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De-Cluttering 101.3

Administrator — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:54:19 +0000

Tip #3 for De-Cluttering:

1 In, 1 Out
You may have heard this one before…for every new item you purchase or receive, one that you already own goes out.

Coming off the recent holiday which likely involved gifts, now is a good time to go back and practice this rule.

For that new book you received, pull one you already read off the shelf and donate it.
For the new sweater, choose one out your closet and give it away.
For the new kitchen item, find something you haven’t used in a long time and let it go.

Be ready to take this rule forward to any shopping you do.

New shoes? Out go an old pair.
A spiffy new nail polish color? Out goes an old one.

Here’s a good looking closet where the clothes are all hanging straight. For every new jacket she purchases, and old one will go out.

You get the idea. This is going to keep you on track with the right amount of stuff….If you keep shopping and not purging it is going to add up quickly and you will be back in the clutter again.

Decluttering 101.2

Administrator — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:52:04 +0000

Tip #2 for De-Cluttering:

Are you holding things for “you night need it someday?”

While helping a family clean out the garage last week we ran into a number of items that fell into the same category over and over. “But I might need it someday.” There were items like electronic cords, an old cassette tape player, Disney movies on VHS, potential baby gifts (lots and lots of these),

The reality is those things that

Do you use it?
Do you need it?
Do you love it?
Is it important to you?
Do you have too much of it?
Are you holding it for “just in case I may need it someday”?
Did you once use that item, but it no longer really fits into your life?

Sometimes the item is practical and useful, but you don’t necessarily love it (a can of motor oil for example). That’s a keeper….

But, if you have that same can of motor oil times 50 and those cans are taking up a lot of space, do you really need that much? Let some of it go….

Maybe you sold the car that took that particular motor oil….you don’t need those cans any longer….

Look critically at how the item fits into your life.

De-Cluttering 101

Administrator — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:50:19 +0000

Tip #1 for De-Cluttering:

How to decide what to keep and what should go….

Ask yourself these questions. The answers will help you reach your decision.

Do you use it?
Do you need it?
Do you love it?
Is it important to you?
Do you have too much of it?
Are you holding it for “just in case I may need it someday”?
Did you once use that item, but it no longer really fits into your life?

Sometimes the item is practical and useful, but you don’t necessarily love it (a can of motor oil for example). That’s a keeper….

But, if you have that same can of motor oil times 50 and those cans are taking up a lot of space, do you really need that much? Let some of it go….

Maybe you sold the car that took that particular motor oil….you don’t need those cans any longer….

Look critically at how the item fits into your life.

CLEAN OUT YOUR CLOSET WEEK

Administrator — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:43:15 +0000

Mid Season is a great time to go through your closet and clean it out. While your are in the thick of the cold, rainy weather you are more aware of the clothing items you are NOT WEARING. Those are the candidates for donation or trash.

This week take three days and make a point to really notice what your are choosing to wear, but more importantly what you are not choosing.

Keep a bag in or near your closet and drop in the obvious donation pieces.

One evening, morning or weekend day, take about an hour and really scrutinize your closet.

Your bed is the staging area.
Pull out every item one at a time and review it with the following questions in mind.
- Does it fit?
- Do I love it?
- Do I wear it?

The easy “yes” items go on the bed to later be returned to the closet.
The “no’s” go into the donation or trash bag.
The “maybe’s” go in a pile on the floor. Limit the number of maybes!!!
Anything that needs mending or cleaning set aside.

RE-hang or fold the “Yes’s” and put them back in the closet.

NOW re-review the “Maybe’s” and I bet you will have a clearer point of view on them. A few might make it back into the closet and that is fine. Many will go out because now you have a clearer picture of the clothes you love and wear all the time.

With less clutter (that is the clothes you weren’t wearing) in the closet, items have more room, hang straighter and you can see them clearly. It is fun to get dressed again.

One final note about the sizes that don’t currently fit, but you want to hold on to them…actually I could write about 10-20 notes on this.

Every woman I know has these clothes.

If these clothes are stored in your main clothing closet, they are clutter. Move them out and store them elsewhere. BUT really ask yourself about them in terms of more than just the size. IF you dropped the pounds needed, are they actually still in style? Would you really wear them? Don’t let the “maybe it will fit again” items be your clutter and hold you back!

Avoid the Zig Zag

Administrator — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 01:50:15 +0000

How is 2011 going so far? Are you making some headway with your organizing goals? I hope so, but if not, don’t fret. Maybe you are zigging and zagging too much.

A definite hazard of getting things done, be they cleaning out the linen closet or a major project at work is the zig zag. You know what I mean. Instead to pursuing a project in a methodical, straight forward manner you meander. This can be physical or mental (or a little bit of both).

Let’s take the linen closet as an example. You begin the project by pulling things out of the closet. Some of the items should go to the laundry which is in another room. You wander over there and get distracted by the pile on the floor, turn the washer knob, fill the soap, load the machine, and then notice a clean towel folded on top of the dryer which leads you to walk to the bathroom to hang it up…and there the blow dryer is sitting on the counter, so you put it away under the sink where you see the silver cleaner which would be useful to shine up the bracelet you are wearing tonight, which reminds you to confirm the reservation. Now you are at your desk…EMAIL. Need I say more.

Yup, that is the zig zag. Once you are caught up in it it is really hard to get focused back to the original project. The linen closet is torn up and mess and you are frustrated.

How do you avoid the zig zag? Try this.

* Prepare for your organizing task by bringing supplies to the area where you are going to work. (bags, paper for lists and other notes, markers to write on the bags, etc).
* Bring bags or totes to fill for items that will move to other areas of the house.
* DON’T LEAVE THE AREA OF THE PROJECT.

By physically staying at the place you are cleaning (in this case the linen closet) you are staying clear of all the other distractions that will pull you away.

* Fill a bag with items for other rooms. Don’t go the other room while you are working. Instead, do a sweep of room to room later.

Have bags for donations, recycling, and trash all nearby. That will keep you in one place so you can focus on the task at hand.

Reduce Visual Clutter

Administrator — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 01:45:58 +0000

What is Visual Clutter?
Stuff that is in plain view that over stimulates your eyes and your brain to the point where you don’t even see it, but it still agitates your brain.

Examples:

Piles of magazines all over the living room.

A refrigerator that is covered with photos, calendars, newsletters and more.

A mantel that has lots of photos in frames, trinkets and candles.
A wall with tons of photos that in a wide variety of frames.

You get the picture. There is so much stuff in plain view that is screaming at you. You generally look past it and don’t see any of the individual items. It over stimulates to the point where you don’t see the loved ones in the photos.

What can you do about Visual Clutter?

If one of your goals is to have space that is more calm and peaceful, be prepared to make some changes to your visual clutter. Reduce is the key word.

First strip the area with the visual clutter totally clean. That means completely clear it. Remove everything off the refrigerator, or clean everything off the mantel. Strip the wall of photos. In this process you will likely find things you didn’t see before, forgot about, or maybe don’t even like and you are not sure how they got there.

Second, decide to put back no more than three things. Just try it….On the refrigerator that might be one calendar, and two photos. On the mantel that might be one candle, one framed photo and one trinket. One the wall re-frame three large photos in a similar frame (all black or gold frames for example).

Three is not the magic number, but it is a great starting place to show that less is more. That you will actually see those few things clearly and enjoy them more. You may settle on five things at the end, but either way it needs to be greatly reduced from where it was when you started.

Third, what do you do with everything else? Put it away. It might be a photo album or box. It might be a place where all the newsletters go together. It might be the trash or recycling (you don’t need the newsletter from 9/10).

Have a look at your space. It is already calmer without all that visual stimulation attacking you. Give it a try.

With a Mere 5 minutes….

Administrator — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 01:43:51 +0000

I like this idea…that you can make an impact on your space quickly. Try some of these ideas this week.

Recycle some third class mail that is lying on your dining room table.
Pick up 5 items and put them away.
Remove all the empty hangers from a clothes closet.
Unpack the non-perishable groceries and put them away (because all the perishable are already in the refrigerator).
Put a “to donate” bag in your closet.
Recycle all the magazines and catalogs from last fall.
Toss out 3 items from your refrigerator.

You get the idea. Little actions that take a little time will add up in the course of a week and give you results. Give it a try this week.

You can be Messy and Organized at the same time

Administrator — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 01:42:25 +0000

Are you thinking I am nuts? Does this sound like an oxymoron?

Here’s the deal. If you are not a neat and tidy person and this is holding you back from making progress in getting organized, stop and read this.

As I have said before being organized means having the right amount of stuff put away in a manner that you can find it later. (Memorize this and make it your mantra). No one said it has to be neat. Here is an example to make my point clear.

Before there were clean socks all over the bedroom: in three different drawers, under the bed, on the floor of the closet, etc. This is highly disorganized.

After all the socks are in one drawer. Maybe they are just thrown in there, but they are in one place and they fit in that one container (the drawer). This is organized.

The personalization of this for the person who is naturally neat is the socks are all set up in pairs and color coded. The messy person has them all in one drawer, but just dumped in. In both cases the socks are in one place and easier to find than when they were all over the room. Both scenarios work.

Another example is tax receipts and other papers. As long as they are stored all together for one tax year, you are way ahead of the game when it comes time to work on your taxes. The neat person might go to the step of pre-sorting receipts. The messy person is glad to have them all together.

Think of it this way…When you are organized you can find things quickly because they are in a designated place. You can clean up quickly because everything has a designated place. Having like with like and not too much of it is a core point of organizing. Yes, even my desk can be a mess while I am working on projects, but I can clean it up quickly because everything has a place.

First Clear the Clutter

Administrator — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 01:40:26 +0000

I was looking at a Storage magazine last week with its beautiful photos of nearly perfect rooms, drawers and shelves. The “organizing ideas” weren’t terribly brilliant or innovative which is fine. Many of the best ideas are the simplest. But here is what really caught my eye. The photos are so attractive because there is no clutter, no excess. The rooms had the right amount of stuff.

So my tip this week is to focus your goals not so much on “getting organized”, but on CLEARING THE CLUTTER. That is the root of getting organized.

Ask yourself these questions:

* Do you really need so much stuff to live a happy and fulfilling life?
* Do these things really make you happy or do they hold you back?

Prepare yourself to shift your point of view and get ready to clear some clutter.

If this is really difficult (and it can be) consider getting an organizing buddy who can help you see what is going on.

Skip the resolution. Instead, SET YOUR ORGANIZING GOALS

Administrator — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 01:48:59 +0000

“I want to get Organized” is too broad and unachievable. Here’s what I suggest if you really want to make a change.

I start every new client meeting with two very important steps. We review the current state of things for what is working and what is not, which then leads us to DEFINE THE GOALS. The goals are very clear, measurable, straight forward, and have an end date. We write them down and post them where they can be seen: the refrigerator, bulletin board, computer notes….

Here are some examples to help you plan your own personal goals:

* I want to be able to find the insurance paperwork quickly and without stress by February.
* I want to be able to see my clothes clearly so that I can get dressed more quickly in the morning before my big vacation in March.
* I want to set up my pantry and kitchen this weekend so ingredients and tools are easily available to make nutritious meals for my family.
* I want to clear the dining room table and have a system in place so the clutter (mail) does not come back. We will eat our meals at that table starting next month.
Go ahead and set your own goals.

Service Provider of the Week
Scott Halbrook, Agent, Farmers Insurance

* When is the last time you did a thorough review of your home, life and auto insurance?
* Do you know, like and trust your insurance agent such that you actually look forward to seeing him/her?

I want to introduce you to Scott Halbrook of Farmer’s Insurance. Scott is local to Montclair. He’s your neighbor and friend who wants to do the best for you. If it has been a long time since you had a review or you barely even know your agent, take the pain out of the process and give Scott a call. He will come to your home or office and take good care of you. And you will make a new friend. I constantly recommend Scott to my clients and he is my agent too.

scott@halbrookinsuranceagency.com

510-531-1432