Small living rules: 

Keep small collections: Set limits. Allow yourself one shelf of books. If it overflows, send some books packing before you get more. Own only the shoes than will fit in your shoe holder. Have only 10 (or choose another number) frames of pictures on shelves at any given time – switch out pictures rather than gathering more frames to dust and organize.

Live in a smaller house: Small room = easier to organize, clean, and less easy to fill with junk.

Own actual smaller items: DVDs take up less room than video (purge the old VHS movies). A smaller couch or shelf system means less to clean and dust. Tennis shoes are the ultimate small in exercise equipment – try walking outside instead of owning a treadmill. A smaller desk or file cabinet is less likely to get covered with junk and paper piles, because you’ll only have so much room to work with.

Forget bulk anything: I used to be into bulk, for the money savings. Now, I’d rather my house be less cluttered than have extra toilet paper. Seriously, unless you live in the way far out boonies, you’ll never have a serious lack of toilet paper, milk, or printer paper issue. Bulk is ok, but not if your goal is to live smaller. Also read, The Case Against Deep Storage.

Living small, living with less, living without everything you think you want is a tough transition for many. It’s a process. But the gains, once you start living smaller are huge. More time, less clutter, less to clean, and you’ll feel better. A bonus is you may end up with more cash in your saving account as well.

Need help getting started…

• Organizing by Simplifying
• Need a Bigger House, or Just Smaller Ego?
• Scaling Down Your House and Life
• How To Live Small
• You won’t go to Hades for tossing that (fill in the blank) out

For parents with stuff loving kids:

• As a parent, do you understand the impact of the need for stuff?
• Kids & Shopping – How Kids Can Be Smart Consumers

AND in case you think I’m a major hypocrite for showing products on this blog, while I go on and on about too much stuff being bad, you can read this post: If you’re so against having stuff, then why show all these products on this blog? – I wrote this for another blog, but the sentiments are the same. I’m not pro-have nothing EVER, just pro-have what you need to make your life easy or beautiful, but not in excess. Stuff doesn’t have to own you, but sadly, it does own many people.

Post from: Blisstree

Live smaller to fight clutter & cleaning issues

That said, it doesn’t work for everyone. Some people NEVER finish deciding about that maybe box. Boxes like this, if you’re undecided, basically just move around your house. That’s not decluttering; that’s called reorganizing clutter.

If this is you, if you’re stuck, you need a harsher rule. The 2 minute rule. Set a basic kitchen timer for 2 minutes. Grab one item from that maybe box. Look at it. Think. When the timer goes off, the item needs to go into the stuff to keep or stuff to get rid of box.

If you can’t decide that you need an item in 2 minutes, then frankly, you probably don’t need to keep the item.

Harsh? Maybe, but this is faster and less cluttered than moving stuff around in a box for years.

Post from: Blisstree

The 2 minute toss it rule

There’s this popular theory that I’m sure you’ve hear at some point in your life; “Waste not, want not.”That’s true to a point, but often, people can go overboard on clutter morals. If you were raised on the whole waste not, want not theory, it may be the reason behind your clutter problems.

Here’s the thing – get over it. You won’t burn if you toss, recycle, or give away your old books or sweaters, not even if you give away an entire collection of ceramic miniatures. NOT EVEN if you throw out or give away food (gasp) that no one in the house will eat.

If you do throw out food, I do hope you’ll think long and hard on your next grocery trip before you buy, and if you can, I hope you recycled used items rather than toss them in the garbage, but that’s the extent of my worry.

Discarding items in order to simplify your world is not a major (or even minor sin). The time you spend constantly decluttering, dusting, and cleaning the items you own, is time you could spend with your family and friends.  Which is the larger sin? Tossing items or losing all these life hours because you own too much stuff to take care of?

What do you think? AND if you were raised on a heavy diet of waste not, want not, have you gotten over it?

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

You won’t go to Hades for tossing that (fill in the blank) out

Organizing by Simplifying
How To Start Getting Rid of Stuff – Get Rid of “Maybe” Items

In a day or so we’re going to look at some ideas for what to do with sentimental objects you’re keeping around. But first, I wanted to see how getting rid of maybe items is going for everyone. If you’re having issues, I wanted to point out some easy tips for people who are having trouble getting rid of their what if items. If you can’t get rid of basic what if items, then managing sentimental what if items is going to be near impossible. Here are some tips:

Bring in someone who could care less about your stuff: Have a pal come visit for a day of organizing. If you’ve got stuff to get rid of, and it’s hard for you, a person who could care less is really helpful. Note that a person who could care less is almost anyone but you. Almost no one will have the same attachments to your what if items as you do. Better yet most people will say so. For instance, most people will gleefully point out that it’s just plain silly to have three colanders because seriously, when will you ever be able to physically drain three pots at once? Another person’s view point on what’s worth getting rid of can really help your clutter purging process.

Create a keep and don’t keep box only: When sorting clutter you only need these two boxes. Some people add a third box, the “not sure” box. Not sure boxes are almost totally useless. If you can’t decide between worth keeping and not worth keeping, it’s likely not worth keeping and should go into the don’t keep box. The only time you should put a maybe item in a box is if you plan on seriously re-visiting the box in a month, as I talked about here. This tactic should be used sparingly though.

Play the fast sorting game: Don’t dwell. Half the problem of sorting clutter is the dwelling process. I’ve seen folks dwell for days over a set of silverware. For pete’s sake you can always buy another set. The best (and sort of interesting) way to beat the dwell syndrome is to go fast. This works well with clothing, because clothing can be tossed quickly. Gather a pile of clothes. Grab one and immediately say keep or don’t keep; the first thing that comes to your mind. You can do this with all items and it’s always fun to see what you’ll say. I did this with about 1/2 of my book collection and it was shocking what I gave up. I don’t miss any of them either.

Sort visible clutter first: If you tackle the clutter you can see vs. the boxes stored in your closet, you get a cool prize; instant visual benefits and satisfaction. Your home will start to look better and feel better right away. Bonus, it gives you clutter reducing confidence to tackle the harder sentimental items.

Don’t get discouraged: On TV when you see people come in to a declutter an area, or you read a book with examples of clearing clutter, the time line can throw you. It seems quick to declutter when you see or read about a pro doing it, but the real-life process can take time. Go drawer by drawer and shelf by shelf. Don’t save give-a-way items, keep on making a weekly trip to the Goodwill. Every small box of stuff that leaves your house is one small box less of stuff in your house. It’s a big deal – small steps that will eventually add up.

The next post on simplifying will be on the sentimental what if items, which are tough, so if you’re having issues with basics, leave a comment, and hopefully another reader or I can offer some more advice.

Post from: Blisstree

Revisiting “What If” Items – Tips for Clearing Clutter

The biggest issue surrounding clutter build-up is honestly that people simply buy too many things. However, we’ll discuss tactics for avoiding bad purchases later on. Today, we’re going to look at how you can start clearing out the clutter you’ve already accumulated.

For some people this is an easy task. Some find it harder, and still others find it near impossible. I actually know someone who finds it almost gut wrenching to get rid of anything. She’s a true pack rat – but to her this stuff is necessary. She recently moved and she asked me to help her clear out her back rooms. Three rooms full of boxes of stuff, rooms that no one ever goes in, and stuff that no one ever sees, yet she can’t just let it go. It took us three days to sort through about 10 boxes because we’d go back and fourth – me saying, “When are you ever going to use this?” And her saying, “You never know.”

That said, the very first tip to getting rid of stuff and reducing clutter is…

“You never know” or “Maybe one day I’ll use them” items are things you need to let go. I know so many people with boxes, and spaces full of “You never know” stuff.

Here’s the problem. While you own these maybe items, you still need to store them, sort them, clean them, and think about them. Maybe items are items that do nothing more than waste space and time. Here are some items like this that you may have laying around:

• Baby clothing for when you maybe have that next baby.
• The exercise bike you might use to get into shape – plus the drawer full of exercise clothes.
• Magazines from 2002 that you might go through and pull the interesting articles from.
• A monkey shaped cake pan, because you never know when someone might want a monkey shaped cake.
• 8 pairs of jeans that fit you five years ago. BUT they might fit you if you rode the darn exercise bike!
• Notebooks full of college assignments. What if you decided to go back to school and needed those note?
• 10 cans of organic tomatoes that were on sale. The big fatty ones, for when you eventually learn to make homemade spaghetti sauce.
• A shed full of gardening items; seeds, pots, bags of soil, and more. But really, don’t you always buy your veggies at the store?
• Craft supplies you’ve been saving in case you need to make something crafty spur of the moment.
• Romantic candles you never light.
• 30 sets of coasters – your family doesn’t use coasters – but they are kind of cool to collect. At least you have the biggest, coolest coaster collection on the block!

This is all stuff I know people have. There are hundreds of other maybe items that people own. I even own a few – which is annoying. Among my own maybe items are some baby girl dresses (you know, for when I get that daughter) and extra photo albums (for when I finally get them filled up). On the plus side I recently realized that they are just maybe items and so they’re on the way out.

This week your goal is to get rid of 5 maybe items.

Trust me, you have 5 maybe items.

If that’s too hard then write down 5 maybe items you own on a piece of paper. Think about it all week. Are you honestly, really, 100% sure, that the golf clubs, the camping gear, the old books will come in handy. If you’re not sure pack them up and put the items somewhere where you can’t see them for a month. If you don’t miss them at the end of the month, if no one in the house said, “Hey, where did the golf clubs go?” then get rid of them.

If you can get rid of 5 maybe items each week, that’s a really big step toward decluttering your world. It will become a huge deal. As you clear stuff out, space will appear, your dusting load will lighten, and you’ll feel a lot better. This is only one step on the road to a more simple, more organized, and easier way of life – but it’s the most important step.

Why is this step so hard? Because it forces you to look at what really matters. It means you have to be sickeningly honest with yourself and admit who you are.

It might feel a little sad to get rid of that gardening stuff, because that really does prove that you aren’t going to be a gardener, no matter how cool it sounded. It’s depressing to get rid of the jeans that you wish you still fit into, but maybe once you clear out the clutter of your life, you’ll have time to workout, and then, guess what, you can buy new skinny jeans.

Are there any maybe items you should have around?:

Yes. Items like safety supplies, first aid kits, extra water in case of an emergency, etc. Stuff like this is all ok to have around. I hope that they stay maybe items, maybe you’ll never have to use them, and that’s perfect. As long as you’re not excessive, emergency items aren’t technically maybe items.

Let me know in the comments which 5 maybe items you’re going to toss this week (or pack up). Next up in the how to organize by simplifying series, we’ll look at how to stop the inflow of new maybe items. We’ll also eventually look at how to handle maybe items that you feel are sentimental. Sentimental maybe items are a whole other ballgame from typical maybe items, but we can deal with it. I’ve got some ideas.

Post from: Blisstree

How To Start Getting Rid of Stuff – Get Rid of “Maybe” Items