I have had the opportunity to discuss household organization with many different people in the last few weeks. During these conversations I have noticed that the general attitude towards organization tends to be one of two basic ideas. Either you enjoy the process of cleaning, planning, rearranging and creating or you metaphorically throw in the towel and admit to yourself that you don’t like doing it so it will stay undone until you can find the extra money to hire a professional to help you. Today I would like to make an argument (as I often do) for a bit of moderation. If you receive my newsletter you may have noticed that I have a small handful of personal mantras that keep me focused and remind me to relax and stop worrying. One of these is, “moderation in ALL things”.
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- Choose a room, or a closet, or a drawer that is really bothering you.
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2.Completely empty the contents.
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3.Divide the contents into “Trash” – “Belongs Elsewhere” – “Goodwill” (Throw out 50% of what is in there. Honestly, if the space is really that messy chances are you aren’t using most of the stuff anyway so just get rid
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4.Clean the space WELL (yes, with soap)
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5.Put back only the things that you want to reside there permanently. (This may include taking a quick trip to the store to find some baskets or drawer organizers to help identify small spaces within a large space)
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6.Put away what is left in your other piles. Be sure this is the LAST thing you do or you run the risk of being distracted by other projects in other rooms.