Place a cereal bowl on the counter. Now pour a gallon of milk into the bowl. What do you get? A big mess! Does that make you a messy person? No. You just tried to pour too much milk into too small a bowl.
Now look at your home. Is the garage overflowing? Your office creeping into the dining room? Your kids' toys everywhere? Your problem may not be a lack of organization, but rather a problem of too much stuff.
You could move to a bigger house, but I suggest the cheaper, easier, and more ecological idea of getting rid of some of that stuff. Here's how:
- Make time. Set a timer for two to four hours. Turn off the phone and tv, turn on some great music. Limit distraction so you get more done.
- Define the goal. Keep focussed: choose one closet, one room, one bookshelf at a time. Otherwise you just end up with a bigger mess. Make a pile for things to keep, things to toss, and things that need a little more thought (maybe you have to ask another family member about it).
- Question everything. As you pick up each item ask:
- Have we used this in the last 3 months (or, if seasonal, in the last 2 years)?
- Could someone else use this better or enjoy this more than I am?
- Does owning this make my happy, or do I not really care about having it? Or worse, am I only keeping it out of guilt?
- Does this fit? (This might be a dress size, or it might be a question of age-appropriateness).
- Reconsider. Go back to the "keep" pile and take out at least three more things to give away.
- Take action.
- Put the "to think about" pile in a box and seal it up. Mark a date on the calendar 1-2 months away. If you haven't needed anything from the box, take it to Goodwill on that date without opening it up!
- Take the "get rid of" pile to Goodwill immediately. If you could immediately shed 10 lbs the moment you decided to go on a diet, wouldn't you do so? With your house, you can, so take that extra weight and get rid of it!!
This is so great! I know so many people who think that more bins will solve their problem :) Just found you!
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