Blog Details

I’m an organizer!   I’m even decluttering CLUTTER to CLARITY, shortening it to C2C.  It’s sounds dopey and it probably is – but my goal this month is to ACTIVATE you…that’s right.  ACTIVATE YOU.   “What’s he talking about?”, you ask… and rightly so… What’s this month’s column about anyway??   Practice C2C (or C 2 shining C )if you’re an overachiever.

TMS

Regular readers know I’m fond of saying we all have TMS.   TMS, is short for “TOO MUCH STUFF”.  And, we all have it to one degree or another!  Practicing C2C means taking action with your stuff – your possessions, your keepsakes, photos, bathroom soap collection and oh…so much more.

What about the “doing” of home organization?  “How do I start?  WHERE do I start?”  are questions that come up a lot.  Well now the mystery will be revealed.

Your personal quest to clear the clutter, C2C, begins with the understanding of just how beneficial moving your things around ACTUALLY is.  Proven in studies, reports and everywhere google searches can be found, we see that clearing clutter soothes the soul.  And that’s why you’ll find it refreshing ONCE YOU BEGIN.

That’s the hard part…getting started…where, why, when, what if…?  There are two things that stop us:

1.  Procrastination – “I’ll get to it, just not right now (and maybe never, ha ha ha…)”

2. Indecision – “What if I’ll need it someday…?” “I know, I’ll save it for my kids!” “I just can’t decide!”

Procrastination puts off action now while indecision immobilizes us and stops us from taking action at all.  Both weigh on us as we know the “thing to do” is throw out / recycle those old envelopes of bills never looked at” … but something inside us gets indecisive about which to throw out”.  A conundrum for sure.

ACTIVATION is about getting the idea in one’s head that YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS PILE OF MAGAZINES.  “These magazines don’t run me, I’m in charge”.  This idea for some comes easily and swiftly, for others, it’s a matter of time, inching to a place of letting go.

LETTING GO & ACTIVATION

“Letting Go” frees us up from distraction and dysfunction.  When we let go, we feel lighter, more in control, and find that there’s new space for new things.  ACTIVATION requires just one thing.  GETTING UP and moving that pile of (blank). Could be books, papers, old wires, CDs, boxes of hodge- podge stuff.

HERES HOW I DO IT IN YOUR HOME

First, get BLACK TRASH BAGs for discarding things that are garbage. Get WHITE TRASH BAGS for anything you are donating to charity.

BTW, you’re automatically doing a good deed and being a kind neighbor by donating things for others to enjoy… you feel so good knowing that you helped out another human being by generously giving something away to those in greater need.

Please accept this invitation:  Get those bags ready, pick an easy area first…and begin by clearing off the top counter.  Whether it’s in a bathroom, a kitchen, or a closet, or a nightstand…remove everything OFF the counter… put everything down somewhere safe.   Then CLEAN the counter with anything you choose.  Wipe it clean, wipe it dry…and now here comes the decision making…  ready???

Place each item one at a time in your hands and decide, “Do I really need this? Do I really use this? and Can I put this somewhere else??  (hint, YES like in a drawer).

The less you have on any counter top, bookshelf or flat horizontal surface the better.  Let’s get you more comfortable with your stuff by clearing the counter and DELIBERATELY placing items really necessary on that counter.

The RESULTS?   You’ve wiped the counter, you’ve removed everything, you saw how an empty counter looks and feels, and then you deliberately placed the most vital items ON the counter, placing everything else IN the drawers.  You may even have found something old and funky and said, “I’m ditching this old bottle of dried out shampoo”, or “I’ve got 3 hand mixers and 24 utensils on my kitchen counter and I use maybe ½ of them” …donate what no longer serves you, or consider selling or placing them elsewhere out of sight, off the counter.

These are but a few examples that I hope will ACTIVATE you in believing there’s a benefit going from C2C.  Try it out.  Set your phone timer for 15 minutes and see how much or how little you can do in that time…make it fun!  Make it a game of creative problem solving!  Call a friend to come over and go through your closet and have a fashion show with them.  Donate anything that doesn’t look great on you.

Let me know how you do…take ACTION and ACTIVATE your C2C.

Happy Thanksgiving hollandaise wishes to you and yours!

CLEAR THE CLUTTER…CLEAR THE MIND ™