Your Personal De-Cluttering Guide

Necessary: It's time for spring cleaning — or just general de-cluttering. 

The following strategy is all about "how to do anything better". It can be called "time management" or "organizational development" or "solving management problems" but in this case, it's simply how to get your closets and drawers organized.

Statistics Canada tells us that 2/3 of the population considers themselves stressed and theories abound that a cluttered environment at work and at home increases everyday living stress. Too much to do, too little time. Self-help books are out there and helpful — everything from Don't Sweat the Small Stuff to Awaken the Giant Within. All of them deal with the issue of putting first things first and just doing it.

Whenever you face a "spring cleaning" dilemma, the Nike slogan needs to be first in your mind, "Just do it!" Often the response after this command is "but . . . " The "but" statement comes from how you perceive yourself. If you see yourself as disorganized, you will continually perpetuate this state. It's called self-fulfilling prophecy. "That's just the way I am," can apparently be changed through your own self-talk to "I take pleasure in keeping my life organized." An organized perception or state affects how you approach even the mundane.

Noteworthy: More to the point of this blog post, Do you open your closet door, find only one shoe, and have to take out 15 other shoes before you find the match, close the door and promise to get to it  . . . tomorrow and tomorrow never comes? Underlying any behavior is the "pain and pleasure" principle — if something brings you enough pain, you are likely to change it so that it becomes more pleasurable. Therefore, the only reason you haven't organized your shoes is that there may not be enough pain associated with looking for the errant shoe. Alrighty then. Depending on how much pain or stress you are experiencing will depend on whether you want to keep reading or not.

Nice: The three principles to getting anything done are:

1. Set Achievable Goals: Divide the work into small tasks and get rid of that overwhelming feeling. Years ago, I began by breaking spring cleaning or de-cluttering into small, manageable tasks. My solution was to deal with one shelf or one drawer or one file folder, a container, a box, even one pocket, anything, but it had to be one something, which had to get cleaned, sorted, organized, or put away each day. It worked. In fact, I collaborated with Janet Parkinson at Changing Spaces by Design and wrote A Box A Day: A 30 Day Journal to Triumph over Clutter. With a place for everything, it's easier to put everything in its place. 

It really does work. I put my stuff in order, found stuff I had forgotten I owned and got rid of stuff I no longer need . . . The result: I know what I have and where to find it. Amazing!

— Shirley B, Canada

2. Believe in yourself, believe you can do it. If you don't believe you have the ability to do one something every day, then take action to achieve the skills you need. Many tools exist and yes, forgive me for blatant self-promotion, A Box a Day is a guided journaling tool that will get you started and believing in your ability to get it done. Daily affirmations get you into the habit of believing in yourself: I am efficient at making decisions to help me de-clutter.

3. Commit and Take Action. It's not hard work; it's not good luck. All you have to do is commit a length of time, even if it's only 10 minutes, to a "box" that can be accomplished in that amount of time, and do it every day. You can also break it down further into categories — but again, sort only one something, your shoes, your winter boots, scarves (winter/summer), only one category. Don't get carried away. You set the limits and commit to doing it. 

These mundane tasks, the little things, will result in a solution. Doing it for 30 days may even get you into the habit so that a "box" a day becomes a pattern for life.

Start Today and Click Here to Visit the Launch Page for

A Box a Day: A 30-Day Journal to Triumph Over Clutter 

Your Personal De-Cluttering Guide