help and assist with small and large tasks, or project manage the whole thing. 

    Things to consider are:

    • Finances – freeing up money to top up pension or pay for care
    • Energy bills and excess rooms  – don’t pay to heat a home that you don’t fully use  
    • Household maintenance including gardening – both financially and physically this can become a drain
    • Health needs – these might need to be paid for or a move might simply help accommodate a health problem
    • Being nearer family for support (both ways) and companionship

    You can read more on our previous blog.  

  • Halfway through January

    Halfway through January

    We’re over halfway through the month of January.  You don’t have to declutter your whole home in one month, but if you need some inspiration to keep going here are a few more tips.

    1. You don’t have to fill every cupboard or shelf you own, so rejoice in an empty space.  See our blog from last January on this:  
      https://www.onestoporganisers.co.uk/blog/post/18719/the-empty-cupboard/
    2. When decluttering clothes, separate items in your wardrobe so you can see what you haven’t worn over the seasons.
    3. Your children won’t notice ‘most’ of the toys you want to dispose of.  If you have a shed or garage, put items in there for a month or two first, just to make sure they’re not upset that it’s gone.

    For these and other de-clutter tips, head over to our website where you can download our free guide, 30 Days to a Clutter-Free Home 
    https://www.onestoporganisers.co.uk/page/downloads/ 

    You can leave a donation to Royal Trinity Hospice if you would like to do so. 

  • Continuing the decluttering

    Continuing the decluttering

    How are you getting on?

    Were the last three tips useful?  Here are a few more to keep you on the straight and narrow!

    1. Declutter first, organise afterwards (you can’t organise until you know what you have).
    2. Do ‘stuff’ first, and paperwork later as it is a totally different category.
    3. Keeping items ‘just in case’ is all very well, but if it takes up room in your home or garage and you have too much stuff, it is not serving you and you should get rid of it.

    For these and other declutter tips, head over to our website where you can download our free guide, 30 Days to a Clutter-Free Home https://www.onestoporganisers.co.uk/page/downloads/ 

    You can leave a donation to Royal Trinity Hospice if you can afford to do so and find it useful. 

  • January decluttering

    January decluttering

    It is traditional in January to take stock of our lives and make changes, hopefully for the better.  One of these changes is often to ‘get organised’, and decluttering is very much part of that.  Here are just a few of our tips to help you with this:

    1. Gather like with like so you can see what you have (scissors, batteries, paracetamol are good examples of things that exist in different places around your home).
    2. Set aside small chunks of time as you will achieve more.
    3. Take items to the charity shop after each session.

    For these and other declutter tips, head over to our downloads page where you can download our free guide, 30 Days to a Clutter-Free Home.  And you can leave a donation to Royal Trinity Hospice if you can afford to do so.