How much time do we spend looking for the next great productivity tool? Personally, I love the hunt. From planners, to software, to handheld gadgets, and super watches it’s fun experimenting with the latest and greatest tools. But why do we need these tools to begin with?
Stuff people!Stuff! We have too much stuff.
Think of how quick it would be to clean your bedroom if there was just a bed, clothes dresser and clothes in it. Imagine how easy it would be to organize your garage if you only had 1 or 2 cars in it. A computer would be easier to use if there was only a dozen programs and files on it.
Cleaning and organizing becomes much more difficult and time-consuming when we have more stuff. Each picture on the wall, decoration on the table, gadget in the drawer adds up quickly to make chores more difficult. Unread magazine and newspaper subscriptions create trash and more junk mail that leads to more trash that leads to more clutter. Wouldn’t it be much simpler – though probably not practical – to wash dishes if each person only had one plate, one bowl, one glass, and one setting of silverware? You’d have to clean a plate each time you used it or you wouldn’t be able to use it the next time.
More clutter in a busy person’s life leads to more of an organization shortfall. Do you have time to clean and arrange all that stuff you have?
What can you do with all this stuff?
Start with one room at a time. Place a table in the middle of the room. Then put every nonessential item onto the table – you can exclude wall hangings if you like.
Once every doodad, decoration, piece of trash, and other nonessential items are on the table it’s time to find a box or two.
Pick up each item and make a quick decision. Is this something you’ve used or even looked at in the last year? If not, it goes into one of the boxes. One box is garage sale or donation the other box is for storage.
Less is more, so see if you can scale back on the decorations – go for simple and clean rather than dense and dusty.
A yard sale or eBay-fest where you get rid of all your disused gadgets and clutter can be both fun and put money in your pocket. If you don’t have enough items for a sale, then consider giving useful items to Goodwill.
Antiques and family heirlooms can be stored for a later time in your life when you have more time to take care of them properly. You don’t have to feel bad about not displaying them. Feel good about preserving them by properly packaging them and putting them into storage until a stage in your life when you have the time.
It can be painful to part with all this stuff for now. But how painful is it to face the organizing nightmare that crops up every time the stuff becomes too unwieldy? It’s often the difference between spending major time cleaning and organizing or having that time for other things.
Technorati Tags: productivity, lifehacks, organizing, cleaning
{ 2 comments }
I never feel back…usually just front.
“You don’t have to feel back about not displaying them.”
I put that spelling error in there to make sure you were paying attention. You passed my test!