Awesome progress, Karen! Well done!
Overall Rating: 1 vote
-
Posted 2 years ago #
-
karen, sounds like you are off to a cracking start!
it is a smart strategy to get at least one room under control fast....then you have
1. a haven
2. a reminder of how the rest of it can be with a little sustained efforti adore reading about other people's decluttering progress....i always learn something new along the way.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Bandicoot - I am glad you enjoy reading about other people's decluttering progress, because I'm pretty motivated to keep writing about it! I can't believe how much better I feel having one room under control (and it's not even completely finished).
I wasn't successful at decluttering anything yesterday, but I did manage to get through the mail right away, unload all of the Costco groceries (not always easy to find homes for larger items), and some other little daily jobs that I often end up leaving for later (and then not doing at all). We ate out, which helped as I didn't have dishes to do, and my boys were so well behaved that I actually enjoyed my dinner and didn't feel stressed out by the time we got home. Phew!
Tonight, I would like to clean out my gym/work bag that I carry back and forth every day. I brought in bills to pay and a few papers to sort last week when I was proctoring standardized tests for only 3 students...And I did pay bills and sort, but the papers to be filed are still traveling back and forth each day. I had hope to unload them this morning, but my little guys woke up really early, so I spent the extra time I'd budgeted to paper work on getting them back to sleep. So, maybe I'll get to it tonight. I've put it in writing, so maybe it'll happen!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Sounds like you're making great progress, Karen! Go, you!
As others have said, small, steady steps. It didn't get that way overnight, so it's going to take more than a day to get it all in order. Be gentle with yourself.
Other than small steps, the tip that has worked for me is the habit of dealing with the mess when the mess is made. As soon as we're done eating, the dishes are done and the counter is wiped. When I bring the groceries in, I immediately put them away, then fold up my shopping bags and put them back in my car (where they live). When I'm done with my work for the day, I put my reference books back on the shelf, stack any papers on the project shelf, put away any stray pens and Post-It pads, and do a quick run through the "current projects" dumping ground on my computer (aka, the Desktop) to see if anything can be trashed or filed away someplace more permanent. (Yes, my computer desktop is my very cluttered Achilles heel.)
By dealing with these little things throughout the day, they don't get a chance to build up into a big heaping mess that will take a long time to deal with and take time away from your family. They're habits, and as such, they'll take some time to establish, but once you get there, it makes keeping a house so much easier to deal with.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hello, KarenS! Congrats on your forward movement with uncluttering!
I'm a professional organizer so here are the tips I give my clients.
1. Do exactly as you did and clear one room by putting everything into bins with lids. Stack the bins somewhere else. Now walk into the cleared room, breathe and memorize the image of how it looks. You won't want to bring anythinng back into the room, and at least half of what you took out can leave your home permanently. Put a date on the bin (you can tape paper to the side) and in 6 months, if you have not opened the bin, you don't need it! You'll get rid of most of it on the spot!
2. Remove something every day from your home. Donate, regift, recycle, toss, whatever, take one item a day and you'll find yourself motivated to take out more and more.
3. Think very carefully before purchasing a non-consumable item. The reason you will evaluate your choice is because you must agree to remove THREE items for every one you bring in!
4. Start with drawers and portions of your closet. Attempting to organize the entire closet at one time can be overwhelming. Focus only on going through your purses or shoes or belts...easy tasks. Remember you do not need to own jeans in every color and style nor do you require 10 black tops!
5. Less means more...less items means less maintenance and more time to spend with your family, to relax and have fun.
Hope this was helpful...and you can also read about my personal journey this year to eliminate 50% of what I own at http://drawerbydrawer.wordpress.com/. The more I unclutter, the easier life becomes!
Good luck!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Lori - Thanks for the encouragement! I made a few more small steps this morning. I had 15 "extra" minutes so I emptied out the bills and papers I'd been carrying around in my shoulder bag. I wasn't able to deal with everything, but I filed a bunch of stuff and threw out a bunch more. It wasn't a lot, but at least I dealt with SOMETHING. I also haven't let any new mail pile up recently, so I'm a tiny step in the right direction. I hear you on dealing with the mess when the mess is made. I am not great about this, especially with the kitchen. I am a SLOW eater. My family finishes before me, and my kids (3 & 4) get up to go play and keep asking me to play with them. I work full time and don't see them all day, so I frequently walk away from the dishes to go play. Sometimes they'll play around me in the kitchen while I clean, and the other day my 4-year-old said "What can I do to help?" so he ended up drying the dishes! There's hope, but I'm really not there yet as far as dealing with things immediately. You're right, though, that taking a little time in the moment saves having to spend a whole weekend on it later. I'll have to remind myself of that.
Boy, I do need to clear off my desk at work and, as you said, do a quick run-through at the end of the day. I've done it before, but not regularly enough. The brief times I've made it an almost-habit, it really gave me peace of mind. Thanks for the reminder!
K
Posted 2 years ago # -
Nellieb,
Thanks so much for sharing the tips you offer your clients. They all make sense. I'm definitely going to stick with #1, as it worked well for my bedroom and might help me make sense of the basement. #2 is also a goal of mine. #3 is tough as far as removing 3 things for every 1 I bring in, but fortunately I'm not much of a shopper. It is a challenge with my boys' belongings, though. #4 is good, especially for parts of the kitchen. My clothes situation isn't too bad, as I have a small closet and put off-season clothes into bins. I've been trying to sort and purge (donate) items as I load and unload the bins. #5 is something I believe whole-heartedly. I no longer want to be imprisoned by my stuff. I'm just trying to be patient while I eliminate the things that are sucking up space and time and aren't adding to our happiness. And, or course, I'm still trying to get into better habits. (Like cleaning up my desk at work at the end of every day, which probably won't happen today because it's too far gone...But cleaning it off is on my calendar for tomorrow morning!)
I'm looking forward to reading your blog!
Thanks again-
KarenPosted 2 years ago # -
Here's a tip for keeping your desk top clean:
Create or purchase a daily organizer if you still work with paper (sounds like you do). Smead puts one out called a Desk File/Sorter which has 1-31 indexes for each day of the month and Jan-Dec for storing future tasks. See http://www.rapidsupplies.com/smead89235deskfilesorter1-31jan-dec43dividers9-78x11-34besmd89235smd89235.aspx for what it looks like.
Every piece of paper on your desk should be in this file. When you finish at the end of the day, take the stack of incompletes and put it into the next day's tab.
The only other things you should have on your desk are one personal photo (family/pets), stapler, tape, and paper clips. And you can also have two or three stackables for items you access frequently during the day (i.e., preprinted postage stamps, address labels, outgoing mail). That's it!
It makes cleaning up at the end of the day much easier. You can store "to do" items on an electronic calendar, such as the one with Outlook or any other software email system you have.
The best part is arriving the next morning...there is one place to look for your "to do" files and after you turn on your computer, you're ready to rock n' roll!
Good luck!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Nellieb - I kind of laughed to myself when I read your suggestions, and this line in particular: "Create or purchase a daily organizer if you still work with paper (sounds like you do)." I use paper, and also digital files, and napkins... I'm a teacher, so my "stuff" doesn't fit into a conventional office system. However, I do have a stackable in and out tray which are not being used properly. I have a lot of journals and other professional reading that I cannot possibly keep up with on a daily basis, so one tray is holding journals and articles, and the other tray just has books in it. I think my first job will be to figure out what to do with the reading, or scheduling a way to tackle it.
I do have a To-Do list on line, but I also have paper To-Do lists on my desk. I suspect I need to do just one or the other, and I think I'm going to go for the online version. I jot little notes to myself all day on my schedule that is always open on my desk (kind of like a plan book), but there is no reason I can't put those items on line. It would eliminate some of the strange little notes (that's where the napkins come in) and Post-its that are floating around on my desk!
Now...to tackle what's on my desk at the moment. (Fortunately, it looks worse than it is!)
Karen
Posted 2 years ago # -
If you keep a paper TO DO list, just tape the little notes of paper under the appropriate date rather than rewriting them. Who cares how neat your TO DO lists look?
I used to create my lists electronically and then realized I was adding written notes to the print outs. So I bought a spiral bound notebook, and everything goes into that, such as notes I take while on the phone, my lists of things to do, whatever comes to mind. I keep a highlighter inside the spiral part and as I complete something, can highlight it so I don't continue to read it over and over again.
But, as you already know, pick one system and put all your information into that!
Good luck!
Posted 2 years ago # -
KarenS, I think you hit the nail on the head. So many times things look worse than they really are, and 15 minutes a day will make a bigger difference than people think. We are often our worst enemy when it comes to procrastination. It sounds like you have done a super job!
nellieB, I agree with you, many times a pen and paper are more efficient than a ocmputer.Posted 2 years ago # -
Nellieb - You're so right. I need to just pick one system. I have three (electronic, sticky notes, spiral notebook). I keep trying to justify buying an iPad so I can keep a ToDo list and calendar synched up and accessible, but I'm really thinking the spiral notebook is my best bet. I have one that I have been taking to meetings so I can jot down ideas, and I do flip through it regularly to read through my notes and cross off things I've accomplished. I should keep it open on my desk and put everything there, instead of all over the place. I'm going to give that a try for a few weeks and see what happens. The trick is writing in "To Do" items, but keeping appointments, etc., written in the calendar/planner on my desk.
Irishbell - Yes, I have to talk myself out of procrastination on a daily basis. That's better than where I was before, which was just flat out procrastinating! Thanks for the encouragement!
This weekend I spent 3 solid hours in the basement. My kids played in and amongst the "treasures" and my husband help move some of the physical barriers (2 boats!) keeping me from really digging in. I have a looong way to go, but the improvement is noticeable, and I have a new pile for donation to the cancer center (and they're coming tomorrow - yay!). The day before I cleaned up the "toy room" and put some of the newer items in new bins, so everything has a home again. We'll see if we can make it last. My little boys had so much fun playing with things they hadn't seen in awhile, and I think that if we all tidy up together when they (we) are finished playing, they'll be able to get into some good habits. (And me, too.)
Posted 2 years ago # -
It seems kind of silly, but my little bit of recent uncluttering has been to return library books. I take books out of the library where I work, and I get into a half dozen books at once (many are for reference or prof. development). They are listed as overdue, but our librarian doesn't hold faculty to due dates, so the books tend to pile up at home and at work.
Yesterday and this morning, I went through the books I had around. I finished up a few, skimmed a few to make sure I read what I wanted, and then returned them to the library. I kept one or two that I still really need or am reading actively (Waiting for Snow in Havana), and returned the rest! It helped to reduce the clutter on my desk at work and in random places around my home.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Well, last weekend I started going through the bin of papers I removed from my bedroom, as well as a basket of papers from the kitchen. I completely emptied the kitchen basket and got pretty far into the bedroom's bin. I have a lot spread out on the dining room table, however, and once the week started, I have not been able to get back to it. I also have a pile of give away clothes in the hallway, and other normal messes around the house. I know that progress is being made, but it doesn't look pretty.
Last night my son had another boy over for a playdate. The mom came to pick up her son, and we were outside. Phew! I had cleaned the front hallway, too, so at least things didn't appear to be too scary at our home. Well, her son wanted to stay a little longer, and after standing around the backyard for awhile, I needed to take my son in for a potty break, and my husband brought the other boy's mom inside. I was horrified. She reassured me saying that we've all been there, but I find it hard to believe that she's ever been quite as "there" as my house is at the moment. I've been to her home a few times, and it's always lovely and clean, and...*sigh.* Well, hopefully she'll be back when I'm further along in this process. In the meantime, I am just trying to get over feeling horrified.
Posted 2 years ago # -
First of all, yay for all your progress!
Don't worry, there is a thread somewhere on this forum (can't find it right now) that says something like "it always looks worse for a while before it starts looking better", and that's just the way it is. To view and assess your stuff, you have to pull it out and spread it out, and that just takes some space. It's like a bucket of water: It doesn't look like there is much in the bucket, but oh noes! when it falls over, it's suddenly a LOT of water, it takes a while to mop up, and it flows anywhere! ;o)
On that other boy's mom: Don't feel judged. Don't feel horrified. You are working on it and that's the important thing. You are already doing much better than last week, right? Right :o) And who knows, maybe she has been there -- like so many on this forum, whose homes don't look like it anymore because of all the hard work -- and knows how it is. Also, you don't know what's hiding in HER closets and drawers... Da dum! ;o)
Posted 2 years ago # -
Trillie - Thanks for the reminder that things often look worse before they get better when decluttering. I also appreciate the positive encouragement! I needed it. You're right that maybe the mom has been there...And imagine how tidy my home will look if she ever comes back when I'm in maintenance mode someday. :) But really, the message that stuck with me from your post is that I'm working on it, and that's really what counts. It's a mess, and it doesn't look good, but I'm not just sitting around moaning about it. I'm taking action. Maybe not as often as I'd like, but what I've done is substantial.
My husband knows how much the clutter and mess is frustrating me. Last night I took my boys to the dentist before dinner, and while we were out he picked up all of the railroad track and trains lying all over the family room, vacuumed the family room and swept the kitchen, and started some laundry. The family room looks nice again! Phew. That room isn't particularly cluttered as far as surfaces and there is no storage for anything in there, so it's easy to pick up. It's a good reminder to me that the other rooms can be that way.
Thanks again!
KarenPosted 2 years ago # -
Karen, you're welcome -- and that's what we're all here for! And also, you've got a good husband :o)
Posted 2 years ago # -
Trillie - I do have a good husband. He doesn't clean like that on a daily basis, but he'll go through spurts where he cleans and straightens like a maniac. I'm always amazed by how much he gets done when he's in the cleaning zone. If we have a household project to do, it might be a looong time before we get around to it. But, once we start, he powers through. It's always kind of funny for me to watch how driven he can be, when others times he's perfectly content to leave the dishes (I usually cook and sometimes am stubborn about doing ALL of the cleaning up, too) so he can watch TV! (If I leave it all long enough, he'll buckle down and get it done in no time.) :)
Posted 1 year ago #
Reply
You must log in to post. If you do not already have an account, you can register here.
