It’s not just me, right?

HOW? I can’t just throw away tons of valuable stuff. It’s not particularly valuable to me, except as cash, but it’s irresponsible to just trash it. Some of it is family heirloom, some of it is simply high-cost. Your thoughts?

Your idea about having a projected time frame is great! I am guilty of assuming that every task takes forever and that I need the whole day, week, summer to do them. I end up just worrying about the task for the whole day, week, summer…

Your idea about coordinating the projected time with available slots if also wonderful. Do I do that automatically or have I never thought of it that way before? It seems like a novel apporach to me.

Good post!

Now I’m working on my aburdly large CD collection. I’m deciding what I don’t want and selling or donating them. Next project I’ll start on my enormous book collections.

I’ve found that it helps to have a list of projects, big and small. I put the approximate completion time next to it. When I have some time, I pick a project that fits the time framed, or schedule a day to do the project.

Large projects are broken down into smaller units. For instance, I won’t tackle my entire pantry at once. I’ll pick a shelp\f or two at a time. If I still have time and energy, I’ll do one more.

I find this keeps me productive, without getting stressed out.

@Simpler Living
I tend to make that type of decision even before bringing things into the house and so I end up buying very little. And yay to giving the moving boxes to someone else. They’ll appreciate that definitely.

@Sheri
The picture thing is always a great idea as is the vision exercise before starting. Knowing what you want and why is a great way to define the keep/give away distinction.

@Imelda
Deep fridges can get horribly cluttered. We try to keep everything up front so that food doesn’t go to waste.

@Tessa
I love those sorts of slow organizing tools. It’s organizing without having to make an effort to do so.

@Another Deb
I’ve had to replace things that I’ve gotten rid of and it’s irritated me to have to spend the money again (as well the eco-waste I created). All as a result of a pitching blitz. (yes, I’m one of those organizers who learned to be so by making all the mistakes first.)

Room wise, I’ll probably update my checkbook (starting to slack) and go through my finance papers that are in my accordion file. They’re at least in file slots, but need to be organized better.

That’s my task. I need to put it in my TV and bedroom door so I remind myself.

Great tips!!!

For sentimental items that you really don’t need I would suggest taking a picture of it as it’s typically not the physical item you are attached to but rather the memories it invokes.

That helped me get rid of a lot of sentimental and “someday, I’ll use this” clutter before I moved last weekend.

This week, I’m streamlining the moving boxes and packing materials lying around our new house. That should be easy: I’ll give them away to someone else who’s moving.