Let Go Every Day

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Organizing tipLet something go every day. A good way to practice letting go is to do it daily. Here are some ideas to encourage you.

  • Take out containers, utensils, condiment packets, straws, and napkins
  • Junk mail, outdated catalogues, and other papers like this
  • Expired food, old leftovers, stale crackers or chips
  • Pens, markers, highlighters that don’t work
  • Plastic and paper bags (10 of each is enough)
  • All empty boxes

 

Experiment with New Habits

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Organizing tipSet up a new habit as an experiment. This allows you to view the process as fun rather than a chore. New habits with a focus on maintaining order are always helpful. Here are two examples of experiments you can try.

  1. Experiment with collecting the mail daily and seeing how much you can immediately recycle without opening. Set a goal for yourself to recycle at least 10 pieces of mail a week. Keep a tally sheet on the fridge and get the whole family involved. Reward yourself with a family bonfire at the end of the month.
  2. Experiment with tossing one item a day from your junk drawer (or closet, dresser, medicine cabinet, or toiletries stash). Take a before photo. Do this for one month and take an after photo. How does it look? How much more functional is the drawer? How do you feel about your tossed items? Reward yourself with something fun and please share your before and after photos with me.

20 Projects You Can Do in 20 Minutes

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Have any summer projects?

My husband is a teacher and always takes on summer projects. Well, if you ask him, I’m sure he’d say I provide him with a list of summer ‘honey do’ projects. If I’m being honest, I’ll admit, he’s right. I think summer is a great time to work on projects especially if you have more free-time on your hands.

20 Projects You Can Do in 20 Minutes

Set the timer for 20 minutes and get busy!

Devoting 20 minutes to any one of the projects on this list will help you create more order in your life.

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Someday

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Organizing tipSomeday is not a day of the week! When you find yourself using that word, stop and replace it with a definite date or time. If you can’t pinpoint a definite date or time, let it go. I use an exit strategy to help me get rid of things.

working towards reward

How to get motivated to organize?

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What is motivation? The dictionary definition is “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way” and “the general desire or willingness of someone to do something”.

What are your reasons for organizing? We all have different reasons. Why do you want to get organized now?  Why work on this particular organizing project now? Take a few minutes to think of your why. It will help you now and in the future. Here are some reasons that I hear often.Room in need of organizing help.

  1. To find things when they need them
  2. To have a home for things so it’s easier to put them away
  3. To spend less time hunting for things
  4. To have less piles and mess
  5. To have less stress

How much desire or willingness do you have to organize? If you have no desire to organize, it could be a result of many things, but I’ve found that it has a lot to do with a person’s perception. Here are some examples that I’ve come across.

  • Perception that organizing is boring, tedious, not fun
  • Perception that the project requires too much effort, time, stamina
  • Perception that we don’t have the right know-how, skill or resources

So how can we get motivated to organize, especially if we’re lacking desire and willingness? Here are my recommendations.

  1. Know your why. Ask what is worth doing or doing with help? Good motivation comes from feeling that what you’re doing matters.Room after 2 hours of organizing help.
  2. Adjust your perception. A positive mindset allows us to bring our best effort. Picture yourself successfully finishing your organizing project.
  3. Create immediate rewards for your efforts. What happens after our efforts influences the likelihood that we’ll keep it up.
  4.  Ask yourself what is the most laughably do-able first step. If you’re still having trouble, the first step is too big.
  5. Do something, anything. It’s better than taking no action at all. Stress comes from thinking about our project, not the project itself. If it’s important for you to get it done, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.
  6. Start by sorting and categorizing.

©June 2020  Janine Cavanaugh, Certified Professional Organizer®  All Rights Reserved