If you intend to declutter then one of the most important things you can do first is to plan how you are going to stay clutter free. Start today and stop new clutter coming into your life. Here is a list of the main clutter culprits and how to tackle them today
Paperwork
Stop junk mail. The Mailing Preference Service (MPS) is a free service that gives you control over the junk mail to your home or business.
Deal with the post immediately - starting today. Stand over the bin and dump all items that are not important. This includes things that you 'might look at someday', or that 'might be interesting'. When you are decluttered you might decide to keep some things like this. For the moment - no - you are focusing on decluttering not on increasing your workload by adding things to your piles.
Stop Buying
Until you are decluttered make it a rule that you will not buy any more 'things' unless they are absolutely essential to your existence. This obviously includes food. But how many other things that we buy are absolutely essential?
Cutting your purchases will help to stop any more 'clutter' coming into your life. You will also see how much more money you get to keep for the things in life that are really important to you
Stop taking other people's clutter
Some people are always accepting other people's clutter. Its the magpie effect - nice shiny new things that you can take to your own nest. Only your own nest is already full. Get your friends to take their surplus items to charity shops or car boot sales.
Unsubscribe to email lists
Email can be a big clutter issue. Make it a rule to stop subscribing to any more sites until you are clutter free. This will help your inbox. Also unsubscribe to as many lists as you can.
Unsolicitated calls
You can take yourself off any call lists and this will stop companies ringing you when they have not been invited. This kind of thing is clutter too. The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is a similar service for your phones (landlines AND mobiles). It really can cut out most of the unsolicited sales calls.
Stopping clutter coming into your home is really vital because it shows a commitment to getting and STAYING clutter free. Sometimes people declutter their whole lives really effectively only to find that a year later they are back to square one.
Showing posts with label declutter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label declutter. Show all posts
13 December 2009
09 December 2009
Why Should I Declutter?
Some people are perfectly content with lots of clutter all around them. They know where everything is despite the clutter. That's great. They don't have a problem and they don't need to change anything. Decluttering is for people who feel that their clutter is hampering their lives in some way.
I had a friend at school who had a fantastically messy and cluttered room. But if she needed anything or if I asked to borrow something she just got up and went straight to an enormous jumbled pile and pulled out the item that she was looking for. Easy. Her brain was so ordered that she knew where everything was. The clutter was not a problem and it did not bother her.
So....... Why should you declutter?
If clutter is interrupting your life
Do you find that you spend too much time looking for things when you really need to be getting on?
Have you 'lost' important paperwork in the chaos?
Do you miss deadlines because you are so disorganized?
Does your clutter cause problems in the family?
Are there arguments between members of your family because things are too chaotic? Clutter can really affect other members of your family. If one partner is happily cluttered and the other is not then there needs to be compromise.
Are your children being affected by your clutter?
The children of cluttered people sometimes have to put up with a lot. Sometimes people who are cluttered are also chaotic and disorganised. This can impact on their children who are pretty powerless to do anything about it.
Is clutter affecting your social life?
Sometimes people are so embarrassed about their clutter that they do not invite people round.
Does the clutter seem ugly to you?
If you enjoy being in pleasant surroundings your clutter could really bug you. A cluttered room is not as relaxing and enjoyable to be in as a clean and clear room.
So the answer to the question: Why Should I Declutter?
Declutter if the way you live is not the way you want to live or if the way you live is having a big impact on the people you care about. That's it.
If you recognise yourself here don't panic. Small easy ten-minute decluttering steps can get you from being cluttered to decluttered. The most important thing is that you make a start.
I had a friend at school who had a fantastically messy and cluttered room. But if she needed anything or if I asked to borrow something she just got up and went straight to an enormous jumbled pile and pulled out the item that she was looking for. Easy. Her brain was so ordered that she knew where everything was. The clutter was not a problem and it did not bother her.
So....... Why should you declutter?
If clutter is interrupting your life
Do you find that you spend too much time looking for things when you really need to be getting on?
Have you 'lost' important paperwork in the chaos?
Do you miss deadlines because you are so disorganized?
Does your clutter cause problems in the family?
Are there arguments between members of your family because things are too chaotic? Clutter can really affect other members of your family. If one partner is happily cluttered and the other is not then there needs to be compromise.
Are your children being affected by your clutter?
The children of cluttered people sometimes have to put up with a lot. Sometimes people who are cluttered are also chaotic and disorganised. This can impact on their children who are pretty powerless to do anything about it.
Is clutter affecting your social life?
Sometimes people are so embarrassed about their clutter that they do not invite people round.
Does the clutter seem ugly to you?
If you enjoy being in pleasant surroundings your clutter could really bug you. A cluttered room is not as relaxing and enjoyable to be in as a clean and clear room.
So the answer to the question: Why Should I Declutter?
Declutter if the way you live is not the way you want to live or if the way you live is having a big impact on the people you care about. That's it.
If you recognise yourself here don't panic. Small easy ten-minute decluttering steps can get you from being cluttered to decluttered. The most important thing is that you make a start.
06 December 2009
Declutter for 10 minutes a Day
When you have so much clutter that you are overwhelmed with it all then one of the best ways to tackle it is to take tiny steps. The '10 minutes a day' rule can really help you to overcome your resistance to de-decluttering.
The Rule
Do 10 minutes of decluttering every day. Set a timer and off you go (you can use the one on your phone). Stop after ten minutes. Record your results. It will feel fantastic.
The Reasoning
When you feel that your clutter or disorganisation is a huge, insurmountable problem it can become very difficult to start at all. So, you don't do anything. The clutter gets worse and you get more and more despondent. But it is really easy to interrupt this pattern. Even when something is very scary we can usually manage to face it for only ten minutes.
The Result
You will be amazed at how much decluttering you can actually achieve in ten minutes. What happens is that you begin to loose the fear. You see that the problem can be tackled. Sometimes you want to do more than ten minutes and that is great too. Before you know it, you are no longer afraid and your clutter is beginning to decrease.
The Rule
Do 10 minutes of decluttering every day. Set a timer and off you go (you can use the one on your phone). Stop after ten minutes. Record your results. It will feel fantastic.
The Reasoning
When you feel that your clutter or disorganisation is a huge, insurmountable problem it can become very difficult to start at all. So, you don't do anything. The clutter gets worse and you get more and more despondent. But it is really easy to interrupt this pattern. Even when something is very scary we can usually manage to face it for only ten minutes.
The Result
You will be amazed at how much decluttering you can actually achieve in ten minutes. What happens is that you begin to loose the fear. You see that the problem can be tackled. Sometimes you want to do more than ten minutes and that is great too. Before you know it, you are no longer afraid and your clutter is beginning to decrease.
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