Posts tagged as:

Organizing

One of my favorite books years ago when I first got interested in organizing and clutter busting was “Sidetracked Home Executives: from pigpen to paradise” (Warner Books 2001) by Pam Young and Peggy Jones.

I just rediscovered their website and found some great reminders including:
• There is a way out of our chaos
• There are many ways unique we got into our chaotic state
• It ultimately has to be up to you to create calm and step away from chaos
• Getting a plan of action is the first step to getting out of chaos

And most importantly, I was reminded that it’s all about the routine. Does your routine need tweaking? I am going to review mine today.

 

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I needed to step back this week as I tackled my basement journey to relook at the “what’s”. What is working in the basement? What isn’t working in the basement? What is causing the problems?

What is working is that I have zones for storage categories. What isn’t working is that I have boxes stacked on one another so if I need to get to the bottom one I take the top ones off and they don’t always get set back in place. What’s causing the problem is that I still have two much stuff and that yearly tune ups will not work for me.

So this week’s goal during my basement workout is for everything I keep I will get rid of two things. I am up for the challenge.

And as I move forward I will really take a look at how much space I am willing to give to certain storage zones and start setting limits. In addition, I will be scheduling basement time on a quarterly basis to catch messes or piles before they become out-of-hand and overwhelming.

Do you have basement, attic or garage clutter? Ask yourself the “what” questions as your tackle those areas.

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The Journey Into Clutter Busting: When Containers Become Clutter

October 15, 2011

Have you ever started a clutter clearing project by buying containers? You are at the store and there is a great deal on storage containers. So you are inspired to de-clutter and buy several. And then they sit and become part of the clutter. “Containerizing” is really one of the last steps in conquering clutter [...]

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The Journey Into Clutter Busting- Turning Collections Into Displays

October 1, 2011

Are you a collector? Do you have boxes of childhood or college memories? Or are you the keeper of family treasures? If so, are they stored in the basement or attic? Do you ever look at them? What good are your collections or memories if they are packed away to have but not be seen? [...]

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The Journey Into Clutter Busting: The Coat Closet

September 17, 2011

Ahh…I can feel fall right around the corner. We are transitioning in Michigan from one season to the other. For me that means cleaning out the coat closet as part of my September routine (I also schedule time in April as well). There is nothing like pulling out all the items in the closet and [...]

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The Journey Into Clutter Busting: Seeking Motivation in the Basement

September 10, 2011

mo·ti·va·tion (mt-vshn) n. 1a. the act or process of motivating. 1b. the state of being motivated. 2. Something that motivates; an inducement or incentive. Maintaining motivation can be a critical factor in any long-term project. I hit that wall this week after three weeks of good project time and progress. Here are some tips to [...]

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The Journey Into Clutter Busting: Labor of Love

September 3, 2011

Labor Day weekend is the last great weekend of the summer. For me Labor Day weekend is project weekend and I couldn’t think of a better project to work on this weekend than my “labor” of love…the basement. I have made head way over the last two weeks working away at all the stuff that [...]

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The Journey Into Clutter Busting: The Best Laid Plans…

August 20, 2011

…don’t always happen. This weekend I was supposed to have a garage sale. I did not. My husband and  I have chosen to postpone the sale until next spring. One of the things that we had planned to sell were my father-in-law’s tools. But my husband didn’t have the time to go through them and, [...]

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The Journey Into Clutter Busting: References

August 13, 2011

References are papers that you save for future use because you think that it contains some vital information. How much storage or drawer space have you allowed for your references? References are nice to have papers but not necessary papers. In fact, I would bet that once filed you probably don’t use a lot of [...]

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The Journey Into Clutter Busting: Independence from Your Clutter

July 2, 2011

As we celebrate Independence Day 2011, I am reprinting a previous post in hopes that it will inspire you to get unstuck from beneath your clutter. Happy 4th of July!!!

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