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Minimalism Game

July 15, 2016/0 Comments/in Blog Posts/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

My husband and I did it. We successfully completed the 30-Day Minimalism Game. This game started with Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, a.k.a. the Minimalists. The object of this game is to get rid of stuff all month long. Starting on day one, get rid of one thing. On day two, get rid of two things. On day three, get rid of three things, and so on. If you make it to day 30 you will get rid of 465 things. My husband and I played in the month of June 2016. We each got rid of 465 things.

Our home is lighter by 930 things, and this is how we did it. First, we took the game seriously. We called it a challenge. My husband likes a challenge. Since I knew he wouldn’t give up, neither would I. We encouraged and motivated each other. This was very helpful. If you play the minimalism game, I recommend doing it with someone who will not give up when the going gets tough. Take it from me, the going does get tough.

For me it got tough around day 23. At this point I still had to get rid of 212 things, but I didn’t let that get me down. I kept my eye on the daily goal. I did this by keeping a tally sheet. We wrote down each item we got rid of. It was easy to forget, and this helped us keep track. When I would read the list of items on our tally sheet, I would feel happy about our progress. It would motivate me to keep going. If you play the minimalism game, I recommend writing down everything you give away.

Keeping a tally of what we got rid of helped us in another way. It helped us keep track of what area we hadn’t tackled yet. It helped us be thorough and methodical. By doing this we noticed that we missed a few cupboards in the kitchen. When we went back to look through them we got rid of 15 more things. Going through every cupboard, shelf, nook, and cranny helped us complete the game. Even if we thought we wouldn’t get rid of anything in a specific spot, we checked it to be sure. If you play the minimalism game, I recommend going through everything in your home, including the basement, attic, and garage.

We realized early in the month that going through everything we own was going to take a lot of time and effort, especially if we counted paper. (That’s a whole other story.) Our tally sheet helped us. Setting up a collection spot also helped us. Our collection spot was our dinning room table. We would place items on the table whenever we came across something we were ready to part with. Then we would write it on our tally sheet. On the weekends we would box things up and deliver them to specific donation locations. (Want to see where all the stuff went?) This process helped us complete the game. If you play the minimalism game, I recommend setting up a collection spot and donating stuff.

The 30-Day Minimalism Game was a challenge. It did take a lot of time. It did take a lot of effort, but to us it was worth it. We’re very happy that our home is lighter by 930 things. Everyone asks us if it’s noticeable that we got rid of all that stuff. I’d say, YES.

Sharing Organizing News With My Mom

June 15, 2016/0 Comments/in Blog Posts/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

When I saw that it was my Mom on my caller-ID this morning, I smiled to myself. I always enjoy hearing from her. It’s nice to chat, listen to her current news, and share my own. The news I shared with her today was about the 30-Day Minimalism Game that my husband and I are participating in for the month of June. I explained that the game is played by getting rid of one thing on the first day of the month, two things on the second day of the month, three things on the third day, and so on. Whoever can go the longest and get rid of the most things, wins. She was amazed that we would play such a game, and impressed that we were still at it on day 15.

I shared with my Mom how we got inspired to play the game after bringing the film Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things to a local theater, and viewing it with 80 other interested viewers. It was an inspiring film that moved my husband and I into action. As of this date, we have each gotten rid of 120 things. So far it hasn’t been too difficult for either of us, but the game instructions warned us that it gets much more difficult after two weeks , which is now. (I’ll be writing more on the subject when the month is over.)

My Mom shared that she has been cleaning out and getting rid of stuff also. She mentioned that she got rid of some extra bed pillows that she wasn’t using. She also went through her wardrobe and got rid of some clothes that she doesn’t wear. The last thing she mentioned was donating her old greeting cards to St. Judes for recycling. This made me smile even more.

It’s always wonderful to get a phone call from my Mom, but it’s even more special when she shares her organizing stories. As a Professional Organizer I can’t helped but get pumped up when I hear stories about other people organizing and cleaning out their spaces. If you have a story to tell please share it with me.

Lessons Learned From Clients

June 6, 2016/0 Comments/in Blog Posts/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

Being a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) is educational and rewarding. As a member I receive valuable training, business support, and resources. One of the best benefits is the collaboration with other Organizers. There are several smaller groups within the association, and one that I belong to is Golden Circle. We meet 4 times a year to discuss a specific topic, to offer each other support, to get to know each other a little better, and to socialize. Last month we met to discuss lessons we’ve learned from our clients. Everyone had such valuable insights to share.

One important lesson I’ve learned is that it’s not easy to accept reality, especially when it means that our dreams are unattainable. For example a client of mine had collected large amounts of books with the dream of spending hours enjoying her books. Although she wanted my help to sort, reduce, categorize, and organize these books, the reality was that her eyesight was going, and she would never be able to read the majority of her books. My practical, organized self, encouraged her to reduce and let go, until she said to me one day, “What if the doctors are wrong, and my eyesight improves?” That is when I realized that she wasn’t giving up on her dream. So, I needed to respect that, and not be a dream crusher. Coincidentally, it was not an easy reality for me to accept.

Here are some lessons we (Professional Organizers from NAPO-NE Golden Circle) have learned from our clients:

It’s necessary to give up our right to be right.
We’re like Velcro. We throw out solutions and some stick and some don’t.
Everyone is good a something.
We’re done when our clients are done.
There is value in talking and communicating, not only physically organizing.
Our clients motivate us to walk the walk, and organize and reduce in our own homes.
Everyone organizes at their own pace.
It takes courage to ask for help.
We never know someone’s whole story.
If we can remain neutral, we allow our clients to arrive at their own best solution.
We affect each other in powerful ways.
We all need personal support in our lives.
The first step for change is a shift in perspective.
You’re not a hoarder if you can see the floor.
Running a home is a business in, and of, itself (the business of living).
Sometimes it’s about me, the organizer.
We don’t know what we don’t know.
Organizing is not always a priority.
It’s all relative.
GRATITUDE!

Another lesson I’ve learned is that simple solutions are often the best solutions. To read more, click here.

How To Get Unstuck When Organizing

May 15, 2016/0 Comments/in Blog Posts/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

Organizing is action. So the best way to get unstuck is to take action.

When I was working with a client who was downsizing, she got stuck when we addressed her books. I found her standing in front of her two bookcases, with a puzzled expression. When I asked her what she was thinking, she said she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know how to start or what steps to take to reduce the number of books she had. This feeling of not knowing what to do, stopped her from taking ANY action. So, I guided her towards action. I picked up a book and asked her what she wanted to do with it. She could keep it, donate it, recycle it, or, if the book belonged to her husband, she could ask him what he wanted to do with it. We created 4 stacks and sorted all the books from her two bookcases. By providing her with 4 categories and the direction to sort the books into one of those 4 groups, she was able to take action and become unstuck.

A similar situation arose when I was working with a client who was avoiding a room in her home that had become a catch all for stuff that her family didn’t have time to deal with or put away. She dreaded going into this room, and got depressed looking at it. Needless to say, I was surprised and proud of her, when she declared that she was ready to tackle this room. Let me clarify. She was ready to tackle this room with my guidance and help. So, once again, I guided my client towards action. I picked up a basket of things and asked her to tell me who they belonged to. That is all I wanted her to do. We had 5 piles by the time we emptied the first basket, items that belonged to her, items that belonged to her son, items that belonged to her daughter, items that belonged to the house (ie. house hold items), and items that didn’t belong to anyone (ie. give away items). As we made our way through more baskets, she marveled at how easy it was to get unstuck and take action once she realized what action to take.

I understand it is not always easy to get unstuck and figure out how to start an organizing project. So remember a good place to start is to take action, and do that by sorting items into categories.

How To Organize

April 15, 2016/0 Comments/in Blog Posts/by Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®

My 9 year old niece slept over a few weeks ago, and several times throughout the weekend, she asked the definition to words my husband and I used which she didn’t know the meaning. It made me think of the definition of the word ORGANIZE. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word organize as “to arrange or order things so that they can be found or used easily and quickly : to put things into a particular arrangement or order”. I have found in working as a Certified Professional Organizer® that each individual I work with, has a clear idea of the definition of the word organize, but they struggle with how to achieve it. I think much of the struggle lies in the misconceptions of what it takes to become organized.

The first misconception is that we are either born an organized person or we are not. This is incorrect. There is no organizing gene. Organizing is a skill that everyone can learn and improve upon. How do we go about learning and improving other skills, like playing a musical instrument, typing, golf, knitting? We may sign up for classes. We may work with an instructor one-on-one. We would most certainly practice. This is what is required with the skill of organizing. What if we spent 20 minutes a day practicing organizing? Would we improve our organizing skill? I challenge you to do it, and let me know what happens.

The second misconception is that we can become organized by buying the “right” containers. Organizing is not product. It is action. Although organizing products and tools can facilitate the organizing process, the act of doing makes it work. The three most important actions that are required in organizing are:

deciding whether to keep something,
deciding where to put it,
putting it in the same spot again, and again, and again.

These three action steps are what we do to practice organizing. Again, I challenge you to do it, and let me know what happens.

The third misconception is that we can organize just once and be done with it. Unfortunately, organizing is like dishes and laundry. It doesn’t go away, and it needs to be maintained or the disorder grows. It is important to reclaim order before clutter piles up and things get out of control. I recommend spending at least 15 minutes a day reclaiming order. Again, I challenge you to do it, and let me know what happens.

If you struggle with how to organize, take a closer look at these misconceptions. Do you practice organizing? Do you take action through decision making and putting things in the same spot? Do you give yourself time to reclaim order? What would change if you took steps to disprove these misconceptions? Do, and find out!

ORGANIZING

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