April 2, 2009
A Quick Course in Decluttering Your Life
According to the American Demographic Society, Americans spend 9 million hours per day searching for misplaced items in their homes. According to the Wall Street Journal, the average U.S. executive wastes six weeks per year searching for missing information in messy desks and files. That translates into one hour per day!
If you don’t know or haven’t learned the basic principles of organization, you’ll probably have to work twice as hard as other people to accomplish your goals, wasting time, energy and even money in the process. Being organized is an on-going, life-long process, NOT a permanently achieved state. To help jump-start you, here are some basic tips for decluttering your life.
TIP #1 – MAKE IT HAPPEN: You need to make the time to organize or it will never happen.
TIP #2 – HAVE A PLAN: Use your calendar or planner to plan your days better and create time for the things that really matter to you. Make reasonable estimates of the time you’ll need to do tasks. This will become easier with time and experience.
TIP #3 – DECISIONS, DECISIONS: Decide what you can and cannot do without.
TIP #4 – A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING: Establish a place for everything, and put everything in its place. Store the things you really need at or near the point where they are going to be used. Move things you seldom use out of your way, but still keep them accessible.
TIP #5 – CLUTTER MAGNETS: Start fresh by decluttering all those places where clutter tends to accumulate: tabletops, kitchen counters, desktops, shelves, drawers, closets and cabinets.
TIP #6 – BE SMART: Learn which products help you stay organized and which ones don’t. Before you buy an item to help you get organized, take the time to think about how/if it will help.
TIP #7 – LET IT FLOW: When you set up a space be sure to take traffic patterns into consideration when deciding where to put the furniture.
TIP #8 – THE GREAT PAPER DEBATE: Decide the fate of every incoming piece of paper and direct it to its final destination. Put time-sensitive documents – invitations, bills, etc. - where you will be sure not to forget about them. Create files that are easy to use and to keep current.
TIP #9 – FINISHING TOUCHES: Use the last 15 minutes of your day to straighten things up. Waking up to an orderly space the next day has valuable psychological and practical benefits.
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MILLER ORGANIZING. All rights reserved.
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MILLER ORGANIZING. All rights reserved.
14 Stuyvesant Oval
NYC, NY 10009