When I was working as a Community Assistant in Family Housing at the University of Washington (kind of like an RA in the dorms), I was asked to give a presentation on organization for my fellow residents. I've always been a neat-freak (I gratefully credit my parents for that one) but I did a bunch of research, bought a great book, and prepared a fabulous handout - which included many more ideas than I'd actually ever used - but they were great ideas nonetheless and have since found their way into my routine. The handout has six sections to it:- Spring Cleaning / De-Cluttering
- Kitchen Organization
- Time Organization
- Bedrooms / Closets
- Household / Family Organization
- General Household Storage
The book I bought is The One Minute Organizer: Plain and Simple by Donna Smallin (Storey Publishing, 2004). Donna Smallin is my hero. :) It is an incredible book, and I find myself leafing through it every few months for new ideas.
Anyway... I thought you would be an appropriate audience to share this list of ideas with... So here they come! This will be a six-part series over the next few days. Here we go!!!
Spring Cleaning/De-cluttering:
- When you go through your belongings, sort things into five piles: throw away, put away, give away, sell, and keep.
- Keep or toss? Ask yourself these five questions:
- Have I used this item in the past year?
- Will I need it on a definite date in the future?
- Do I need to keep it for legal or tax purposes?
- Could I get another one pretty easily and inexpensively if I needed it someday?
Still undecided? Ask yourself: What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen if I decided to let this go? If you can live with the consequences, you can live without the thing. - Try to make decisions quickly. If it takes you longer than 60 seconds to decide whether to keep an item, you probably don’t really need it.
- To maintain, do a clean sweep every evening before going to bed. Take a basket (I use a laundry basket) and go through each room, gathering things that belong elsewhere, and put them away.
- When tackling a bigger mess, take things one small space at a time – get one counter in the kitchen all the way clean before moving on. Big messes are easier to handle in small doses.
- Just before Christmas or birthdays, ask your kids for donations of toys, books, and clothes they no longer use or want. Donate them to charity.
- If you’re having a yard sale, plan to drop off whatever is left at a local charity, or schedule a pickup in advance.
- Pack up toys your children have outgrown. Write today’s date on the box. If they haven’t missed anything in that box in six months, donate the items.
- Check out http://www.craigslist.com/ – a free online classified ads listing service. Save yourself the hassle and expense of a yard sale if you only have a few items.
More ideas from Clever Homemaking readers:
- Gosh .. well, so here's my correlated secret: Do the laundry basket trip during the commercial breaks. Actually, do everything during commercial breaks. You can unload a dishwasher in a commercial break. And load it in another. All the fun, in small doses. [Thanks, Lilac! Great idea!]
Tomorrow: "Kitchen Organization"
Gosh .. well, so here's my correlated secret:
ReplyDeleteDo the laundry basket trip during the commercial breaks. Actually, do everything during commercial breaks. You can unload a dishwasher in a commercial break. And load it in another.
All the fun, in small doses.