A study by UCLA’s Centre on Everyday Lives and Families has shown that clutter in the home can lead to the creation of cortisol within our bodies, a stress hormone that if allowed to develop can result in chronic stress. The picture in the UK is stark as studies from the National Housing Federation as found 3.6 million Brits currently living in overcrowded housing. With such a large number of Brits vulnerable to the ill effects of clutter, smart utilisation of space could provide pivotal respite in 2022. While the outlook for the mental health of the nation is bleak, with a report published by the Government showing that 27.1% of UK adults experiencing an increase of stress in 2021, Stashbee has provided a concise guide as to how best to utilise available space in order to help alleviate a sense of overcrowding.

Stashbee – the UK’s leading marketplace for space – has created a simple guide to ensure a less cluttered and more organised home, to help stave the January blues, as marked by Blue Monday. Clutter is subjective to all Brits; while some can handle a less organised household without suffering from the adverse effects of mess, others find that reducing visual distractions can reduce cognitive load and consequently makes them more productive.

Stashbee’s Guide to Decluttering:

To start, you’ll want to give yourself as much of a blank canvas as possible – after all, when you choose to declutter your home, you maximise your living space.

Just like you practised with your holiday baubles, you’ll want to start going through the rest of your things. Separating items into piles marked “keep”, “donate” and “toss” will be the best strategy to tackle this project, but you’ll need to make sure you leave no cabinet closed and no corner uninspected. With the new year on the horizon, you should sift through all of your old things to determine if they’re in alignment with the new you. To help assess what is of use, try asking yourself these questions:

• Do you find the item useful right now?
• Can items be grouped and compartmentalised?
• The “have you used it in the last year” filter test
• Does it hold sentimental value?
• Can items be separated into two categories of near-site and out-of-site?
(The latter doesn’t need to therefore be in your everyday space)
• Do you find the item beautiful to look at?
• Are you willing to repair it right now if it’s broken? Are you able to?
• Will I feel guilty tossing or donating an item and why?
• Is this an item that simply needs to be properly stored?

There’s an even greater opportunity on the horizon when you rid your home of the unnecessary – creating more space for storage. If you end up with more room in your home or garage than you know what to do with, you might consider renting that space out for others to use. Chances are, someone in your area might even use the extra room to keep their holiday decorations. Put your spare space to good use this year and earn extra cash with Stashbee while doing it!

Stashbee Co-Founder and CEO, Anthony Paine comments on how the online marketplace helps to alleviate the macro-stresses caused by an acute lack of space.

“Physical space is a fundamentally scarce resource – there’s a limited amount on planet earth. Urbanisation, globalisation, population growth, increasing cost of living and property price inflation are just some of the factors making it harder for people to find spare space at an accessible price, where they need it, and with the access and security features they require. Stashbee solves this problem by providing a simple, smart and sustainable way for people to store their things locally, whilst also empowering people with space to become micro-entrepreneurs.”