Saturday Special: Baby Steps to De-Cluttering

www.craiglotter.co.za

De-cluttering is one of those things we have to be in the mood for. Like so many other things, getting started is the hardest part.

That's why this article from Bright Nest makes so much sense. The concept of starting with a small space isn't exactly rocket science, so to speak, but it's easy to overlook its benefits:

• Putting a halt to the procrastination process and starting somewhere, no matter how small, often energizes us to tackle bigger spaces;
• De-cluttering is de-cluttering. Reclaiming a space, no matter how small, is a step on the road to organization;
• Smaller spaces can be easier to keep neat in the long run, and a succession of neat spaces that stay that way contributes to overall organization.

Still overwhelmed? Trying the Give it Five! trick. Set a timer for five minutes, and when it goes off, you're finished. You can keep working if you wish, of course, but you can also walk away.

So where will you start? 

Saturday Special: Recapturing Time

morguefile.com

As someone in perpetual organization mode who also writes about organization, I'm a sucker for any title that promises de-cluttering assistance. And when I see the word "clutter" in a title, my mind immediately goes to the physical stuff that creates a barrier between me and an organized life.

But in today's fantastic and optimistic article (Eleven Ways to De-Clutter Your Day), Jeff Haden offers tips on reclaiming an all-too-precious commodity: time. Even better, he makes it sound easy. I can just feel the extra minutes returning to me.

I'm planning on printing this piece out and using it as a sort of checklist (though I don't think he'd approve of that plan, based on tip #5). That way, I can pick one idea each week, chipping away at the list and recapturing lost minutes as I check the relevant items off my list.

How about you? Where will you start?

Saturday Special: Another Inspiration: FlyLady

flylady.net

In one of my earlier posts, I shared that I did a lot of reading before coming up with my own notions of what makes a good, realistic organizational system. One of the sites I enjoyed was FlyLady, who encourages baby steps:

"Our FlyLady system is all about establishing little habits that string together into simple routines to help your day run on automatic pilot."

The site has lots of great ideas, and although I'd choose different starting points, we agree on some things. February's focus, for example, is de-cluttering in fifteen minute increments (an extended Give it Five!)

FlyLady's motto is "Make it fun, it will get done!" While getting organized is not always "fun" for those who've struggled with it for a long time, I agree with FlyLady on the importance of a positive attitude. We can't allow ourselves to give up or to believe that we're somehow inferior because binders and file cabinets don't solve our problems and leave our surfaces clutter-free. Organizing is a process. Taking one step at a time, using our styles as a map, we'll arrive at our destination: organizational systems that allow us to get organized and stay that way.