Book a Meeting with Yourself

I have 4 hours all to myself today: that is, all to myself and the mound of paper work that accumulated while I was off tending to clients.

We schedule our meetings with clients, with staff and all manner of other related services for our lives but how often do we book time with ourselves to clear out the clutter?  Unfortunately we know from decades of time management publications, that unless a priority activity is booked into our schedule, it will not get done.  Is that why perhaps, some administrative or maintenance tasks in your life don't get done?

Consider booking a regular meeting with yourself to accomplish some of the mundane tasks that life asks us to complete.  It might be clearing kids school paperwork, catching up on correspondence, filing (electronically or otherwise) the bills that have piled up.  If you book time on a regular basis, you will be surprised how some of this stuff doesn't get a chance to pile up.  Depending upon the task, it may be only 2 hours a week or perhaps one day a month is all that is required to clear out the backlog and keep up to date.

The Ten Minute Challenge

The ten minute challenge is one of my favourite organizing techniques. It's great for getting kids involved in a daily clean up and when used regularly, is highly effective at keeping one's home organized.

Give each person in your home a bag - the new recycled shopping bags are great for this. Let everyone know they have 10 minutes to fill their bag with items that are not in their homes and need to return to wherever that home is.

A common variation on this strategy is to fill the bag with items that the individual is no longer using, no longer wants, fits etc. This is a great way to show children that items we are finished with can be cleared out regularly and passed on to other children.

Downsizing Dilemmas - Garbage and Recycling

I'm back folks - took a little break there. Back to those downsizing issues...

With almost every client I work, we end up purging out a significant amount of material that can not be re-purposed, is not suitable for sale or donation and therefore ends up in either the garbage or recycling. When clearing out a space, even just to reorganize to make the space function better, clients are often surprised how much debris has collected over the years which ends up no more valuable than the garbage bin.

If you are looking at a downsizing project, I recommend that you start your project armed with information about how to get rid of what may end up being a very large pile of garbage or recycling. Some of the material can go to your regular garbage pick up or disposal although most jurisdictions now carry volume limits on the service. Check into your service provider, public or commercial to find a) volume limits b) size limits or c) alternate places where you can take the material yourself. Most of these places will have a tipping charge. In the jurisdiction where I live, this charge is $10 per 100 kg or part thereof.

If you know there is going to be huge amount of material to garbage you may want to look into a junk removal company such as 1-800-GOT JUNK. In addition, you will need to have a "staging" area where the goods heading to garbage can be put while you continue to clear out your space.

"Even precious treasures left long enough, become garbage".
One of my favourite client quotes.

Organizing to Maintain your Sanity - 2 Entrances

Have you ever noticed the tendency to walk into a house, room or office and immediately put down on the first horizontal surface whatever is in your hands? It is such a common habit that we professional organizers find amongst our clients that if you are missing something, I would suggest you check the first flat surface you find in each of the rooms you have just visited.

To maintain your sanity and stay organized, the next habit to develop is to clear those flat surfaces just inside the threshold of each room. (Notice I didn't say "...and then get rid of the flat surfaces." Maybe later!). Take a few minutes each day - 15 to 30 should do it - and clear off those surfaces. Needless to say, once you do the big clear out the first time, each subsequent day will be easier and require less time. Concentrate on what is just inside the entrance way to the room. Include the entrance to your home. If this is a big undertaking, start with one room a day until they are all done. Each successive day, revisit the first location for the daily review.

This may feel like an overwhelming task at first. If you have a lot of clutter, break done each location into a couple of smaller tasks. Start with one small surface each day. Then move onto the next surface the next day etc.

This series of posts is all about maintaining organization in your home and life. The idea is to tackle a little bit each day that ends up as a huge accomplishment and a calmer environment for you in the long run.

Books - Enough Already

Peter Walsh's most recent book Enough Already is now available on Amazon. I highly recommend this to those of you who are overwhelmed not only by your clutter, but by your life in general. True to his character, Peter handles not just the stuff in our lives but the issues of emotional and mental clutter.

Whether you are tackling little clutter, big clutter at home or at work, I recommend this read to you.

Spring into Action - Getting Started

With spring just around the corner, I felt compelled to use the old cliche "springing into action". Hopefully the weather is at least sunny where you are reading this - as it is while I write, although still very cold - in order to set you in a spring organizing mindset.

One of the most important elements of organizing is to be confident about your ability to make a change in your life and/or space. To do that, it helps to visualize the space that you have chosen to organize and have a clear idea in your mind of what it will look like in its newly organized state.

Pick the space that you would like to organize. Start small. Look over the space very carefully and take in all the detail you can. Now close your eyes. Imagine each part of the space in its newly organized state. What does it look like, feel like, sound like? How will it work for you? How will your life be different when that space is organized? How will you feel when it is organized? Hang on to those thoughts, the picture and the feeling.

Now go for it. If you become frustrated or discouraged, close your eyes again and return to your vision. Revisit all the detail that your created in your vision of look, feel, sound and function. Then return to your task.

Your space will help you attain the organized life that you desire for yourself and your family.

Clothes Dropping

Do you find that clothes end up on the floor regardless of how hard you try to keep them contained in their proper homes?

Take a close look at your dressing area, no matter how small or how big. Are your clothes all contained within the one area? Do you have to go from one side of the room to the other just to find all the pieces of clothing you need for the day?

The farther apart your clothing pieces are stored, the more likely they are to end up on a horizontal surface (bed, floor etc) while you are either dressing or undressing.

Try and get all your clothing storage in one area together, from now on referred to as your dressing area. It can be anything from 9 square feet (3 metres squared) to a room unto itself. It may be just a designated side of your bedroom - probably the side with the clothes closet. Get all your clothes in there and they are less likely to end up on the floor.

Backsliding

Backsliding is a term used by professional organizers to describe a client's return to previous behaviour or habits that led to disorganization. Many, if not most, of my clients experience backsliding to some degree several times over the course of our work together. While not necessary, it is frequently experienced by many people as they try and get more control over the space, time and "stuff" in their lives.

You will know if you are backsliding. Horizontal services are filling up again with clutter. An area in your home or office that had been kept organized is starting to be disorganized. Perhaps you find yourself late for appointments more often after some time of prompt, timely arrival.

To handle backsliding, start by staving off the guilt. Admit you've had a backslide and get on with your life. We can give guilt about 30 seconds and then move forward.

Second, see if you can identify which behaviours you have returned to. Were you clearing the top of your desk each evening and have now stopped? Were you clearing the floor of your bedroom each evening and have now stopped?

Thirdly, see if you can identify why the behaviours have returned. It takes about 28 consistent repetitions to instill a new habit. Perhaps your 28 events were interrupted by illness, extra projects at work, a sick child or parent or an unexpected loss.

Four, practice the behaviour you would like to instill again. Try daily repetition at the same time of day.

Finally, give yourself a huge pat on the back and celebrate your success!

Energy for Packrats

If you are considered a pack rat, by yourself or anyone else, your home may be suffering from very stagnant energy. You, as a result, may also suffer from very low energy.

While I do not profess to be a specialist in feng shui, there is no doubt that a hall full of clutter does not allow the free movement of energy through the house.

Try clearing just one small space, no matter how small, and see what that does for your energy level. The table in a hallway is a great place to start since this is a classic spot for clutter to accumulate.

To help, try covering the space around the area you are clearing with a big sheet while you are clearing it. The sheet will cover up the items around and help you focus on the area you are trying to clear.

Is This an Open or Closed Case?

Have you ever found yourself trying to access or put away an item only to find yourself frustrated or irritated by the process? I had this experience just this morning putting away the clip closure from a now empty bag which I had discarded. I went to the drawer to the zip lock bag where the clips are stored. I opened the bag tossed in the clip and closed it up. Then I wondered,

"Why does this need to be closed? Do I think the clips are going to wander around the drawer when not in use and not be there when I want them? Why can't I just toss them into an open container and skip the opening/closing process?"

And why not? Does organizing have to be complicated or frustrating? No, it does not.

Open storage is great for tossing and dropping when the contents are not likely to wander around, when you might want to see the contents. The container doesn't travel - like a lunch box would - and the contents can't move on their own. Open storage is great for children and teenagers and anyone else in the toss and drop stage of life where opening and closing items are additional stages of organizing that will be missed at the expense of the item being stored. Think of toys on a shelf for children or a teenage girl's clothes in open sliding baskets rather than a cupboard. It is also great for a storage container that you can't see - such as the clips in the kitchen drawer.

Closed storage is best for when the items can get out by themselves - think of pulling the flour off the shelf and having it spill on the floor if the storage container is not closed. It is also good for protecting the contents, like the flour, from dust or other dangers. Closed storage is also good for just getting rid of the visual noise or the sight of the item being stored. Think in this case of putting a lid on a decorative box of children's toys that are kept in an otherwise elegant living room or reducing the visual noise of a box of spare computer cables in your office.

Closed storage is harder to get into - open storage is for grab, toss and drop activity. What's in your home or office that warrants change?

Project Control - Put a Lid on It!

Have you got a big project underway at home that is getting the better of you? Is your organization falling apart as this project mushrooms all over the house?

Take a tip from the design world to help get a big project under control. Find a container big enough to hold all the bits and pieces and put the whole project into the container.

• For a child's school bristol board project a clear garbage bag may do the trick. Use a clear one so that they remember what's inside and so that it doesn't end up in the garbage by accident.
• For a sewing or craft project consider a box with a lid. The lid will keep the dust, cat and prying hands away.
• For a project with odd shaped items, consider a basket, laundry hamper or other flexible container to accommodate the odd shapes.

When the project is finished the container can be used for the next project or repurposed elsewhere in the house - the laundry perhaps!

Mail Magic to Make it Disappear

Have you got a pile of unopened mail on your dining room table? Maybe it's in a pile on the counter. Here's some magic to make it disappear.

1. Take all the mail offers and put them directly in the recycling bin. You can be sure, there are more on their way.
2. Take all other enveloped articles and remove the envelopes. If you have to, staple the envelop contents together.
3. Divide the remaining articles into three piles Act Now, Follow Up and Think About. Book time for the Act Now items. Most of the items in the Think About you can throw out. You will probably never think about them and they are probably not on your list of top priorities.

Presto! A small pile of items that really require your attention.

Client Questions - Am I Alone?

Q "Now that you have seen my disorganization and mess, tell me, am I the worst that you have seen. Are there other people that are more disorganized than me and have more mess than me?"

A Yes. Always.

It often takes a lot of courage for a seriously disorganized person, or family, to let a professional organizer into their home. For that matter, many of my clients have not had anyone into their home for a very long time. They are too ashamed. Their embarrassment and concern that they will be chastised by friends and family ensure that those friends and family will never be invited over. Their embarrassment is expressed in a desire to know they are not the worst or most disorganized people I have ever worked with.

The reality is that there are a lot of people in this world with a lot of stuff they a) don't need b) don't use c) don't have room for and d) don't know how to manage or part with. The impact on their lives is no different than the impact on the disorganization in the life of the clients that express their frustration and embarrassment in the form of today's question.

If there weren't lots of disorganized people in Canada, the country would not support the growing roster of industry professionals such as the members of Professional Organizers in Canada , now with over 600 members, or its affiliate, the National Association of Professional Organizers in the United States.

More important, however, is how each individual or family, struggling with disorganization, gets a grip on their lives so that they too can live to their full potential, unencumbered by unnecessary activity or belongings; otherwise known as "stuff".

So if you are wondering if anyone else in the world suffers from disorganization like you do, the answer is yes. Lots of people. Now what will you do to manage it?

Packrat Behaviour

Managing the behaviour and characteristics of a packrat is a common reason that professional organizers are called by clients. Packrat behaviour is seen equally often at the office as it is in the home. The only difference is that at the office, there may be someone in a position of authority reminding you to keep your workspace in a professional state. The following behaviours and characteristics, modified from a list developed by Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau in ADD-Friendly ways to Organize your Life, may be familiar to you because of your own life or perhaps the life of someone around you:

1. You hang on to things that you, or anyone else, hardly ever uses;
2. You eagerly collect items regardless of whether you need them;
3. You refuse to part with items because you think you will use them someday (but can't remember the last time you used it);
4. You consider yourself a packrat;
5. Your workspace or home is so cluttered it is hardly functional;
6. You have difficulty making decisions about objects.

Sound familiar? The following strategies may help you get started on a healthier path.

1. Try the "two for one" policy when bringing new things into your environment. If you bring a new book into your home, commit to removing two books already there that you can't remember the last time you touched.
2. Ask someone you trust, a clutter companion, to commit to a day of clearing out. It will probably take more than one session but you will find even starting will be very rewarding.
3. Clear a sorting table so that you have a clear space at waist height in which to sort. You will find this easy on your back and the sorting will feel easier.
4. Choose items of better quality and let the quantity of objects diminish. If you find 4 staplers, keep the best one.
5. Play the Friends, Acquaintances, Strangers game. Objects that feel like friends can stay. Acquaintances may or may not stay depending on their timeliness and utility. The strangers leave your space.
6. Establish and maintain a commitment to yourself to live in a healthier lifespace. You deserve it.