Clear clutter, organize your life in just fifteen minutes a day
Twelve unopened, unpacked boxes sit in our living room, a legacy from our move a year ago. Laundry is piled a mile high in all three household hampers. The kitchen sink is perennially filled with dishes.
If you're like me, you've decided you're not going to live like this another year. So here's the deal. I'm zapping my clutter 15 minutes a pop. That's right. I'm committing 15 minutes a day to clearing my clutter. How much do you think I can clear in one year? This lens will highlight moments along the way, and share the tips I've learned.
If you feel hopelessly buried, join me. Take fifteen minutes a day to zap your clutter and organize your life. I'll give you plenty of chances to share your journey to a saner, tidier personal world, because you gotta know already, success, like misery, thrives in company.
If you feel hopelessly buried, join me. Take fifteen minutes a day to zap your clutter and organize your life. I'll give you plenty of chances to share your journey to a saner, tidier personal world, because you gotta know already, success, like misery, thrives in company.
Goal: A tidy house by January 1, 2010
Is this your goal? Hop on board!
I'll start with my messy desk. My goal is to have my whole house tidy by the end of 2009--and keep it tidy. I'll share my process, my journey and every little trick of the trade I learn on the way.
If you have clutter in your life and want to zap it, hop on board and take this trip with me.
Is clutter a part of your life?
Did you say you need this lens?
Materials you'll need
2. Three boxes, 1 each marked Trash, Recycle, Giveaway
3. Markers, self-sticking labels and a sturdy file box or cabinet to file important documents like insurance papers and bank statements
Step 1: Commit to a specific time every day
Set an alarm to remind yourself to drop everything
For me, the best time is the moment I get home at night. Any delay, and I'm likely to hunker in and fuhgeddaboudit, cause I know for sure I'm not going to get it done in the morning before I leave. Think I should be super disciplined and get up fifteen minutes early to tackle my clutter? Not! This is a major life change for me. I'm going to get some good clutter-clearing habits going first.
One thing at a time
Don't try to make a lot of big life changes at once. If your goal is to de-clutter your life, stick with that for now. If your goal is to change another life pattern, focus on that instead.
Step 2: Pick just one pile and focus on it
Not a room, not an area, one pile
My first project is to clear the clutter on my desk. My desk is small, so the clutter is about the same as a single pile would be on a larger desk.
Step 3: Handle each object only once
You save nothing by setting an item aside to sort later
If you don't have to keep the item, put it in one of the three boxes you collected and marked earlier. Every item you are not putting away goes in one of the boxes labeled Trash, Recycling, or Giveaway.
Step 4: Set your timer for fifteen minutes and begin
Dispose of one item at a time
Put it away
Throw it away
Put it in the recycle bin
Put it in the giveaway bin
Step 5: Stop when the timer goes off
Non-negotiable
Once you have the habit down, and I mean you're so used to spending fifteen minutes a day, and so invested in continuing the practice that you know nothing is going to stop you, you can consider renegotiating the time with yourself.
Perhaps you'll decide you can do thirty minutes a day in two fifteen minute segments. Or perhaps you'll be so confident in your ability to keep your commitment, that you'll give yourself an additional two hours every Saturday to tackle the job.
That's up to you. For now, gain confidence in your ability to follow through on this commitment. Fifteen minutes a day. Five days a week. For one year.
Step 6: Congratulate yourself on your progress
When I cleared my desk yesterday, I had two choices. I could get discouraged because I had not completed even that relatively small job in my short fifteen minutes. (The papers in the middle remained untouched.)What I felt, though, looking at my now tidy workspace with a neat little pile of papers to sort, was a sense of relief far greater in proportion than the tiny bit of clutter clearing I had done. I smiled the rest of the evening. Dare I say it? I felt empowered.
Ta da!
Need help getting motivated?
It helps to understand why we clutter in the first place
Turns out, author Karen Kingston knows lots of people like me. What's more she knows how to help us. The idea for the three boxes came from her.
Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui
Amazon Price: $8.60 (as of 11/29/2009)
Amazon review:
"Kingston covers the reasons we keep things as well as the amazing stories of people who have cleared their clutter away. More than just junk, clutter is all those things that have negative symbology and that collect stagnant energy. This latter can also apply to bodily, emotional, and spiritual clutter, all of which Kingston describes with characteristic passion."
Tips from a recovering pack rat
Sentimental Clutter
If you'd like 2 free chapters of The Clutter-Busting Handbook (including a chapter on Sentimental Clutter) click here http://ritaemmett.com/clutter-chapters.htm How much stuff do you keep because they are your memories? What can you do with all that stuff you inherited or was passed on to you ..... but you really aren't crazy about it? "Recovered Pack Rat" Rita Emmett is a Professional Speaker who explains that memories are in your mind and in your heart, not on that sequined velvet Elvis pillow from Las Vegas. Here she helps you figure out what to do with al your sentimental stuff cluttering up your home and your life. http://www.ritaemmett.com
curated content from YouTube
Starting with the kitchen?
These items can make your organizing tasks much easier
UNDER SHELF WRAP RACK
Under Shelf Wrap Rack keeps aluminum wrap, plastic wrap and wax paper rolls organized in one convenient location. Compact design is small enough to fit beneath cabinet, cupboard and pantry shelves. Eliminate clutter in a jiffy and find wrap in seconds. Metal coated wire, 12 1/2 x 12 1/2x 5 1/4".
Amazon Price: $8.49 (as of 11/29/2009)
List Price: $11.99
Cabinet Door Lid Rack - White
Conserve space in your kitchen cabinets, and organize the lids for your pots and pans with this Mounted Lid Rack. Take advantage of the unused space behind your cabinet door or on the wall of a pantry with one of our many wall mounted wire kitchen organizers. The Cabinet Door Lid Rack features sturdy steel wire construction. The white vinyl coating won't scratch your pan lids. The coating also grips your pot and pan lids, keeping them securely in place when you open or close your cabinet.
Amazon Price: (as of 11/29/2009)
List Price:
SOUP CAN RACK
Organize your pantry and keep all of your canned goods together with this Pantry Rack. Now you'll never have to worry about another can avalanche. This can organizer features a unique three tiered design to let you use the vertical space in your cabinets. This sturdy cabinet organizer features steel wire construction and an attractive chrome finish. Each of the three shelves are tilted slightly, so when you remove a can, the cans behind it roll to take its place.
Amazon Price: $23.99 (as of 11/29/2009)
List Price: $39.99
Deluxe Chrome 3-Tier Corner Plate Rack
Get your cabinets organized with this Three Tier Shelf. This handy cupboard organizer lets you safely store plates, bowls and bake ware - so no more chipped dishes! This chrome cabinet organizer features heavy wire construction and a shiny chrome finish. The unique design lets this organizer fit snugly into the corner of a pantry, cupboard or counter top. The shelves of this space saver are 4" apart, giving you plenty of space for dishware, canned goods, and kitchen accessories.
Amazon Price: $13.50 (as of 11/29/2009)
List Price:
Stay motivated!
Get a daily clutter-zapping fix on my ClutterZapper blog
I'm making my clutter and my process clearing it public on my blog. If I don't post every single day, wrap me on the tentacle.
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How do you tame the clutter monster?
Tell us your story here
Share your tips, weirdest clutter stories ever and anything else you'd like to say about the subject.
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- AdrienneJenkins AdrienneJenkins Mar 25, 2009 @ 3:50 am
- Good luck with your clutter busting. I like Don Aslett's Book "For Packrats Only" which talks about our emotional attachment to our things in easy to read language. He gives useful tips on de-junking. Also Oprah recently had a show which you might want to link to which had useful tips like flip clothes hangers backwards when you re-set a closet. In a year take a look. Any hangers unflipped mean you haven't worn an item in a year. Time to give it up.
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- marsha32 marsha32 Mar 14, 2009 @ 6:46 pm
- I live with my mother who is the queen of clutter!!!!! It's driving me insane but she won't let us touch her stuff saying we are trying to get rid of like she is dead already. I have my own small amount here and there. I live in my mom's basement but have an entire corner that is piled with boxes of nothing but her stuff as well as the whole utility room is piled high. Sheesh! I won't even mention what it's like upstairs...I try to stay down in my own quarters and not look at.
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- frances frances Jan 14, 2009 @ 8:11 pm
- This is a lens I really need. Whether I will actually do anything is another matter. But lots of good advice.
