Organization 101

[Bookie]

Somewhere, I saw a quote from the FlyLady site that has stuck with me:

You Can't Organize Clutter!

That's become a rallying call for letting go of things that don't have a fixed home or an immediate purpose.

Anybody read the new Peter Walsh book, "It's All Too Much"?

[Aleta]

No, but I'm with you on the organizing clutter. When I started getting rid of stuff, I started to think more creatively. It's a very freeing experience. And yes, I'm with you about all the emails from her. I found that I would have to go and clean out my emails even on vacation. I think that there are too many testimonials and some are too long.

[Hez]

I've never received her emails (I get enough of them as it is!) but the website is definitely a good resource for getting motivated. I've found that STARTING to declutter is the hardest part, once I start I feel good about it and want to do more!

[JanH]

I have finally gotten most of the travel debris out of my car. Whew! And most of the laundry caught up from me being out of town. The pictures....well.....I've got too big a mess with those to tackle at this time. I am going through the top two shelves of my closet and getting rid of shoes and purses.

[ceejay74]

Mmmm...organization

I just found this thread and I like it! I got sick of feeling guilty about not pulling my weight, so I made a calendar with one thing I'm supposed to do every weeknight, plus two or things to do each weekend day. It's easier to tackle housework knowing I only have one or two responsibilities, and it's satisfying to cross it off the calendar at night! I just started last Monday, but so far so good. I haven't missed one task, though the other person I share housework with is so compulsively clean that he often starts or finishes my chores for me before I can get to them, which I scold him for. :-) But seriously, he says he can already tell a difference in his workload.

CJ

[Aleta]

We're happy to have you and hear your imput. Welcome!

[leggzz66]

A big welcome to ya ceejay. I think my favorite flylady thing is the boogie.one bag for trash and one for charity. sounds fun eh?

[Aleta]

I think one of the motivations that flylady uses is helpful. She says to do 15 minutes everyday of decluttering. That could be anything from newspapers to old birthday cards. I used to think that the 27 boogie thing was silly, but sometimes, it is hard to find 27 things to throw away so you really so start looking at stuff to make up the 27. You have to find your motivation whereever you can.

I also subscribe to Janet Ruhrs Simple Living and she thinks that you should look to your left to see what's bothering you and clean it up in 5 minutes, and then look to your right. She feels that if you keep looking at something that's bothering you that it takes energy from you.

I also have a timer and sometimes I set it for 5 minutes for something simple or I will do a 5 minutes straighten up per room. It gets you going.

[ceejay74]

Cool, I will have to check out this flylady site. I can use all the offbeat ideas I get, since being a normal clean person hasn't worked for me yet in 33 years of life! :-)

[Bookie]

I can also second the use of a timer in cleaning and organizing. Somehow, just knowing that I'm committing to only 15 minutes is enough to get me started, and that's half the battle.

[Aleta]

One of Flylady's statements is that you can do anythng for 15 minutes and then you can stop. It works.

[leggzz66]

well i was watching how clean is your house? yesterday, and according to kim, u burn 200 cals an hour, so 15 mins burns 50 id suppose. that boogie of hers works too if u stick to it.

[Aleta]

Do you watch it on BBC? I have Direct TV and I love the show. Just never remember to watch it. It's true about 15 minutes. Supposedly, you can get more out of your exercize if you exercize vigorously for at least 10 minutes x 3 rather than 30 minutes straight.

[savingandinvesting]

Additional Inspiration

I have recently gone through a similar exercise and found it very freeing. A book that can really help get organised is 'Getting Things Done' by David Allen. I found it very useful as it has a lot of tips on how to organise folders and even software folders. Might be useful for the very committed.

[leggzz66]

yes, on bbca, i have direct tv also, its on channel 264 on my box, and im in central, its on at 2, 230 and 6 pm central, i have my autotune set for it. if you check your channel guide, go to that channel, bbca, and go to a time its on, click on it, and again, it will pop up on the left, showing, autotune and done, click on autotune and mark each of them, mine shows ten at a time, i have to do each individually, then click autotune, then click yes im sure, then done, and click on showings again and do it all over.