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I hope you found the tips for decluttering quickly in Quick Declutter Challenge 2 helpful.
Don’t skip this challenge because you don’t have a dining room. Many dining spaces have been turned into offices. You probably have a table that collects clutter or a cupboard that collects too many candles, napkins and unused dishes. It might be in the kitchen, a hallway or a dining room. When clutter is continually visible in a common space area people can start to feel anxious.
In a book I am reading Limitless by Jim Kwik he says, “A Princeton study found that physical clutter competes for your attention ( frontal cortex of your brain) and decreases performance and increases anxiety and stress. Divest yourself of things that attract your attention and distract you.” In the common areas of your home, you want to reduce anxiety, stress and overwhelm. Join the quick declutter challenge 3 and bring happiness to your home.
If you have missed Quick Declutter Challenge 1 – cosmetics or Quick Declutter Challenge 2 – bedrooms you can join the challenge now. Complete the challenges in any order.
In the comment let me know what you found when you decluttered this area.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. 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 to 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
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
There are many words that give the impression of good intentions. Having good intentions is not enough to get you organized. Let’s look at some words that you can remove from your vocabulary when you are setting your organizing goals to make the impossible possible.
Soon
When you say you will do something soon you have not assigned a specific deadline to the activity. As time passes you keep saying, ” I’ll do it soon”. Overcome this form of procrastination by scheduling an appointment with yourself, date and time. Setting a specific deadline for a task is one form of motivation that helps some people complete a job.
Try
You may have heard the saying, “try and try again”. It implies if you keep doing something you will get better at it. That is true. However, when people say they will try to get organized, there is no commitment to the task. After having tried they can leave the task unfinished. They tried no one helped, they tried they didn’t know how to get organized, they tried and ran out of time, they tried and they were too tired to finish. Using the word try gives you an excuse to explain the reason you were not successful at getting organized. When you are making your organizing plan be more specific. Set a goal of what you will do.
Want
The word want doesn’t help to differentiate the reason for keeping things. People want lots of things for many reasons. It might be pretty, a gift, memorabilia, affordable or belonging to you. When you are looking at your stuff develop a set of questions to help you decide if you should keep something or let it go. These questions will be different for everyone. Some questions you can ask are:
- Do you use it?
- Does it bring you joy, do you like it?
- Is it a legal or financial document, an important document?
- If you give it away what is the worst thing that can happen?
- Is it best of the best of all the ……… you have? Best purse, best casserole, best hammer, best book
- If you need it could you borrow it from someone?
You most likely want almost everything. Using the word want as decision criteria to decide what to keep and what to let go is a way of putting off the decision.
Could, Would, Should
What are the could, would and should in your organizing life? I could have decluttered before moving. I would get organized if I had time. I should have started this task much earlier. Examine what you think you should have done and compare it to what you have done. Are you satisfied with the way your home is organized? Is the “should “picture of how to organize a home someone else’s goals that you think you “should” do? Maybe the “should” voice in your head came from a parent, friend or co-worker. Look at the difference in the reality of your organized home and the should voice and decide what is really the way you want it to be. Attempting to meet other people’s expectations when they are not the same as yours leads to anger, anxiety and stress preventing you from continuing on your own path to an organized home.
Maybe
This is a very polite word. You are not taking any sides. There is no commitment to do anything. Maybe I can organize the garage on Saturday. Maybe I’ll take that course you suggested to learn how to organize. Maybe we can set a date and you can help me to get organized. Instead of thinking about your organizing situation in terms of maybe doing something to change it, be more specific about what you want to do. Remove the maybe from your sentence. It will make it a more powerful declaration of your intention. I’ll take that course you suggested. I’ll work on organizing the garage on Saturday. I’ll set a date so we can work together. Be bold if you don’t want to do something. I like the way my garage is organized it works for me. Thank you for offering to help me get organized, I like doing it on my own schedule. Choose the path that is best for you and avoid the maybe path.
Comment on what words or phrases stopping you from getting 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 situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing 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
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time – 5 minutes
Is your attachment to your things stopping you from getting organized? It can be hard to let go of things from the past, past careers, past relationships and past experiences. These items can be holding you back from becoming the person you want to be. Have things in your life that will help you to move forward. Not everything that has come into your life should stay with you forever. If it has outlived its usefulness to you, let it go. When I started Mind over Clutter I would see a client talk with them about their goals and start getting them organized. I soon learned that disorganization is never about things but about the mind and how we think and feel about our things. S.T.U.F.F helps you to explore the psychology of why you have things.
S – Simply too much
Perhaps you can’t get organized because you keep too much stuff. It is not possible to keep it all organized in the space that you have. You need to understand that you have too much and you need to have less. Accepting that realization can be very difficult.
T – Take time
Step 2 in the process is to take time to understand why you have so much stuff. Take time away from all the activities, commitments and distractions to think. Perhaps you are avoiding or procrastinating thinking about your situation. Schedule an appointment with yourself no matter how busy you are. It is important.
U – Underlying reasons
Step 3 is to discover your underlying reasons for buying, collecting and keeping excess stuff. Is it;
- Fear of making the wrong decisions about what to keep and what to let go of
- Fear of hurting someone’s feelings who gave you the items, Remember the items are now yours and you get to decide what to do with them. They no longer belong to the giver.
- Retail therapy – Are you buying things to make yourself feel better? Do you feel worse for spending the money unnecessarily? If you are looking for love, acceptance or happiness, items are inanimate objects without feelings. What can they give you?
- Do you want control over your situation and don’t want to be told what to do so you keep everything? That attitude leaves you alone with a lot of work to do by yourself. Giving up some control means you can get help with the task of letting go of your stuff.
These may be some of the reasons why you have a lot of things. It is important to understand your reasons so you can start to make changes in your buying, collecting and keeping habits.
F – Feel About Having Stuff
In step 4 ask yourself how you feel about having stuff? Does it make you feel:
- Safe
- Prepared for Anything
- Successful
- Exhausted
- Overwhelmed
- Out of Control
Journalling may be a good way to figure out your feelings. Gregor explains it like this. You can use any notebook you like, any size you want, Or you can create a document on your computer (or laptop, or tablet) where you can start writing. Journaling means adding a narrative, telling yourself a story. It can be based on that thought that has been nagging you all day, a gut feeling, those undefinable emotions as of late. Start by writing down those thoughts that preoccupy you the most and you will see the story unfolding from there. Journaling can also help you acknowledge important life lessons, mental breakthroughs and growth. Ideally you should do it every day, even if it is to write down a mundane sentence, just so you create the habit of releasing your thoughts and emotions on a blank piece of paper, instead of bottling up whatever upsets you. Record how you feel when you enter the room or do you avoid the room. When you look at what is in the room do some items make you feel happy while others make you feel sad and still others have no effect on you. When you are sitting in the room what do you feel, cramped, open, excited, overwhelmed? Move things around and continue to journal about your experience.
F- Feel About Having Less Stuff
Lastly, step 5 ask yourself how you feel about having less stuff?
- Unsure
- Afraid you won’t have what you need
- Guilty (people gave you the stuff, you inherited stuff)
- Excited
- Hopeful
- Free
Continue journaling as you remove items from the room. Over the course of time do your feelings change? Are you able to adapt to less and overcome the negative feeling of fear and let go of things? Are you able to be motivated by the positive feelings of enjoyment to continue to let go of stuff?
Instead of holding onto things:
Have only things in your home that you know are useful and see as beautiful. Perhaps you like the Marie Kondo philosophy, “Does it spark joy in your life? If yes keep it. If not thank it and pass it along”
Think about what new:
- doors will open,
- experiences will be available or
- perspectives will be realized by letting go and moving forward to becoming the person you want to be.
If you need help with letting go, book a complimentary 30 minute chat with me.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually over Zoom She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing 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
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
