Archive for Organizing Strategies

weathered wooden platform with colourful block spelling Thank You.

Get Organized with Gratitude

Posted by Carolyn on
 October 16, 2023

weathered wooden platform with colourful block spelling Thank You. Use gratitude to help get organized.

We are in Thanksgiving season; this is a great time to get organized with gratitude. Canadian Thanksgiving has just passed. American Thanksgiving is just around the corner. But how does gratitude help someone get organized?

It all started when…

I read Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up.  One of the strategies that Kondo recommends is thanking the objects that one is purging to recognized your appreciation for the role they played in your life.  Even if their usefulness had come to an end. This seemed like an interesting strategy so I tried it out with a couple of clients. They found the idea quite humorous. But they tried it anyways. And sure enough is has proven to be a most useful strategy.

How does getting organized work with gratitude?

The process is simple. One simply says thank you to the object or objects that you are intending to declutter or shed. Thank them for their service, their usefulness and their contribution to your life. And then wish them well in their new life “beyond your front door”.

Why does this work?

Not being a psychologist, I’m not equipped to go into the science of how this might work. What I can tell you is that using this strategy definitely helps clients shed objects, especially ones they may be conflicted about. Saying thank you to the objects in question seems to break the emotional attachment the client has to the object. When clients acknowledge the usefulness of the object, they no longer seem as attached to it, or keeping it around, potentially forever.

The simple act of saying “thank you for your service”, helps the client anchor in the understanding that this item no longer serves their highest good. Clients report that once they have said thank you and spoken out loud about the service they have received from the object, they no longer feel as sad or conflicted about sending the item away. They can move on to reduce the accumulation of objects they are no longer using.

How can you use it?Puppet figure playing violin in briefcase with thank you, written in several languages, on a paper behind him. Getting organized can be easier using gratitude.

Getting organized with gratitude is easy once you get over the idea of talking to inanimate objects. Since some of us do it anyway, and you may well be alone when you declutter, no one will know the difference. Give it a try and see if it helps you with your shedding.

Get started by simply hold the object that you are perhaps struggling to part with. Think of the service the object has given you. Maybe it’s a dress that comes with great party memories but is no longer in style or reflects your current personal style. Thank the dress for the fun and memories. Perhaps even take a picture to remember. Then tell the dress it is time it found someone who will wear it and make new memories. Focus on the moving forward part of this exchange rather than the looking back part. The dress now needs a life beyond your front door in order to find that person with whom it can make new memories. Say good bye and wish it well then put it in the donation bag.

This strategy has been very helpful for many of my clients over the years. Let me know how it works for you.

And in the meantime, I am grateful you took the time to stop by and read.

 

Declutter Home Organizing Organizing Challenges Organizing Strategies
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shelf in desk unit half empty

Micro Tasks

Posted by Carolyn on
 June 26, 2023

Micro Tasks Challenge the 15 Minute Declutter Routine

Could it be that micro tasks could be even more successful than a daily 15 minute declutter routine? I say yes; I think they can and that we ought to all jump on this bandwagon. Micro tasks could possibly even replace the 15 minute declutter routine.

How it Startedshelf in desk unit half empty

Mindlessly, I was stared at the shelf beside my desk. I had done so countless times before, while thinking through yet another online tech challenge. I have no recollection of sorting out the tech issue. It was clear there were things on the shelf I had not used in years and was never likely to use. In a split second, I decided to clear the shelf, wipe it off and remove to a donation pile those things I would not use. Like the audio CD for learning Spanish. I no longer have a CD player on my computer or portable device to play it.

In less than 5 minutes I had a clean shelf that was now half empty, a small bag of denotable items and a few items in recycling and garbage. The result of my micro task was a very satisfying declutter. The shelf is half empty, clean and can be used more effectively.

Micro TasksPiles of paper and filed on a desk top.

I soon determined that micro tasks could be done almost anywhere, almost any time. I’ve made a game of it. Just this morning, while waiting on the front door step for my son to load the car before leaving, I clipped back the trailing plants in the planter. The micro task took 5 minutes. Later while waiting for a video clip to upload, I wiped the windows sill, rinsed the stained-glass ornaments, took away the ones I no longer wanted and put everything back. Another 5 minutes.

I’ve defined micro task as a 5-10 minute task that can be completed with little or no additional equipment and contributes to clutter free living. Two days ago I took the ski jackets out of the front hall cupboard, inspected for rips and tears and transported to our off-season storage rack in the basement. I’ve got my eye on a shoe rack with 5 pairs of flip flops that haven’t left the rack in awhile – maybe 2 years. While waiting for the kettle to boil, I can scoop up the flip flops, inspect for integrity and bag for donation. This last task makes use of the concept of time layering along with micro tasks.

The Gamebrightly coloured flip flops in a circle all touching toes.

Try it.

  1. Look for 5 minutes either between other projects or activities or while waiting for something else to happen (standing in line)
  2. Look around for a 5 minute task that is super easy to accomplish. For example, while waiting for the pasta water to boil, take the cutlery out of the cutlery tray, wash the tray and replace the cutlery.
  3. Make a game out of finding a micro task that doesn’t require any extra equipment (except maybe a cleaning cloth).
  4. Make sure that the task contributes to either decluttering or getting something done. For example, I filed the top few items on my paper filing pile waiting for yet another video to upload,.
  5. See how many of these you can do in one day.

The Benefit

Five minutes may not seem like alot of time. Those 5 minute tasks, however, all add up. The paper requires filing. The shelf requires decluttering and the flip flops require a new home.  Add all those micro tasks together, all those 5 minute games, and eventually, you have a clutter free house.

Try it, and let me know how it goes.

Declutter Organizing Strategies Productivity
Galley of sailboat

My Favourite Strategy

Posted by Carolyn on
 June 19, 2023

water lines below deck on boat

The Reality

Faced with the magnitude of a project on the weekend, I realized that I refer to my favourite strategy, either productivity and organizing, more often than I realize.

There I was staring into the bilge of my baby. She’s not a big yacht. She is just big enough to require lots of work and weekly, monthly, seasonal and annual maintenance.  You may have heard the expression “a boat is a hole in the water to throw money into”? Yup, that about sums it up. That picture is the water lines in the bilge beside the galley.

In this case it wasn’t the cost of the project, it was how to do the darn thing.  I knew what the end result had to be: tank and lines flushed and filled, inside wiped down with vinegar, dishes and cutlery cleaned, cupboards cleaned out, water filter check, floor washed.

I was struggling with how to get there.  What was the sequence? Why didn’t I write it down last year? Where were last year’s notes anyway? Why couldn’t I just go sailing….?

The Challenge

Frustrated and discouraged, wondering if I ought to have stayed home and worked on my year end finances, I went out to the cockpit. My task list notebook was waiting for me, never far from reach. As I stared at the empty page in my notebook, I thought “this is what my clients maybe feel like before we work together”.

The water system needed to be drained of the potable antifreeze from the winterization. The inside of the boat had to be wiped down with vinegar (my anti mold weapon). The cushions needed airing, other things needed washing. I scribbled away.

The Solution

Break it down. Then break it down again.

This is by far my favourite organizing and productivity strategy. I wrote everything I could think of that needed to be done. Then I did my best to try and sequence the steps.  Some were two person jobs.  I reassessed what I could do alone, and where I needed someone else to help.

Even just seeing the list made me feel better. The tasks seemed more concrete and less overwhleming. The project seemed doable but maybe over two days instead of one. The extra set of hands would have to wait for the second day.

Throughout the day I checked in regularly with the list.  This kept me on task.  Yes, I strike out what is complete. This keeps me motivated and energetic. And if you followed my Instagram account, you know I had to take a break at lunch to reassess progress again.

Here’s a peak at the list IMG_3821 after day one.

The ResultGalley of sailboat

Everything got done right down to washing the dishes and setting out the sheets not the berth. Fresh water in the tanks. Filter clean. Fresh dish towel on display – ready to sail and entertain.

My favourite organizing and productivity strategy came through again.

What’s your favourite strategy? Do you have one. Feel free to borrow mine. It works.Forward v berth on sailboat with green linen

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faded and yellowed black and white photographs in photo album.

Organizing Family History

Posted by Carolyn on
 May 10, 2023

The Challenge of Organizing Family Historyfaded and yellowed black and white photographs in photo album.

Like many people, organizing family history is proving to be a challenge. My father recently passed way and my sister and I are now sorting through generations of material. There are photographs, 8 mm film, VHS tapes and documents galore.   We are attempting to identify people and are struggling with how to preserve information. We fret over loosing something that we didn’t know was relevant and we wonder what we might have missed that would honour our ancestors. Meanwhile we are challenged to empty a storage unit that none of us want to pay for anymore.

Sound familiar? Is organizing the family history a challenge in your family?

Organizing Family History – The Bookold book with feather pen and old coin money on top

My great grandfather is affectionately known in our family as JY.  It stands for John Young Caldwell although we never call him that. Once upon a time, JY and his brothers determined that there was evidence of a family fortune in far away lands.  They made an attempt to find the fortune.  The brothers conducted meetings, kept minutes, contributed funds, hired lawyers in Ireland and waited for the results.  Their activities were beautifully documented in a black, hard cover note book ~ the Book ~ with elegant cursive penmanship.  The Book also documented  all the family members that were involved.

The Book, surfaced many decades ago and came into my hands for safe keeping.  I kept track of it at my parents’ home for years.  When I had my own home it was given a special place. Then my father sold the family farm and the family house. There was a storage unit involved. Shortly after I moved. When we unpacked I realized I couldn’t find JY’s Book. I was devastated that the Book may have been lost and all the beautiful and important history it contained.

Organizing Family History – Establish Guidelines

When my sister and I realized the magnitude of the task we faced, we realized we were going to have to make key decisions along the way. We created some guidelines to help establish our priorities and help with repetitive decisions.  Your priorities may be different than ours and therefore your guidelines could look quite different. Here are the ones we are using.

  1. End Goal: have as much material as possible scanned, digitized and converted into a book that can be given to family members.
  2. Discard photographs of landscapes that don’t appear to be significant.
  3. Focus on people and their accomplishments and only places as they are relevant. An example might be to locate where a family was living in order to track their immigration to Canada (where we live) or migration across Canada.
  4. Scan as many documents as possible. Almost all documents had already been removed from frames.   Digitized documents (and photos) can also be uploaded into the Ancestry.ca platform as well as online book creation platforms.
  5. Store family archival material all in one place. My sister and I have both created boxes to store things in our homes so that when items are found or sorted, they can immediately be relocated to this home. Having a home for items helps to prevent them from becoming clutter and makes them easier to find. This strategy also follows the basic organizing principle to keep like items together.

Organizing Family History – The Photographspile of black and white photographs in no apparent order

The Book did eventually show up as my sister and I fastidiously worked through clearing the storage unit. By now, life and family history had moved online and I had enlisted my ancestry.ca account to help with preserving information.

The family had kept dozens of photos in frames. We made the decision to scan the photos and discard the originals unless any family member wanted them. Scanning with our home based printer/scanners, in the frames, proved almost impossible for the larger photos. We identified that Staples, a North American office and computer supply company, had the facilities to scan oversized photos and documents. We still have outstanding questions such as cost, time and whether the photos have to be removed from the frames and if they could be damaged in the process.

Then there are the photo albums. We sorted older photos and took out landscapes that couldn’t be identified or weren’t interesting. We decided that we were interested in people more than places. Also, we will sort by date.  Some people prefer to sort by person, subject or location. Most important is how to preserve the relevance of the photo to your family. For us, chronologically made sense. Still, some photos were in albums and may be damaged if they were removed. And finally, we found negatives of photos for which we haven’t found positives. A quick review proved the subject was worth keeping.  A call to a specialty shop Digital Treasures confirmed they could likely print.

Organizing Family History –  Managing the Volume

Organizing is about making timely decisions and developing habits that avoid clutter and unnecessary accumulation.  As we wade through boxes and bins, the volume of material is almost overwhelming. In fact, the biggest challenge my sister and I are facing is how to manage the volume of material in a way that future generations can enjoy it without having to store it.

Organizing family history is a real challenge. It can be fun but it can also be overwhelming and daunting. Having some guidelines to start can help with decision making along the way.

 

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colourful food bowls stacked on two shelves.

Excuses for Disorganization

Posted by Carolyn on
 April 24, 2023

Have you got Excuses for YOUR Disorganization?

disorganization around woman holding telephone in an office with piles of files and crumpled paper around

Always needing excuses for your disorganization can be exhausting. Maybe this isn’t you, but perhaps someone you know.  Are you chronically disorganized, overwhelmed and frustrated? Realizing that you are forever holding everyone else up.  You know you cause deadlines to be missed and you shrug off offers to help. You work hard to ignore complaints from colleagues but then go home discouraged yet again. Some people suggested you work with a professional organizer .  But this is just too scary. Chronic disorganization in an office is no laughing matter and no one knows it like you.

Whether your work is virtual or you are physically present in an office setting, being on time, on task and on target is key. Here are the most common excuses I’ve heard over the past 18 years and some solutions to help get beyond the chaos. My hope is there is a solution in here that speaks to your most common excuse so you can banish the overwhelm and exhaustion once and for all.

5 Most Common Excuses

1 “I don’t have time to worry about tidy piles of paper“.

Maybe it feels that way but meanwhile you don’t mind asking everyone else to wait while to try and find the report, letter or document that is now past due. In most business environments, and in the personal world, timing is important if not critical. So being on time is essential. 

Solution

In today’s world, most documents are digital. As a result our clutter tends to be on our computers. Computers file either by number of by letter. They don’t know any other way. Try to keep projects together in a file with the project name. It will be easy to find that report when you need it.

2 “I don’t need to be more organized; I can find anything I want in my office“.

Except that it takes you half an hour to find a file while everyone else is left waiting. Can you REALLY find anything in less than 30 seconds? If not, you need to find a solution. 

Solution

If it is digital, try filing by project as identified in #1 above. Another solution is to file by date. People think in different contexts. If you think by date, start each file name with the date you wrote it or the date it is due or the date of the event. If its paper and you need to see your paper out and about, try just labelling your piles.  Some people are pilers, some are filers.

3 “I’m not disorganized, I just like to keep things in case I might need them, someday“.Piles of paper and filed on a desk top.

Meanwhile you keep insisting you need twice as much filing space as everyone else, your office is a stack of boxes covered in dust, untouched in 5 years. Regular purging is an important part of being organized. try spending 15 minutes each day, at the beginning of the day while your mind is fresh, to purge and recycle or share unnecessary documents. Significant progress can be made in just 15 minutes and when done consistently every day for several weeks, magic can happen. Make it a habit and your world will transform. Literally.

Solution

4.”I am actually very organized. I know exactly where everything is“.

Have you noticed you are chronically late for meetings, supper dates, meeting the guys for pickup hockey? Do you find yourself rushing for completion of tasks at the last minute. You think you’re organized? Have you asked your friends and colleagues recently? 

Solution

You may think you are organized but the reality is that your friends and colleagues may think differently. Ever noticed that the time they give you to be together is half an hour earlier than everyone else? Time can not be managed. However, we can manage ourselves. Try using a timer or time-specific  playlist to keep yourself on task. Give yourself a false deadline – before the REAL deadline – and then play a game to see how close you can get to it.  Reward yourself as you get closer and closer to the deadline you set.

5 “I have my own style of organization. No one else would understand it“.

Keep your small business organized with these 5 key strategies.

You are absolutely correct that everyone has their own organizing personality. However, if you didn’t show up for work tomorrow no one else would be able to find any of your relevant work and your contributions to the company may be dismissed as meaningless. Still, your friends are frustrated waiting for you and partner is tired of the clutter hanging around.

Solution

Check out my blog post on organizing personality and see if you can figure out what your unique personality is.  Matching your organizing personality to specific strategies, tools and processes can make a world of difference.  Your boss and your friends will thank you. When we work for someone else, the work they pay us to do generally belongs to that company: files, paper, reports etc. Show them how important you are by creating organizing systems, processes and strategies that support you and your contributions to the world.

The world needs your unique talents. Find an organizing system that works for you and show us what you can do.  No more need for excuses for disorganization!

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garden shed with clear glass ceiling, a table, pots and potting supplies

Organize the Garden Shed

Posted by Carolyn on
 April 17, 2023

It’s Spring – A great time to Organize the Garden Shed

With the warmer weather comes a great chance to head outside and enjoy then garden. With the snow gone and tulips and daffodils popping up from the once frozen earth, this is a great time to organize the garden shed and get ready for some digging, planting and blooming oil your garden. An organized shed avoids wasted time looking for trowels and gloves. You will also save money as you get organized; you won’t be repurchasing items that you can’t find.

Uninvited Guests

If your garden is anything like mine, there is a pretty good chance that you have had a few critters decide to bunk in for the winter. Despite our repeated attempts to keep them out, wildlife finds a way in. We’ve had squirrels, skunks, mice and rats over the years. Keep this in mind as you open the latch and get started.

Here are ten tips to help with your project to organize the garden shed.

1 Plan for critters.brown squirrel sitting on post.

Unless you know with absolute certainty there isn’t a critter in the place, assume that there is. Keep yourself safe. Keep the young children away until the critters are gone. Wear gloves and possibly a mask while you figure out if you have had winter guests bunked in.

2 Empty the entire shed.

If at all possible start start by emptying the entire shed. Use a mask and gloves to protect from animal scat, dust and mold. With the shed empty, you will be able to check pots, bins and barrels for those unwelcome guests and plan eviction.

3 Sweep and inspect up and down.

This is a great way to check out the status of the building. Check the floor, corner and side supports while sweeping the floor. Overhead sweep out the cobwebs and check the roof.

4 Review all your tools, shovels, rakes and hoes.

Are there any that are broken, rusted or beyond repair? Throw out the unrepairable and fix what’s needed.

5 Store vertically.shovels, spades, rakes hanging on side of shed

Think vertical and you will find fresh storage space that you may not have realized existed. The rakes, hoes, shovels can be stored on hooks or nails on the walls. Then they will be out of the way and readily available when you are ready to rake. Most hardware stores carry a wide selection of hooks that will suit the purpose. Nails are also good.

6 Contain small tools.

Hang one shopping bag on another hook or nail to hold your digging and planting tools and a separate one for your garden gloves. The cloth recycled plastic bags readily available in stores are a great storage tool. Label with a permanent marker.

7 Store seeds in a rodent safe box.

Store seeds in a plastic or metal box so they are unavailable to rodents. For example, grass and bird seed are major attractions for mice. 

8 Check bottles of liquids for leaks.

Review your solution bottles and know your pesticide by-laws. Many jurisdictions have outlawed the use of pesticides. Check with your municipality to see where you can take the pesticides for disposal. Find an environmentally friendly alternative at your local garden centre.

9 Review pots for breakscolourful ceramic flower pots

Older pots may not have withstood the cold as well as others. Check through your collection for breaks and damage and discard any you don’t use, don’t like or just don’t want. Break damaged clay pots into pieces for use in the bottom of containers and pots. This helps with drainage and avoids water pooling in plant roots.

10 Set up a potting bench.

Now the shed is decluttered and organized, set up a potting bench at one end or side of the shed. You can repot and replant containers even on a rainy spring day. And you and the soil stay dry.

An hour or two spent organizing the garden shed can save time and money later in the spring and summer. Your gardening will be more effective and efficient. All of which adds up to more time to enjoy your blooms and greenery and less time frustrated with garden shed clutter.

 

Declutter Organizing Challenges Organizing Strategies

Spring Organizing

Posted by Carolyn on
 April 12, 2023

Time for Spring Organizingmany colourful tulips bunched together in a bouquet

The tulips or budding, the birds are singing, the snow has melted and spring has arrived.  Here’s to warm weather and bright colourful flowers and a chance for some spring organizing.

Cleaning vs. Organizing

Many people welcome spring with a fresh and vigorous intention to spring clean their home.  How about some spring organizing instead? Cleaning is for getting rid of dirt. Organizing is about managing space, time and stuff so that you can find what you want, when you want and use it to enjoy your life.

Here are 5 tips to help you get started with a spring organizing project and guarantee success.

1. Pick one small area to tackle on at a time

Also limit the time you commit to a spring organizing project. Unless you have help and a whole weekend, start with an hour or two. Organizing requires decision making and decision fatigue can hijack a project.  Start all to avoid feelings of overwhelm.  If you end up interrupted, you won’t have a big project left unfinished. Try a drawer, closet, cupboard and maybe one or two of those boxes in the corner of your basement.

dishes

2. Focus on reducing volume

Getting rid of things that we don’t need, like, want or use is a good goal for spring organizing. Shedding doesn’t have to mean throwing into the garbage. Shedding it about giving items a life beyond your front door.  Worn towels and other linen can go to an animal shelter. Books can be donated to a Little Free Library. Clothes can be sold or donated to charity. By decreasing volume, you will have less items to manage and more free space in which to live.

3. Give items a home

Everything you own needs a home. A common complaint I hear from clients is that their belongings don’t have a home. As a result, they never put them away. Items used frequently and consistently need a home that is easy for you to both take the item out and put it back in.  We call that storage and retrieval. Items are more likely to end up back in their homes when storage and retrieval are easy. Items that are used seasonally or only occasionally can be stored in less accessible locations.

4. Take away, right away

Take shed items out of your home as quickly as possible. You will see the impact of your hard work and tough decisions. Less items means you can enjoy the clear space. A stack of donations and recycling at the front or back door can be discouraging. It can also tempt you to second guess your decisions. Take those items away, right away.

5. Have fun and reward yourself

Organizing takes emotional and physical energy. Make it fun to make it easier. Play your favourite music. Invite a friend who might like some of the clothes you are shedding. Involve the children and make a game out of sorting old toys.

Spring organizing will also be more successful if you have decided on a reward for yourself when you are finished.  This is a great self-coaching technique for reinforcing the value of your work. It also makes the organizing work seem less onerous which means you are more likely to do it again. Maybe some fresh flowers for a table? Take yourself out to a movie? Arrange to meet a friend for an expensive and fun coffee? An ice cream for you and the kids? You get the picture.

Spring is a time of renewal and fresh starts. It is a great time for spring organizing to make space, out with the old, unused or unneeded. Good luck and remember to have fun.

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Stepping stones illustrating a pathway

Mastering Clutterfree Living Step 2: Create a Strategy

Posted by Carolyn on
 April 1, 2022

Create a Strategy and Find your Stepping Stones

After getting really clear on your goals, mastering clutterfree living step 2 is to create a strategy.  A strategy gives you a set of stepping stones to success.  It’s like using a map; once you know where you want to end up, finding the road to take is easier. The Waze app can’t find you a route until to say where you are going.

Here are some simple guidelines to creating the strategy for your clutterfree living goals:

  1. Break it down, break it down, break it down.  And then break it down again.  The most common reason clients don’t succeed at their decluttering projects is that they make the steps too big.  They end up frustrated and discourage.  Want to declutter the garage?  Start with getting the clutter out of your car.  Want to declutter your kitchen? Take it one shelf, one drawer or one utensil tray at a time.  Success is more likely and you will feel better.
  2. Look for the next best step.  Make it easy. Starting the kitchen with the pantry? Take it one shelf at a time.  With that complete, try using that dry-goods success to tackle another cupboard.
  3. Stick with each step until its complete.  Starting with the pantry? Finish each shelf before you move to the food container drawer. That way you can enjoy your accomplishment as each section is complete.
  4. dishesPurge before you splurge!Before you head to the basket/bin/box store to buy the best container to replace open bags of pasta, clear out the old pasta hiding at the back of that pantry shelf.  Find out exactly how many containers you need based on the END of the purging exercise.  That way you will know the size, shape, volume, type and number of containers you need for only the items you are keeping.

 

Declutter Organizing Strategies
scrabble pieces spell order and chaos

Mastering Clutter-Free Living: Step 1 – Achieve Clarity

Posted by Carolyn on
 March 9, 2022

Following up last week’s blog post on Mastering Clutter-Free Living, today we are going to look a little deeper at how to achieve clarity.  You may be thinking “what does it mean to be clear on clutter-free?” or “why do I need clarity to just get rid of stuff?”

What does it mean to Achieve Clarity?

orderly clothes closet

chastity-cortijo-oOfuQYniREA-unsplash

Getting rid of stuff and staying clutter-free can be a real challenge for some people.  For those affected by chronic disorganization, getting rid of stuff can be a huge block to moving forward with the personal or professional goals. Achieving clarity includes identifying what you want to do and why you want to do it.

  • What it is exactly you mean by clutter-free? For some people this is an almost empty closet with homogenous hangers.  Others are happy if the closet has nothing on the floor.  Some people would feel they had a clutter-free home if they are able to open the closet door because the floor around the closet is finally clear. Get a clear picture in your mind. Get committed to the outcome you want. This will be helpful when you are trying to figure out what to do next.
  • Why is being clutter-free important to you?  Why now?  What could you do if you could achieve this goal? Getting clear on your why will help when the going is tougher.  When you are faced with your favourite sweater that is now 2 sized too big, remember you wanted a clutter-free closet to make room for the new clothes.

Why is Achieving Clarity important?

woman looking at map

nick-seagrave-1tpLdmxki-c-unsplash

  1. With clarity creating a strategy is easy. Get clear on your goals and what you want to achieve so you can create a pathway for yourself.  When you have a clear destination in mind, finding the map to get there is easy.  It is very hard to find a pathway to someone when you don’t know where or what that somewhere is.
  2. Achieving clarity also sets intention and helps you develop a “can do” mindset. When you have a clear vision of what you want the outcome of decluttering, or a lifestyle of clutter-free living, to look like, you are telling your brain to head in the direction of that outcome.  You are setting the intention for yourself to make that outcome a reality. Give your brain the direction and cheerleading it needs to believe you can accomplish clutter-free living. You can.
  3. Clarity will keep you stay focussed. When other obligations and distractions start to get in the way, being clear on the lifestyle and outcome you want for your clutter-free living will help you stay on task and on track. Having a really clear pathway increase the chances you will succeed.
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3 Steps to Mastering Clutter-Free Living

Posted by Carolyn on
 March 2, 2022

3 Steps to Mastering Clutter-Free Living

In my experience, there are only 3 steps to mastering clutter-free living.  With the consistent application of these three steps, applied to any decluttering project on a regular basis, clutter-free living can easily be achieved.

During March I will explore all three of these steps in more detail.  I’ll give you an understanding of how easy they can be attained and tips to apply right away.

Clutter-Free Living, A Modern Issue

books

Dear Books, What am I going to do with you…?

Mastering clutter-free living is the subject of much literature.  A quick scan at the local newspaper stand, revealed multiple publications with the words declutter, clutter free or organizer on the title page.  With the Covid 19 pandemic keeping many of us very close to home the last two years, we have become even more aware of the clutter and many have become more bothered by it.

Sure, you can spend the weekend decluttering the garage, the family room or your home office.  But then what happens the next week? Does the office become cluttered and full of papers yet again?

Step 1: Achieve ClarityLooking for focus and productivity?

If you want to know how to get somewhere, you have to know where you are going.  Get really clear on what you want to achieve with your clutter-free project.  This is probably the most important step of the three. Here are some tips to help:

  • Get clear with yourself on what you mean by declutter. What are your expectations of yourself? An empty closet or just nothing on the floor? Not everyone has the same understanding.
  • Create a picture in your mind of the decluttered space. Have a vision for what you actually want to achieve.  What does your decluttered kitchen look like?
  • Find some pictures (digital to avoid more paper clutter) of what you want your clutter-free space to look like.

Step 2. Create a Strategy

Coaching can support productivity

Coaching can support get clear on priorities, goals and increasing productivity.

With a clear vision of where you want to end up, finding a path is much easier.  Keep that vision in mind and identify the steps you need to get there. Make a plan. It does not have to be complicated.

  • Break your project into bite size pieces that you can manage in the time you have available. Is this something that you can only give a few hours? Pick a series of decluttering tasks that will fit into that time frame and end with the vision you have in mind. Here are some 10 minute ideas.
  • Think of clutter-free living as a process and include in your project daily tasks that will keep the area/room or space clutter-free moving forward.
  • Keep the plan simple. Think, one step at a time e.g one box, one drawer, one closet.

Step 3. Take Action

Figure out the first step to take that will start you toward you vision.  Is it a box to empty a table to clear or a cupboard to sort.  Do you need to start just with one drawer in the kitchen in the 30 minutes you have available.  Find the first step.

Here’s the thing about taking action, it creates energy.  Once you start on your path, you will find it easier to keep going.  Once you have achieve a little success, even one old box worth, you can celebrate the achievement and use that energy to get to the next box.  Or the next drawer.

Clarity, strategy and action, together, form a simple 3 step process for mastering clutter-free living.  It doesn’t have to be complicated.  The simpler the better.

Organizing Strategies
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