Tag Archive for: reducing
Want less?
Don’t make room for more if you want to have less. It’s tempting to buy more bins, baskets, and organizing gadgets, but more containers often lead to more clutter. If your goal is to simplify, start by reducing what you own rather than creating new places to store stuff.
The best organizing tool is less stuff.
Mailing list removal
Unsubscribe from as many mailing lists as possible. Doing so reduces both paper and electronic clutter, cuts down on daily decisions, saves time, and minimizes the effort needed to organize your mail.
Here’s a broad list of the kinds of mailing lists someone can unsubscribe from (both paper and digital):
Paper Mail (Postal Mail):
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Catalogs (clothing, home goods, tools, hobbies, etc.)
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Charity solicitations (fundraising letters, donation requests)
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Political mailings (campaign flyers, party newsletters)
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Credit card offers
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Insurance offers
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Magazine subscriptions
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Store promotions and coupons
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Local business mailers (restaurants, gyms, salons, real estate agents)
Email Mailings:
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Retail/store newsletters
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Promotional offers/discounts
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Charity fundraising appeals
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Political campaigns
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Subscription services (newsletters, online magazines, podcasts)
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Travel deals (airlines, hotels, booking sites)
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Social media notifications (friend requests, updates, reminders)
Text Messages / Calls:
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Retail promotions (coupons, flash sales)
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Political texts
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Charity donation requests
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Survey companies
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Subscription alerts (shipping updates, appointment reminders you no longer want)
Some of these can be stopped by directly unsubscribing, others through services like DMAchoice.org (for U.S. paper junk mail), the National Do Not Mail List, the FTC Do Not Call Registry, or simply by contacting the sender.
Use containers as your guide
Allow the container to determine the limit of how many you can keep. You maintain control of what you keep and the container serves as a guide for the quantity of what you keep. For example: use your shoe rack to help you determine how many shoes to keep. By only keeping the amount that will comfortably fit on the shoe rack you’ll be able to organize your shoes quickly and easily.
Need this paper?
We tend to keep paper because we’re unsure what else to do with it. Ask yourself, ‘When would I actually need to present this document?’ Consider all possible situations where it might be necessary. If you can’t think of a good reason, it’s time to get rid of it.
Related tips:
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