Archive for June, 2010
June 28, 2010 at 7:05 pm
· Filed under decluttering, paper management
How is your desktop? Piled high with papers, catalogs, kids art, unopened mail and more? Wish you had space to work?
Are you ready to attack and clear?
- Set up trash and recycle bags right next to the desk.
- Start at the top, grab the first piece of paper and do a quick rough sort. This means that main decision is whether you are going to keep the item or paper, or throw it out.
- Place the things you are keeping in a pile.
- You might have a few (but only a few) piles like needs immediate attention, put away, read later….
- Set items that need to go to another room near the door, but don’t leave the room….you might get distracted and never come back.
- Keep going until the entire desk top is cleared.
It is actually easier than it sounds. Now you have a clear understanding of what is actually in all those piles. You got rid of the clutter, and you can form your plan to put things away.
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June 12, 2010 at 5:01 pm
· Filed under Garages, Mail, Spring Cleaning, closet, decluttering, kids and toys
Life is moving fast and throwing lots of stuff at us everyday. We can be neat, orderly and even organized, but the stuff keeps coming at us and often will get ahead of us. Emails, mail, phone calls, shopping, permission slips, registration forms, seminar and meeting notes…the list goes on. The point is no one is expected to be perfect all the time.
We are working so hard and fast to keep up that we lose track of what is happening. Here is an idea that might help you step back and take a small moment to see what is going on.
The idea of “take a Fresh Look” is based on re-looking at your space, home or office, as others see it. In-other-words, you are blowing right by things and not looking at all.
Go out your front door (or office door) and come back in with a renewed focus.
LOOK, I mean really LOOK at what is there…
what do you see?
- Post-it’s littered all over.
- Toys strewn all around.
- Coffee mugs and glasses all over the counter.
- Piles of mail, magazines and catalogs that have been sitting for week’s.
Now you get a clear picture of what is really going on. You see your space as a guest, colleague or client sees it.
To address the issues use the “Power De-Cluttering” that I mentioned a few weeks ago. 5 quick minutes might be all you need to sort through one pile of mail on the coffee table. 5 minutes will let you consolidate all those loose Post-its to one list. I bet a bunch will get tossed out too. Clear off the mugs and glasses and the counter looks neat.
Give it a try.
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June 12, 2010 at 4:59 pm
· Filed under Garages, decluttering
I have to start by telling you that there are entire books written on cleaning out and setting up garages. But I won’t go on that long. Here is some inspiration and the basics to get you going.
With the nice weather and the end of the school year, unfortunately vandalism on cars picks up. If you are parking outside when your stuff is housed in the garage, hummmm. Let’s think about that. It is better to protect your large investment by making room in the garage. Really, really, really, the space is there if you get rid of the stuff you don’t need or want anymore. (unless you have a structural issue…not my area of expertise).
Sounds simple, but it looks daunting. Trust me on this one. It starts out that way, but I have found that 100% of the garages I go in to de-clutter with a client are always easier than you first think. Yes, even I get intimidated sometimes, but you will never know it.
Consistently garages are filled with three things:
- Good stuff that we want and need.
- Old stuff that we no longer want or need which can be recycled or donated.
- Junk, as in trash, that needs to go out in the garbage.
Looking at the filled garage from the outside everything looks big. The space looks full. Just start pulling things out and separating them into these three groups. Once you pull out the donations and trash you get a true picture of the stuff you want to keep. That is the key to cleaning out the garage.
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June 12, 2010 at 4:56 pm
· Filed under Mail, closet, decluttering, kids and toys
POWER DE-CLUTTERING
Piles of stuff here, there and everywhere. It seems exhausting and over-whelming just looking at it all. How are you ever going to get started let alone get it done?
I love to suggest the “break it down to its parts” theory. You know this from project management skills at work. Well bring it home. After all, cleaning, organizing, storing, purging…it is a project.
POWER DE-CLUTTERING is the idea of taking small parts and attacking them one little part at a time.
Let’s say your dining room table or desk is buried under piles of paper, up-opened mail, kids schoolwork, your work, phone messages, old newspapers…well you get the picture. It sounds overwhelming. Don’t look at the total pile. Instead commit 15 minutes and start grabbing papers that are ready to be recycled. With a bin or bag at your side, just grab and toss.
Here is why this is easier. You committed to a short period of time (15 minutes) and you are only making one decision (keep or recycle). In just 15 minutes you will have made the first dent in that big pile and it wasn’t so over the top….
Tomorrow, try another 15 minute stint.
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