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sharing house

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Decluttering

May 30, 2014

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Moving house and sharing it with someone else is serious business, be it a housemate or a partner. When you share a house or an apartment with somebody else, the common areas can be a bit tricky. Who decorates them? How much space do you have allocated for your stuff? What about a spare room, what do you do with it? The statistics say that most men (29%) would turn it into a games room and women into a guest room (46%). To me that’s rubbish. If I had a spare room of my own, I’d turn it into a walk-in closet, a sanctuary for my clothes, complete with shelves for all my shoes and bags, all neatly aligned. I’d also have a vanity and a mirror thrown in there, for endless hours of dress-up fun. I could never have a shared wardrobe, like most people do… I have way too many clothes! I can try and downsize but I’ll never be a minimalist… and I think most fashion bloggers will be with me on this one.

I’m decluttering, downsizing and trimming my wardrobe. I should have taken photos of the piles and bags of clothes and shoes I have set aside and donated already. If you look at the infography below, you will see that for most people the main useless items can be a juicer or a home gym. I can confirm about the juicer – bought one over a year ago and it’s still sitting pretty on the counter, unused. One day I’ll be healthy! But, the juicer is the least of my problems, compared to the amount of clothes, books and magazines I have amassed and continue to do so (albeit at a slower rate). It takes a lot of discipline to not allow the situation to go out of control, and I’m currently taming it, whip in one hand and plastic bag in the other.

So how do you do it? Some people will have the one-in-one-out system, meaning that one item needs to go if you bring another one home… (At this point I should have one-in-three-out). Another suggestion I read about recently, was to ask yourself what value does an item add to your life. If you can’t seriously find a reason to keep something, just get rid of it. Again, I suppose this is hard for fashion bloggers – having a variety of clothes and accessories DOES add value to their blogs! Or does it? I am a shoe fanatic but I am currently questioning the value of having impractical shoes sitting in boxes, if I don’t have any occasion to wear them to, or anyone to appreciate me wearing them besides myself.

The reality is, I’d much rather sleep in a bedroom instead of a closet, which is what it feels like at the moment. I have fantasies of redecorating my room, making it less cluttered and I’m getting closer every day, but I’m not sure that I can pare down my belongings to just a suitcaseful and it kind of makes me sad. I may have to move soon due to work and frankly the less junk, the better! Besides, who knows who I’ll be moving in with?

So, fashion bloggers tell me: how do your partners deal with your fashion clutter? Do you have a shared closet? What do you accumulate the most? I want to know!

The His and Hers Apartment – Decor and DIY who is in charge? – An infographic from The Furniture Market

* stats provided by The Furniture Market