Now that summer is here, have you finished your spring cleaning and organizing? Neither have I! Organizing is an endless challenge with new “stuff” arriving every day: stuff via email, stuff via snail mail, stuff from your child’s school, stuff from work, stuff that we purchase.
Stuff, stuff, stuff!
Dealing with all the stuff cluttering our lives takes away from our precious life hours, don’t you agree? I mean how often have you spent, over your lifetime, looking for those keys you’ve misplaced? You thought you put them back in your purse, but lo’ and behold, they are nowhere to be found!
Personally, over the span of my life, I can probably safely confess to misplacing keys at least 100 times! If I take a minute to analyze that, I’ve probably spent 10 to 15 minutes each time looking for those darn keys. Factor that into the 100 times I’ve done this and it’s safe to say that I’ve probably spent somewhere between 16 and 25 hours of my life looking for keys.
Sobering thought…
Here’s a recent story of losing precious time looking for stuff:
I’m a food blogger. I don’t, often, work on crafts. But, this time last year, I was having a party and decided to make several things for my party and post them on my blog. All went according to plan.
Fast forward to present day, I decided to tackle another craft for another recent party, again to post the results on my blog. For this project, I needed my glue gun. I looked high and low for my glue gun because, of course, in my haste to finish last year’s projects, I didn’t put it back where I normally store it!
It probably took me more than an hour, but I found it. Here’s a picture:
The red arrow is pointing to the cord of the glue gun. Stuffed in a beautiful basket full of leftover stuff from the party. Not organized even a little!
So with organizational challenges like these bombarding us daily, how does one keep up? Here are 3 tips for organizing anything:
Tip #1 – Use the “2 Minute” Rule
This has become my all time favorite “rule.” I read this on another blogger’s site, so I didn’t invent it. Rita at Blog Genie’s post, The 4 Productivity Hacks that Transformed My Business, really resonated with me. Especially, her item number 2: if it takes 2 minutes, do it now.
Think about this a moment. How many times have you walked past something that could easily be put away, probably in less than 2 minutes? After reading this and having my “aha” moment, I’ve used this tactic ever since.
And, it works. No more piles of “stuff” around my house. If I can do something with it in less than 2 minutes, I do it now. If I’d used this 2-minute rule a year ago, I wouldn’t have wasted an hour looking for my glue gun {grin}!
Tip #2 – Eat the Elephant
Have you heard this one before:
“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
Do you open a kitchen drawer, rummage around and can’t find what you are looking for? So, you open another drawer and do the same?
Do you open a closet door and think, “I really need to clean this out”, but the thought is so overwhelming that you close the door and walk away?
How about your garage, playroom, craft room? The thought of tackling these projects is so overwhelming that you just don’t?
Instead of closing the proverbial “elephant” drawer, door or garage and walking away, set a timer and work on that overwhelming project for 10 minutes a day. Limiting it to 10 minutes a day does a couple of things:
- You can usually carve out 10 minutes of time somewhere in your 24 hours.
- By setting the timer and walking away after 10 minutes, you free yourself from becoming overwhelmed by a large project and risk not completing it at all.
And, you WILL complete it. Even if it takes several months of 10-minute days. One bite at a time.
Here’s a good “elephant” tip I read about so long ago that I don’t remember who to credit:
- To clean out kitchen drawers effectively, empty the contents of one (or all) drawer(s) into a cardboard box and put that box in a closet near your kitchen (for example, your pantry if you have one).
- When you need an item, go to your box and find the item.
- Once you’ve used the item, put it back in the now empty drawer.
- After 6 months of doing this, donate any item left in the cardboard box to charity. If you didn’t need the item for 6 months, chances are you aren’t going to need it in a year.
Tip #3 – Think Outside the Box
Now that you are in the mood to organize that stuff, don’t run to the store and buy more stuff to store your stuff! Look around your home and search for items that can be repurposed, recycled, upcycled or reused. Here are some examples:
Do you have a collection of baskets that you only use once in a blue moon? For example, baskets to serve bread or baskets that came as part of a gift package – too pretty to give away, but just taking up space in your garage or closet? Think of ways that you can put them to work: toys, games, crafts and hobbies, pantry storage, garage storage – all good examples of reusing.
Have an over-the-door shoe organizer you are no longer using to store your shoes? Repurpose it by hanging it in the hall closet to store umbrellas, flashlights, pet leases, spare keys, sunglasses, etc. Or, hang it in your laundry room, pantry or garage and use it to store cleaning products. Hang it in your craft room and use it to organize your yarn or other craft supplies.
Do you look at packaging products you throw away everyday and think “I wish I had a way to recycle some of this instead of adding to the landfills”? Look at those glass jars of pickles, jams, dressings in new ways. Use them to organize crafting supplies, office supplies and small tools. Because they are clear, you’ll spend less time looking for what you need when you can readily see it.
By using one or all of these 3 tips for organizing anything, before you know it, you’ll be one step closer to a more organized life. And, instead of spending precious life hours organizing, managing and dealing with your stuff, instead you’ll spend more time with family and friends, having fun or simply enjoy smelling the roses!
By: Carole, from Toot Sweet 4 Two
Do you have other organizing tips to share?
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Some great tips to use…I love to organize and always enjoy the feeling of accomplishment after it is done. Thanks for sharing
I really like the 10 minute organization. I know myself if I have to make to many decisions about what to do with things, I get frustrated and overwhelmed. Also like the 2 minute organization. It’s not a whole lot of time each day, but it adds up in organizing time. Love both of these.
I love the tips and all the information. Just wanted to add something. When things are unorganized, like my crafts are, first things first, SELL OR THROW AWAY THINGS YOU DON’T WANT TO KEEP. Often times I do that first, then end up with empty drawers and/or supply holders, etc. to work with.