Last night around 9:00 (I didn't realize the time until I looked), I had an urge to tackle the shelves of the den closet. I went through the clothes (winter and things I'm trying to fit into again) over the weekend and threw out more than I realized I would! I didn't get the ladder out and start working simply because I was trying to wind down for bed for work today. I hope the urge will come back over the weekend. I'm a night owl, so that's probably why it hit. It's just never happened during the week. Does anybody else have the urge to declutter when there isn't time?
Overall Rating: votes
-
Posted 4 months ago #
-
I'm with you on that one! Most of my urges to declutter come to me at work, and out of nowhere. All of a sudden, my mind goes "ugh, the closet in my office is a mess. I wish I were home to deal with that RIGHT NOW." I might even make plans on what to toss, what to re-organize etc. Then I get home dead tired and want nothing more than to curl up with a book, a cup of tea and a cat.
What I try to do now is, when that urge hits, I take out my planner and pencil in some time for that task on an evening or weekend when I don't have much planned.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Oh my goodness, Anita, that is EXACTLY my problem. Uncluttering urges at work...and then exhaustion when I finally get home.
Posted 4 months ago # -
And then the weekend comes, and I'm torn between doing stuff that I didn't have a chance to during the week, and enjoying my weekend because the weeks are so busy. I try to find a happy medium. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I work full time away from home home, and have a home business too.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Yes, I've been having the urges while I'm on vacation! I hope that I'll still have them when I get home later this week. :)
Posted 4 months ago # -
That happens to me a lot too. But I still find it helpful as I am making the decisions in my mind. When I do have the time and energy the uncluttering is a lot easier when I already know what I'm looking for/getting rid of. Sometimes at work I'll write myself little lists of things to get rid of and when I have energy at home and look at the list (bc I have already forgotten about it haha) it's easy peasy to fill a bag. :)
Posted 4 months ago # -
I am often hit by the urge to delutter when I actually should be doing something else real important, e.g. writing a report about a candidate (nasty part of my profession), get some really really necessary and overdue housework done (do the laundry as DH is running out of socks) or getting me out of the door to buy groceries BEFORE the rush hour starts......
Decluttering is my most successful procrastination method. I guess I feel the urge when the task I should be doing is kind of overstraining me or is too boring or is something I need to wait for the reward, e.g. writing a report takes up to 8 hours, so the good rewarding feeling is far away. Getting rid of something is quickly done and therefore the kick is easy and fast to get.
Thinking about it now - decluttering is comparable with an addiction, we are all kind of junkies!
Posted 4 months ago # -
@behejo: I'd like to have that kind of procrastination. Until recently it has always been the other way around: I'd rather do a house chore than declutter...
I will think of decluttering as i fall asleep and sometimes it keeps me from falling asleep! So I will get up and do some drawer or shelf that won't take too long, hoping that will assuage the urge.
:-))Posted 4 months ago # -
When I'm trying to fall asleep at night I think of all the things I need to do including what I want to declutter and organize. I'm too tired to get up and do anything. I try to remember in the morning and add it to my to-do list.
Posted 4 months ago # -
ah yes, decluttering at inappropriate hours - a phenomenon so well-known to me we were on first-name basis within days...
Posted 4 months ago # -
I tend to declutter in the mornings when I should be doing my yoga and getting ready for work. Maybe my overall goal for 2012 should be "tidy up after work instead of watching TV." :-)
Posted 4 months ago # -
i try to force that urge...usually by watching several episodes in a row of Clean House or Hoarders..but i find that a real deep clean binge has to combine the urge with the energy because directly after comes a crash.
My best clean binges happened when i was already flying high on Red Bull or Coca Cola and i had already been pushing my days into late late nights.
I still crash but boy i wake up to a clean house!Posted 4 months ago # -
I get the urge at work too, but recently I got the reverse (like Swede, I knew the tea at work was not going to get used, I didn't like it, and I'd go without over drinking it), and came to work and out it went!
Posted 4 months ago # -
Ha, ha poodle...this is the story of my life...It is nothing for my hubs to wake up in the morning to all the furniture moved and all the drawers cleaned and changed around. My best un-clutter time is 9pm 'til I drop...exhausted, but happy. I pop a "books on CD" into the player and GO, GO, GO (most recently, Walden by Thoreau, quite the un-clutterer himself! :) I find this to be very de-stressing; like a good work-out. Truthfully, I don't think there is a GOOD time for de-cluttering, so you have to go with the urges...forcing it just makes it one more chore to do. Run with it! :)
Posted 4 months ago # -
For some reason, the one show that I find always, unfailingly brings on an uncluttering urge is HGTV's Small Space, Big Style. It's all apartments/houses under 1000 sq. ft. Some are truly inspirational; others are a little odd and clearly only on the show for the shock factor. In any case, good decluttering motivation for me.
Posted 4 months ago # -
@Anita...I LOVE shows like that! And you're right, they are great motivation. Dwell magazine also has many cool ideas for using space in unusual ways...some not so affordable, but fun to glean ideas :)
Posted 4 months ago #
Reply
You must log in to post. If you do not already have an account, you can register here.
