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Declutter in 5 Minutes: Your Ideas List
By
Sue West
I needed someone's business card this morning. I only keep the
most recent cards, before I've put them into Outlook Contacts, which I
live by.
I found the card, but I took literally 3 minutes to look through my stack of about 20 cards. Why do I have 20?
One presentation this week and one networking group = 20 cards to decide on.
So I made decisions on who gets to live in Outlook Contacts, because I actually do want to keep up. (And, here's another hint: I put a task reminder into my calendar to check in monthly with groups of or certain individuals. I would never naturally remember to do this. )
What else can you declutter in just a few minutes?
Why bother with the little stuff?
Two reasons: (1) Little stuff grows up. Into big piles of stuff.
And (2) the little stuff thinks it's hiding, but it's really not. It lives inside our drawers, closets, on our shelves.
Though it's behind closed doors, we KNOW ABOUT IT.
We remember there's stuff there and we feel... guilty, annoyed, like a fake. The monkey's on your back.
And the little stuff adds up: I spent 2 minutes today, but if I'd let that pile get bigger, I would've used up more time looking for this one card.
When there's more stuff to look through, there's more wasted time in looking for the one thing you really want.
Little stuff decluttering ideas
And by the way, you will be amazed at how great this makes you feel. On top of the world.
These are ideas which would take from 3 - 15 minutes.
The easiest way, so that you hardly notice you are decluttering, is as I did it in my business cards example.
You go looking for something and you declutter that small space.
You put away the laundry - and declutter one drawer.
You cook dinner tonight, and while you're waiting on a part of the meal, declutter the utensils holder or your recipe box.
When you file something away next time, take 2 minutes and weed out a file.
You sit at your computer on Monday -- and declutter your file folder. Just one.
Set a timer if you need to or if you're not cognizant of time going by so well.
I found the card, but I took literally 3 minutes to look through my stack of about 20 cards. Why do I have 20?
One presentation this week and one networking group = 20 cards to decide on.
So I made decisions on who gets to live in Outlook Contacts, because I actually do want to keep up. (And, here's another hint: I put a task reminder into my calendar to check in monthly with groups of or certain individuals. I would never naturally remember to do this. )
What else can you declutter in just a few minutes?
Why bother with the little stuff?
Two reasons: (1) Little stuff grows up. Into big piles of stuff.
And (2) the little stuff thinks it's hiding, but it's really not. It lives inside our drawers, closets, on our shelves.
Though it's behind closed doors, we KNOW ABOUT IT.
We remember there's stuff there and we feel... guilty, annoyed, like a fake. The monkey's on your back.
And the little stuff adds up: I spent 2 minutes today, but if I'd let that pile get bigger, I would've used up more time looking for this one card.
When there's more stuff to look through, there's more wasted time in looking for the one thing you really want.
Little stuff decluttering ideas
And by the way, you will be amazed at how great this makes you feel. On top of the world.
These are ideas which would take from 3 - 15 minutes.
- A junk drawer.
- Business cards stack.
- Pencil tins or those pencil drawers that have more pens and pencils than you'll ever use.
- One section of your recipe box/book.
- One bin of arts and crafts materials, or one shelf.
- Receipts.
- Mail.
- One file folder.
- One drawer in the bathroom.
- Your utensils holder in the kitchen.
- The linen closet (maybe 10 minutes here).
- One pantry shelf.
- One box of DVD's, movies, photos.
The easiest way, so that you hardly notice you are decluttering, is as I did it in my business cards example.
You go looking for something and you declutter that small space.
You put away the laundry - and declutter one drawer.
You cook dinner tonight, and while you're waiting on a part of the meal, declutter the utensils holder or your recipe box.
When you file something away next time, take 2 minutes and weed out a file.
You sit at your computer on Monday -- and declutter your file folder. Just one.
Set a timer if you need to or if you're not cognizant of time going by so well.
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