Cindy

Can organizing help you declutter? The tidier your stuff is, the more you can pack into a small space, that’s for sure. But we all know that’s not the same as decluttering! Nonetheless, organizing can help you declutter in a number of useful ways:

When you gather together like-with-like to organize it, it’s easy to see and find your duplicate (triplicate!) items. You can either give one of them away or have a use it up challenge, whichever is appropriate.

• When you decide that all your books must fit on the bookshelf in the traditional up and down style, then you must declutter all the books that you cannot fit onto the shelves. If you decide to display some sentimental trinkets (that you love, find beautiful, hold dear, etc.) on your bookshelves as well, then you’ll have to reduce your books further.
• The same can be said for your linen closet, food pantry, or wardrobe  If you decide that everything must fit in that space, you’ll declutter until it does fit.
• While organizing your items, it’s a good time to consider their placement. Do rarely needed coats really need to be in the front door closet? Maybe that’s a better space for pool bags, towels, and extra sunblock (something I think you almost cannot have too much of because you never want to run out  – at least not if you’re as fair as my family). If you never wear belts, why do you have a special holder for them on the door of your closet? Are your most frequently used kitchen spoons in a convenient location, or is the plastic wrap that you hardly ever use holding court in the easiest to reach drawer?

To me, organizing doesn’t mean buying a whole bunch of boxes and clever “solutions” so that I can jam more stuff into each square inch of space. It means culling and cultivating my collection (of clothes, jewelry, books, kitchen utensils  gardening tools) so that everything is useful, easy-to-location, in good working order, and appropriate for my lifestyle. Is there anything you could organize today?

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something made from paper.

Eco Tip for the Day

Instead of giving lots of sugar laden, foil wrapped Easter treats do what I did. Only buy ten little eggs attach $1 or $2 coins to them and arrange a Riddle Easter Hunt. Hide each egg with its coin separately with a riddle attached leading to the next egg. You can also skip the chocolate eggs altogether and just hide the money with the riddle. I used to recycle those plastic eggs year after year and hide the money and riddle inside them. It is fun to watch the kids trying to figure out the riddles, making them harder and harder each year.

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Little things add up to a lot. Overlooking them when decluttering, because they are insignificant, won’t allow you to declutter to the fullest extent. You would be surprised how much space in your home is taken up with lots and lots of small objects. During my declutter mission it has always been exciting to declutter the big things like furniture or storage systems.  However, I have also taken joy from decluttering the smallest things because without that the big things would not been emptied and able to go.

Likewise, bringing small items into your home, because their diminutive size makes them seem harmless enough, will undermine your decluttering efforts.

Also, small inexpensive objects are often not treated with respect and cared for appropriately because they are just that, small and inexpensive. But the cost of these little things also adds up when we lose, break or waste them just because individually they seem financially insignificant. No doubt landfill sites contain many of these objects.

The photo above shows a very small selection of the little items that were decluttered from my home last year. There were many more in 2011 and 2010 and also more this year. Seeing this small selection gives you a visual on how they begin to add up. Remember this the next time you consider something small and lean towards the idea that it won’t make any difference to keep it.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a, not too, sentimental item.

Eco Tip for the Day

Reuse cereal bags to ~ wrap lunches, coat chicken with seasonings, bag carrots to keep them fresh, store cut onions…

For a full list of my eco tips so far click here

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and “fun” for you to achieve some quick decluttering.

Sometimes you really have to put your thinking caps on when trying to come up with an item to match my mini missions. This week however I am keeping it simple for you. Hopefully you will easily be able to find an object to declutter that matches each category.

Monday – Declutter something made of glass, china or similar breakable substance.

Tuesday – Declutter a, not too, sentimental item.

Wednesday – Declutter something made from paper.

Thursday – Declutter something you are keeping “just in case”.

Friday – Declutter something made from fabric.

Saturday – Declutter something you have more than enough of.

Sunday - Sunday is reserved for contemplating one particular item, of your choice that is proving difficult for you to declutter. Whether that be for sentimental reasons, practical reasons, because the task is laborious or simply unpleasant, or because the items removal requires the cooperation of another person. That last category may mean that the item belongs to someone else who has to give their approval, it could also mean there is a joint decision to be made or it could mean that the task of removing it requires assistance from someone else. There is no need to act on this contemplation immediately, it is more about formulating a plan to act upon or simply making a decision one way or another.

Good luck and happy decluttering

April Habit Changing Challenge

Endeavour to keep the entrance of your home tidy, clean and clear of clutter, inside and out. Outside ~sweep the porch and shake out the mat regularly, and keep it clean or clutter such as shoes, umbrellas, garden items etc. Inside ~ keep the area tidy and clear of clutter and think about rearranging the area so things are still handy but not out in the open if possible.

Eco Tip for the Day

Encourage children to take care of there school supplies and equipment so they last and can be used for longer.

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

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