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A lovely colleague sent me this first tip. Marie Mushing runs a networking group called People in Connection
1. Make the area a showcase
See what working with a professional organizer can do for you? Professional Organizers rub out junk. Where there was once chaos and huge piles of paper, is now a showcase. Thank you Julie! Replace the junk pile with something pretty as I did, then you won’t want to pile junk on that again. Great motivation to keep the filing done!
2. Prevent drop zones from forming
If you have an empty flat surface it sometimes calls to people, “to fill me with stuff.” To prevent that area from becoming cluttered, put a large object or two in that spot. It will make the area feel full and then you won’t drop things there. With only 2 larger objects, it is easy to pick them up and dust and clean. If you use a number of smaller items it may make the area harder to clean.
3. Designate a paper collection spot
Assign a place to put papers that need to be read, filed, signed etc. Place a tray, lovely baskets, eye catching red container etc in a convenient location. Why red? Red is a high energy colour, it increases your heartrate, and your eye is drawn to red items. By using a red basket it can help to make dealing with paperwork a high priority activity. Keeping paperwork consolidated in one spot makes it easier to find and work with. When paper is all over the office or house it becomes visual clutter, causing anxiety, the release of cortisol and you feel stress. Cut the visual clutter, collect the paper in one spot, and complete the tasks.
4. Avoid the L word – later
Piles of paper will continue to build up if you leave them for later. Later will never come. Schedule time to deal with paperwork: schedule time to read, file, and reply to paperwork that generates more work. Schedule these activities according to your level of energy at different times of the day. Scheduling reading after lunch at a low energy time of the day may not be productive but scheduling filing after lunch may be perfect because it gets you up and active. Scheduling time at the beginning of each day to concentrate on work generated by email, letters, and documents might work well when you are able to focus on single tasks. Remember not to multitask.
Schedule time for paperwork
If you’re interested in learning how colour can affect your productivity, this guide is free and you can find it here.
What tricks do you use to help you complete paperwork?
Related articles The truth about multitasking
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
R – Read
A – Act
F – File
T- Toss
Paperwork, e-mail messages and electronic files can overwhelm you making you feel stressed and ineffective. Step one is to open your mail or email. Step 2 is to have a system to process it. If information has built up, look at the creation date on the document and decide if is the most recent version. If the document was replaced by a more current version toss or delete the old versions. If the document can be replicated, retrieved or is obsolete toss it, shredded it or delete it.
As documents arrive, paper or electronic decide:
R – Needs to be read or referred to later
If it will be read or referred to another person, place it in a folder (electronic or paper) labelled as read. If the document is to be used by another person forward it to the correct person.
A – Needs to be processed
If the document requires:
- an action to be taken,
- a decision to be made,
- a response conveyed or
- has a deadline
place it in a folder marked Act. Financial documents should have their own folder separate from the Act folder.
F – Needs to be filed
If the documents are completed but must be retained, then they are filed. If it is an electronic document forward it to the correct folder. If it is a paper document place it in a file or basket for filing at a later date.
T – Toss – Needs to be disposed of
Documents that you:
- no longer need,
- have no financial implications,
- are out of date,
- junk mail or
- a copy can be obtained elsewhere
can be tossed, deleted, recycled or shredded.
All of your electronic communications and paperwork are now filed as:
- Read
- Act
- File or
- Tossed
and are ready to be handled at a later time. Schedule time in your agenda/calendar to read documents, complete any action needed on documents and file paperwork. This system helps you to:
- know where documents are if someone has questions,
- allows you to manage your time effectively by scheduling your paperwork at times when you will be uninterrupted and
- be able to quickly locate the papers/documents you need to complete a task.
Although much of your information is paperless there is still a substantial amount of paper to control. Have 3-5 stacking trays or a desktopper with folders. Label the folders/trays: to do, to read, to file, refer to other people, and miscellaneous forms. File the paper correctly and schedule a time to process each folder.
At the end of the day:
- Clean off your desk, leaving only papers you are going to process tomorrow in a stack on your desk.
- In your calendar record the files you need to process. Place e-mails/documents to be worked on in a folder marked with the day of the week they will be processed
- Check your to-do files (paper and electronic) for items that need to be completed the next day
- Sort all other papers and documents into their appropriate trays/ folders.
Share how do you prevent emails and paperwork from drowning you.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Many people feel the only way to file paperwork is in a filing cabinet in filing folders. I like to say some people file horizontally using files and something to hold them. While other people use files and stack them vertically. Both types of people are doing the same thing in a different direction. Are you a filer (horizontal hanging files) or are you a piler ( vertically stacking files)? Learn about 5 ways you can keep your paperwork controlled.
1. Traditional Filing Cabinets
They come in many sizes and colours. Make sure to get one with drawer sliders so you can easily reach the back of each drawer. Some come with locks others do not. They can be vertical or horizontal. Horizontal cabinets provide a space to set things on, a printer, a plant etc. You can buy a stand that has wheels to set under the filing cabinet to make it easier to relocate.
2. Binders
Binders are a good solution for visual people. You can have them on a shelf and easily see all your files. The binders can be colour coded to make it simple to find the correct binder. Use dividers, pocket dividers or sheet protectors to file papers. Set up the categories you need: household bills, bank statements, warranties etc. Some binders also have a set of accordion files attached to the binder. Here is a review of this product.
3 Rolling Crates/ File Boxes on Wheels.
Use hanging folders and file folders. The advantage to this is you can take them to whatever room you want and the top is open so you can see the files easily. With the crates, you can stack them for easy storage.
Crates make your files portable
Crates on wheels make it easy to store away and then move close to your desk
4. Expandable Files
Use one section for each category of paperwork. For example household bills, income tax, financial documents, insurance policies, warranties, etc. They are great to have one for each member of the family to store papers relating to them, report cards/school documents, immunization/health records, passport and other documents, certificates etc. You can also colour code these files.
Some come with special hooks so you can store them in a filing cabinet or crate.
5. Magazine holders
Magazine holders come in paper and plastic. They are available in many colours and patterns. Try to buy ones with solid sides so papers will not get caught and it can be hard to slide in. Use a holder for each category of paper you need to file. You can colour code your systems making it easier to quickly access the files you need. You can turn them so the spines are facing out, and label them, to reduce the visual clutter of seeing all the papers in each box.
What is your preferred method for filing paperwork? Tell me about your system.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading Time – 4 minutes
My guest blogger this month is Spencer Andrews a representative of More Space Place, a Greenville area leader in closet, office, and garage organization. He has included 5 pictures of different types of closets.
Thinking of upgrading your closet space? Adding a brand new custom closet system to your home can be an exciting prospect. After all, optimizing your storage means you’ll be able to rid your home of clutter and enjoy a cleaner house.
The are a few things to remember, however. Just like any other home improvement project a custom closet has several pitfalls that can have disastrous consequences. Low-quality materials can break and hasty installations can lead to damage to your home requiring thousands of dollars of costly repairs.
To help you avoid such a thing we’ve put together this guide to help you make the appropriate considerations. These 5 steps are what we think are the most important and will help ensure that you’re satisfied with your brand new closet.
Step #1: Plan your design & research your options
Just like with any other project, the success of your custom closet installation is contingent upon diligent research and proper planning. The most important thing to determine is the materials you’ll be using for your closet system. There are plenty of economic options available, but how sturdy are they? Particleboard is affordable, but composites can be easily damaged and don’t deal well with moisture. Furthermore, installing laminates can require working with highly flammable and toxic adhesives, which some homeowners may not be comfortable with. These materials may be more affordable, but will generally have a diminished life span. This is just one example of the kind of research you’ll need to do.
Of course, the other thing to remember is to make sure you have all the tools you need to handle this installation. This is by and large a function of the materials you’ll be working with, and once you’ve determined that you’ll have to make sure you have the right tools.
Step #2: Acquire your materials
When you’re buying the materials for your closet’s installation remember this one simple rule: not all materials are created equal. Take the time to compare the different building supplies you’ll be buying. Boards can warp and deform and may not retain their shape. Take the time to inspect everything you’ll be using to ensure that it’s up to par. Substandard materials can be disastrous for a project like this, and there’s nothing worse than taking multiple unwanted trips to the hardware store. Save yourself a headache and work only with the highest quality goods.
This can also mean using wire closet systems. These tend to be more reliable when compared with particleboard. These will also be more consistent in terms of quality, alleviating many of the headaches associated with less durable materials. That being said, it’s important to do your homework early on and decide what material you think will work best for you.
Step #3: Take your measurements & prepare for installation
Is the room you’re installing your new closet system in completely square? Can you fit all the tools you’ll be using in your closet space? Will your closet system completely cover your wall or should you consider wallpaper or paint to complement your new installation?
These are all considerations to take into account before you begin building your custom closet. If your closet comes out off-center or looks crooked because of the shape of the room it can really detract from the visual appeal of your new closet system. Furthermore, adding a new coat of paint or wallpaper can really help to improve your closet system, so make sure you have that in place beforehand!
Step #4: Begin building your closet system
While this may be a fairly obvious step, this is where all the hard work and potential problems may occur. The most important thing to consider here is whether or not you have the time to put together a brand new closet system in your home. Furthermore, you may need to consider if you have the experience for such a project. Installations such as these can be demanding and may require the expertise of an experienced team. If you find yourself in over your head consider looking for a custom closet designer who can help you out with your project. These services also tend to be comprehensive, which means that can also help you with the design & picking out the right materials.
Enjoy Your New Closet!
After putting in all this hard work, it’s time to enjoy your new custom closet! Consider what you’re going to do with all this new space and check out some other space-saving options. Amazon has plenty of corner storage, stackable bins, and space-saving solutions that can help to make your new closet even more efficient.
Thinking of upgrading your current closet space? Greenville More Space Place is the Greenville SC Custom Closet design team that can help make your idea a reality.
Let me know what the most important feature of a closet is for you.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, in person and virtually. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you to manage your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
January is usually the time for goal setting. Why am I writing about it in February? You may have thought about setting goals, you procrastinated so it never got done. January was a busy month this year with all the ongoing changes. Now might be a better time for you to take a moment and think about goals. Goals don’t have to be set in January you can do it any time of the year. I want to present three ways of setting goals.
Pick one area and improve it
I am a person who is motivated by a fear of failure, I don’t want to fail, so I am cautious. My system of setting goals is to look at my business or life and see where I think could be improved, what types of skills I need to improve so my business or life will improve. I pick one thing and then work on it all year to get better at it. For example, I didn’t like social media so I decided to start working at becoming better at it and setting up a system that works for my day and philosophy about the importance of social media. I picked a platform, got good at it and continued to add more and more platforms. I organized workshops on Twitter and Google My Business, I listened to webinars. A vague plan works for me because I am self-motivated, I am not a procrastinator. I read an interesting article by Ravi Venkatesan about the importance of learning new things, “What skill will you acquire this year? What new activity will you start?” Perhaps learning to play a new instrument, going on an adventure or taking on a new role- anything that causes you to move out of your comfort zone. Pick a goal that challenges you at about a level 5 out of 10. If you are too fearful you will panic and not start. Choose a goal that challenges you and allows new neural connections to form. That would be a good goal for this year.
S.M.A.R.T Goals
Set goals that you can attain
That vague framework of deciding what you want to do to improve your business or life would not for everyone. We are all different. So there is a goal-setting system called SMART. You pick a specific goal, with measurable outcomes, that are achievable, realistic and timely. When you use this system of goal setting it gives you a step by step plan to follow. For example with my social media goal, if it had been a SMART goal, would be something like
I will learn how to post on Facebook,
S (specific) – I will post 3 times a week, one original content, one picture, and one comment on someone else’s post
M(measurable) – Did I post 3 times/week?
A (achievable) – I have that much time in my week
R(realistic) – If I only have to do it 3 times a week I will not become frustrated and stop
T(timely)- I have 3 mornings a week when I can do these posts. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
This will work for some people who like to have a step by step plan and follow it. It can cause problems if people stop following the plan. They may give up and not start again or some people may feel like it is too rigid. Set your goal and keep trying to do it, that is the only way you will get better at it.
Turn desire into intention
Be intentional about your plan
I read an article that reveals a simple trick that doubles the chance for success in obtaining goals. Earlier I commented on what motivates me. Sometimes we say, I need to motivate myself to get working on…., In this article, it says motivation is not the key to reaching your goals it is intention.
A study in the British Journal of Health Psychology divided 248 adults into 3 exercise groups.
- Group 1 had to record how often they exercised during a 3 week period
- Group 2 were told “ most young adults who have stuck to a regular exercise program have found it to be very effective in reducing their chances of developing coronary heart disease. ” ( motivation to exercise) and had to record how often they exercised during a 3 week period
- Group 3 recorded when and where they would exercise (intention to exercise), they were given the same motivation as group 2 and they recorded how often they exercised during a 3 week period
Results
- Control group 1 38% exercised at least once per week
- The motivated group 2 35% exercised at least once per week
- The intentional group 3 91% exercised at least once per week
We all have some level of desire or willpower or motivation but what turns desire into action is a written plan for implementation. When you have a goal to do something, record when and how you will do that behaviour or activity. It will be the environment that triggers you to do your new behaviour or activity and not motivation or will power. This year I used the intention method to become better at making videos.
- Every morning for 30 days I made a video of 1 minute or less and sent it to a friend. It was not edited and most of the time there was only one take, no practice videos. The when of the intention, was at 8 am and the who of the intention, was a friend who expected to receive a video.
- Step 2 was 30 days of videos on Instagram Stories. It was usually at 8:15 am but sometimes it was at another time in the day when I was getting dressed up for a meeting. Check out my Instagram stories.
- Step 3 ( I am not there yet) will be 30 days on Facebook Live.
The level of challenge increases with each step. It is a great way to become better at doing video. Thanks to James Mel for teaching me this.
These are just 3 systems
- Having an all-encompassing vision or
- Setting SMART goals or
- Intentionally decide when you will do something and block off time
that can help you establish new behaviours to accomplish a goal for 2021. Pick the one that works for you.
Set goals to help you move out of your comfort zone, learn new skills and grow. Click To TweetWhen you hire me, I don’t come to your office or home with the Mind over Clutter organizing system, install it and then leave. I come and see what is working for you and how you do things so I can find solutions that work for you, how you think, feel and your lifestyle. I want you to accomplish your organizing project so you meet your goals.
Now I liked to hear from you:
What strategy from today’s post are you going to try first?
Maybe I didn’t mention your favourite way to set goals.
Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below right now.
Want help in 2021 to get your Mind and Space Organized, join my Facebook group full of free tips
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually over zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook –Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Click here to learn more about working with a Professional Organizer.
People have preconceived ideas about what it means to be organized. Being organized means you can find what you are looking for in a reasonable amount of time. The myths about being organized are what stop people from moving forward and organizing their lives. Here is the fallacy in 5 myths.
Myth 1 Organizing is a born talent
Organization is a skill. You can learn techniques to apply to your situation to get you organized. If you have the right resources and support it is easy. Hire a Professional Organizer, read books, watch Youtube and you can learn the steps. Some tasks at home can be simplified so they are not so overwhelming and time-consuming. Here is one small example about meal planning.
- Pick your menu for the week
- From the menu make your shopping list
- Now you don’t need to decide what to make each morning or evening and you can take out of the freezer the items you need for later in the day.
- After you have done this for a number of weeks or months you can start recycling your plan. This makes it even easier as you just pull up an already completed menu plan.
Myth 2 – Organized space is neat, tidy, minimal and boring.
Everything needs to have a space, a home, so you know where to put it back. Some people are visual and will have things displayed other people like things stored behind doors. Organized spaces should reflect your personality and lifestyle. If you can’t enjoy the space then you won’t take care of it.
Myth 3 – Getting organized is an overwhelming, hopeless chore
No matter what you’re organizing, no matter how daunting the task or how huge the backlog, getting organized boils down to developing a predictable process that you can reproduce. You follow your process and organize the current things you are using and then each time you’re organizing, work for a little time on the backlog. Divide the job into smaller tasks, organize one cupboard, one drawer, one table or one closet. Eventually, the entire room will be organized one small step at a time.
Develop processes that work for you, so you can stay organized.
Myth 4 – It’s impossible to stay organized
Organizing is sustainable if your system is built around the way you think and designed to grow and adapt with you. Here are some tips:
- If it only takes 30 seconds, do it right away if not add it to your to-do list
- Most unorganized people don’t notice things are in the “wrong place.” Look and do a mental check to see if everything has been returned to its assigned space.
- Use spare minutes wisely. Have a list of small tasks that can be completed quickly when you are waiting for meetings, appointments, trains, planes, children, elderly parents.
- Use your lists to record: things to do, to call, to e-mail and errands. Check the list don’t just write it down.
Myth 5 Organizing is a non-productive use of your time
You can’t afford to not be organized. A national survey conducted by Professional Organizers in Canada indicates 91% of disorganized Canadians feel that disorganization negatively impacts their lives – with a large focus on feelings of stress, frustration and even failure. According to a study by a Boston marketing firm, the average American loses 55 minutes a day, roughly 12 weeks a year, looking for things they know they own but can’t find.
Did I miss any organizing myths? Share your favourite myth in the comments.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, in person and virtually. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Click here to learn more about working with a Professional Organizer?
Reading time – 3 minutes
Organizing your home office can lead you in many directions. Perhaps:
- your inbox is inundated,
- your files are filled or
- your time management is missing.
You need to start somewhere so let’s start with the S.P.A.C.E. that houses your office.
Look around your office and start:
1. Sorting the items that are visible into groups of papers, books, office supplies, client files, products, advertising materials etc.
Start with the visible clutter first.
2. Pair down each pile with the items that are current and recycle or shred the rest.
3. Assign a convenient place to store your resources. If you use them often keep them near your desk, if they are used infrequently store them further away but still in your office. If they are never referred to but are needed for tax or legal purposes they can be stored in another room.
4. Take each of those piles and select the best Container for keeping the items organized, binders, magazine holders, bins, boxes etc.
Organize with binders
Organize with bins
Organizing for the person who likes to see everything, the visual person
5. Evaluate your new S.P.A.C.E. to make sure it will help you be more efficient, productive and profitable this year.
Share one of your office organizing tips in the comment box.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She guides and supports you to manage your time, and projects and reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time – 1 minute
Three Steps to Organizing
- Consolidate items into groups
- Containerize groups in sturdy, proper sized containers that are labeled
- Condense items so you have the appropriate amount of items in each group
Remember to donate items to charity and not to put them in the garbage.
Follow Two Routines
- Do four things in the morning
- Do four things in the evening
Five Habits to Keep Clutter on the Run
- If you get it out, put it away
- Apply the 30 second rule – if it takes 30 seconds or less to do something, do it immediately
- Follow the camping rule – leave the room the way you found it or better
- Look, really look at your surroundings to see what is out of place
- Use “little minute” to clean – those few minutes while you are waiting for someone, on hold on the phone, watching a pot boil
Let me know your tricks to help you stay organized.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, in person and virtually. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you to manage your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
This article was first published by JR Moving Services
Just because something brought you joy in the past doesn’t mean you should carry it forever. The possessions you keep should represent the person you are trying to become, not the person you were. Keep this in mind when you start your decluttering journey. As you start to let go of things it will become easier and easier. Here are steps to help you on your path to finding your treasures.
Planning the space
Decide what the goal is for the room. Is it to have a:
- Beautiful compact space
- Functional workshop
- Sense of freedom and control
- the Joy of financially exchanging stuff for new experiences and pleasures.
- Clear out a parent’s home
- Make things easier for the next generation
- Streamline your lifestyle
Make a floor plan
Decide what you want the room to look like and be used for. Draw a floor plan and make a list of activities that happen in that space. It will help you to know what to keep.
Decision criteria
Set up some questions to help you with your decision making. Here are some examples:
- How many of these do I have? How many is enough?
- Does the item fit in with my values?
- Is this item current?
- Is this item really valuable?
- Will owning this help to resolve my clutter?
- What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t have it?
- If I need it, can I borrow it from somewhere?
- Does it bring me joy?
- Do you need it?
How much is enough?
Look around the room and decide what percentage of stuff you need to give away so everything will fit into the room. 25% 50% 75%?
If you don’t schedule it, it won’t get done.
Schedule the time and do it when you are not rushed. Do one area, room, box or even corner of a room depending on how much stuff you have to go through and your deadline.
Prepare the room for working.
You will need a series of boxes, bins, bags or containers for garbage, recycling, donations, items to go to other rooms, and items to return to people.
5 Methods for decluttering the room
I’m going to go through a number of ways to sort through your items and you can decide what method works best for you. At first, decluttering is easy because you find items that you know you don’t want and just haven’t given them away yet. Then it becomes more challenging. You must chip away at identifying which items are true treasures versus those you feel guilty about giving away. Remember to reduce by the percentage you choose in your planning.
1. Have a box
The simplest way to start is to keep a box in your closet and whenever you find something you don’t need put it into the box and you can start decluttering right away.
2. Skimming
- Go to a closet/cupboard and select the best items in each that category.
- Most cupboards/closets will have more than one category.
- For example, in a kitchen, the cupboard might have baking dishes, casserole dishes, muffin tins, and loaf pans. Pick the best 1 or 2 of each of these 4 categories and donate the rest.
- Continue to open each cupboard and drawer skimming the contents and selecting 1 or 2 items from each category.
3. Sort then declutter
- Go clockwise around the room sorting items into groups by function
- Do the surfaces first and then the drawers and cupboards next
- When you are done, the garbage and recycling will be collected and removed from the room
- All the items in the room will be in groups
- Each room will have different categories/groups of items. Here are some examples, books, electronics, tools, dishes, home decor, games, clothing, photos etc
Look at one category/group and apply the questions and percentage you determined in the planning stage. Start removing items you don’t need and donate them.
If that method doesn’t work for you and you are keeping everything, try a different method.
4. Grouping
Keep the Best of the Best. Instead of thinking about giving things away, it might be easier to think about keeping the best.
- After you have sorted the room make sure you are keeping the best one. You need to see all of the items in one group together and keep only as many as you need or the percentage you set in the planning stage, keep the best ones.
5. Triage
- Gather all your items from one category
- Pick up the first three and remove the one you like the least.
- Pick up 3 more and remove one again
- After you have gone through the category/group you will have decluttered by 1/3
If you are sentimental
- Try taking a picture of the items so you have the memory and let go of the item.
- Find a good home for the things you are letting go of, they are still useful just not to you anymore.
- “Shrink it”, only keep one item from a collection instead of the entire collection, you will still have the memory
- Ask yourself, what would be best, having a number of boxes with large quantities of unsorted keepsakes or a carefully assembled box of very precious treasures?
Mindset
Decluttering is about having a mindset of letting go and having less. Once you experience the joy of being unburdened from cleaning, organizing, buying, and repairing stuff you don’t need, want, use or like you’ll wonder why you didn’t start sooner. Enjoy the journey.
Moving Companies rely on businesses like Mind Over Clutter. If you are in the rightsizing process check out our partners at Mind over Clutter. They service St. Catharines and The Niagara Region and can give you some great insight and help you through this process!
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually over Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She guides and supports you to manage your time, and projects and reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time – 3 minutes
Here are some tips for holiday planning to make a H A P P Y month.
Holiday Decorating
You may be feeling overwhelmed or disorganized by the number of items on display in your house. Try putting the non-seasonal items away to reduce the number of items on display.
Think about decorating with fewer items but larger size items. This means there are fewer items to pack and unpack which will reduce the amount of time you need to prepare your home.
Take advantage of using linens to cover tables or end tables and seasonal pillowcases to cover throw cushions to decorate couches. They may be less bulky to store and cover a larger area making your home seem completely decorated while taking less time to get the job done.
Use items that self-destruct so you don’t need to pack them away, flowers, paper towels, and tissue boxes all give your house a festival spirit but don’t need to be packed away and stored.
When you go through your decorations part with the ones you no longer need early in the month so thrift stores have an opportunity to sell them and so they don’t need to store them until next year. Some stores don’t take holiday décor in January and then you will be stuck storing them for another year.
What tips do you have for a H.A.P.P.Y holiday season? Click To TweetAccept Help
Acknowledge that you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed and when people offer to do things say yes. We all love to help people so let people feel good about themselves by allowing them to help you.
Parties may be larger again this year. It is a good time to try a new way of doing things. Allow people to help clean up dishes on their way out the door. In fact, be ready for it. Have a place to put cutlery to soak. Have a container for compost. Put glasses or coffee mugs directly into the dishwasher.
You may need to accept help with setting up a hybrid party. Put one of those “youngsters” in charge.
Planning is important
Use a to-do list. Divide your to-do list into to pick up, to e-mail, to call, to buy then you can plan your day and route to get things done and not be driving back and forth all over town. The trick here is to actually look at the list and use it not just make it.
Keep your plans from year to year, record your menu, grocery list quantities and timelines. Each year you can reuse, revise and update the plan. This year’s plan may need a lot of updating from the previous years.
People and relationships are the reason for the season
Some people like to send cards in December. I keep my cards and addresses and stamps altogether. When I am going somewhere where I will be waiting I pick up the supplies and take them along and write my cards. I have done it in many places including my van. I usually leave replies to someone who has sent me a long letter until January.
Use your spare moments to write cards
You may want to send e-cards. Jacquie Lawson is the site I use. If you want to automate the card-sending operation there is a company called Send Out Cards. You can attach a gift to the card.
Gift-giving may be an area where you are developing a system. Have you thought about Clutter-free gift giving?
Consider the idea of a gift that self-destructs. See my post on Clutter Free Gift Giving .
Yes you can
Being organized is more about an attitude than how something looks. It is not about having the perfect home, party or gift. It is doing the best you can with the time and resources that you have. The only way to get better at organizing is to practice. It is a skill that can be learned and with practice, it becomes easier and easier. This year’s challenge may be technology. Ask for help and practice ahead of time. You might want to play Yahtzee at your gathering. Try using these 2 sites.
Score sheet http://www.playonlinedicegames.com/scoresheet/yahtzee
Dice roller https://www.elversonpuzzle.com/yahtzee-dice-roller.html
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, in person and virtually. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Click here to learn more about working with a Professional Organizer?
