How to clean up your living space to clean up your life

Clutter in living spaces is usually the ideal hide-out for rats since these areas are very rarely disturbed and therefore provide mice with just what they need for shelter. The most clutter is generally found in attics, basements, and garages. It is no wonder most rodent infestations in homes happen within these same areas. 

Decluttering and properly organizing your living space is one way to dissuade mice and other small animals from finding shelter in your home, since they find open spaces and clutter-free areas less attractive. 

Lack of organization at homes may be a result of a general organizational problem, and clutter in living spaces can be easily compared to clutter in other areas of our lives which inevitably creates problems. 

Keeping rodents out shouldn’t be the only motivation for decluttering your home, cleaning up and organizing your living space is a healthy thing to do and it improves lives in more ways than one. 

Here are a few tips for decluttering and organizing your living space.

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Organize by Categories, Not by Rooms

The traditional way of tidying up a home is usually by moving from room to room and trying as much as you can to put things in order. This has now started to change. A simpler way to tidy up your home and keep your belongings organized is by categorizing everything and fully tackling one category before moving to the next. 

Organizing by categories and not rooms is a method featured and popularized by the Japanese organizing consultant, Marie Kondo, and it has proven to be a very powerful method of organizing and keeping things in order. According to Kondo, start with organizing all your clothes, then move to your shoes, then books, photographs and so on. 

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Declutter by discarding

Many times, you find out that the reason for clutter isn’t exactly lack of organization, but rather due to too much stuff. 

We go out to buy a new clothing item, a new purse, another beautiful pair of shoes and in no time the closet starts to overflow. Or you find yourself collecting books or tools without considering the limited storage space available. And over time, things begin to pile up and accumulate with more items and very little or no storage space, thus creating clutter. 

The KonMari method (developed by Marie Kondo) suggests that the first step towards decluttering starts with identifying items that do not “spark joy” or bring any form of value to your life. These items should either be discarded, donated to charity, or be sold at your local thrift store. 

How to remove clutter in less than five minutes:

• Bring out 3 boxes and give each one a label. Discard. Donate. Sell. 
  
• Start decluttering your closet by first putting all your clothes together in a single heap. Any piece of clothing you pick and it doesn’t excite you in any way goes into one of the 3 boxes. 
  
• After picking out and eliminating the excess clothes that no longer fit your style, organize, and arrange the ones that are still great. 
  
• Do this for every other category you have.
  

Everything Should Have a Special Place
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The KonMari method also teaches that every piece of item you have should be given a special spot in your house. This is a major step towards keeping things organized and in order both at home and at work. 

It may seem like a tiresome and boring idea but it works beautifully, plus it’s not nearly as difficult as it may sound. If you value and respect your belongings, then this shouldn’t be a difficult task at all. Find a special place in your home for every item, so when it’s not in use you can find it there. 

If you appropriately do this, you’ll be amazed at how tidy and neat your living space will be and you’ll never have to worry about misplacement, items lying around, and untidy clutter.

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Pest-proof your living space to keep rodents out
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Removing clutter and organizing your living space is one thing, another is fixing holes that let rats and other small animal pests into your home. 

Organization alone will not keep rodents out of your home, you have to go a step further to make sure there are no entry points and holes to let them in. If you already have a rodent infestation problem, then chances are these tiny creatures already have holes littered in almost every part of your home. 

Now, you have to carefully find every one of these holes and properly repair and seal them off. Treat every tiny hole as a potential rodent entry point, you may not know this but rats, mice, and most rodents are capable of squeezing through holes as tiny as 2 cm or less. 

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Wrapping Up
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Rats are always looking to hide somewhere cozy, warm, and with very little disturbance, which is precisely what clutter in homes offer. 

Pest-proofing your home by doing structural repairs is the most effective way to keep rodents out of your living space and the ideal way to do this is by inviting rodent control specialists for a thorough inspection. 

After the inspection, these experts will draw out a plan for fixing the problem. 

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