Decluttering is kind of trendy now, but is it for you? Ask yourself: Does the clutter in your house really bug you? Or does it feel like something that “should” bug you? If you secretly love your stash, please revel in it and spend your time elsewhere.
But if your clutter is bugging you, choose to tackle it with intent. Focus on it. Put your energy into it. And come up with a plan to help it on its way. Here are a few tips to help you get started. Continue reading
If you’re looking for a way to lift your energy and escape the final-days-of-February doldrums, how about doing a little decluttering this week? If that sounds like more of a drain than an energy lifter, you might be surprised to find how different you feel when you take control and change even one small part of your environment.
Here are 10 ideas to help you make this happen: Continue reading
I get more questions about decluttering than any other organizational issue. What to me is great fun is, apparently, quite a chore to most people. If you’ve got a drawer, closet, room, or HOUSE to declutter, it helps to have motivation and a deadline.
I had two brilliant motivators descend on me this week: a theater where I work is holding a garage sale and is looking for items to sell, including clothing items. And our library asked for art supply donations for an upcoming project.
My house is mostly decluttered but two areas where things seem to stick are my potential-costume rack, and my art closet. The potential-costume rack includes things I’ve worn in past shows, dress-ups for the kiddos, and clothes I “demote” until I’m ready to part with them. The art closet includes bits and pieces of recent and past craft and sewing projects. Continue reading
If your closet or drawers are so packed with clothes it’s hard to get anything in or out, the underlying problem could be you don’t want to get rid of anything. Or you love to buy new things. Or both. And it’s possible you don’t have enough space – but you’ll only know that after you pare down some of what you have.
Here’s a cool exercise to help you purge, inspired by the book One Thing at a Time by Cindy Glovinsky.
Set your phone or a timer for 10 minutes and do a deep contemplation about the image you’d like to put forward with how you dress. When the timer goes off, jot down ideas about your ideal:
Ready to do a little spring cleaning? How about doing some decluttering as you go?
Decluttering can be intimidating if you think about your whole house. So start small. What’s a single area of your house that’s been calling to you? The refrigerator? The cabinet under the TV? A bedroom closet?
When you have a target in mind, here are three steps to get going. Continue reading
I love to write and create as an individual, but my energy lifts and flows when I collaborate with focused, tight groups. This includes my team work at Catalog University, and with the volunteer work I do – especially in the theater. My family is also a great team. We get a ton done and have fun doing it!
So I was super psyched when Charles Duhigg’s new book Smarter Faster Better (awesome read) took a dive into figuring out what makes a great team. Charles writes about how Google spent four years on this problem. First, they looked at who was on a team and could find no pattern. It was only when they looked at how teams worked that they found magic.
So what do the most productive teams have in common? Continue reading
I’m a big fan of decluttering – your workspace, your closets, and your mind! But when someone recommended Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up I hesitated to read it. My house and life are pretty much decluttered. Was reading this book a good use of my time?
It was, and here’s why: Vertical Storage.
Marie Kondo is adamant that after you pile up similar items, sort them to get rid of most of the pile, and are ready to put the few remaining items away in their own unique spot, that you fold or stack items vertically. I scoffed. My socks like being balled like potatoes. And my t-shirts could never possibly fold to sit vertically. And yet, I’m a geek for organizational ideas so I had to try it.
Here’s what vertical storage looks like in a sock drawer. Continue reading
So what can you do? Try some new habits. Continue reading
Organizational Habits 