 Minding Your Mindset
Now that you’ve made up your mind to clear the clutter from your home or apartment, let’s do it!
Have on hand some 13-gallon garbage bags, or better yet, contractor’s clean-up bags, which are the 42-gallon size and are 3 mil. thick.
You’ll find these work well, especially for disposing of large, heavy, odd-sized objects that aren’t suitable or in good enough shape to donate.
Next, make sure you dress comfortably, and wear clothes and shoes you don’t mind getting dirty. You may be delving into some areas you haven’t looked in for a while, and a lot of dust could be waiting to greet you.
Where To Begin
Take a deep breath, and relax.
You have your choice of where to begin: in the room with the least square footage, the room people see first when they come into your house, or the room or closet you have to make usable.
How To Start
First, go on a “trash hunt.” This means throwing into your trash bag scraps of holiday wrapping paper, used napkins, and other papers you don’t need; objects that are broken beyond repair; and anything else that you don’t want or need to keep, and don’t want to donate. Begin your hunt in a clockwise motion around the room, and break the room or space into smaller parts. Set a kitchen timer for 20-minute intervals to give you a sense that you are moving along with your project, and not spending too much time deciding which items should be thrown out.
Take breaks along the way, if necessary. For example, if you finish throwing away all obvious trash in the path from the doorway to the closet, or collecting the trash from among the clutter in front of the bookcases along one wall, sit and leaf through a magazine for 10-15 minutes, take a walk around the block, or do something else you enjoy to break up the cleaning-up routine. You can choose something from the rewards list you made in 7 Ways To Be Better Organized At Home—Part I.
Each of us, at times, get discouraged and say something like, “This is too hard. Why am I doing this?” Take a look at the list of goals you made when you read Part 1of these organizing articles. Review the items on the list that you’ll have a better chance of bringing to fruition if you are more organized. This just may give you the motivation to persevere with your purging.
Your Progress
At first, you may just get a small amount done. That’s ok. As they say, it didn’t get that way overnight, so it won’t be the way you want it overnight. Besides that, you have a life! That is why you’ll want to carve out a defined amount of time regularly in your schedule for continuing and completing your trash hunt. This will help you on your way toward a more organized home or apartment, and enjoying the benefits a clutter-free living and working area will bring.
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed