The other week a fellow Professional Organizer shared one of the few listicles that I have been able to get on board with.
I generally have a really hard time with articles like this that pretend there is some super-easy-I-just-have-to-wave-a-magic-wand solution to all of your organizing problems.
As an organizer I know it is not that easy. For a lot of my clients it is a two steps forward, one step back situation. I will show up the week after we tackled the kitchen and there are suddenly two new appliances on the counter because we had cleared that space. Or after getting down to five bins of craft supplies from our starting point of ten I will find a bag from Michael's with a new purchase at our next session.
My clients have reached out to me because they have tried this on their own and were struggling with it. I apply all 10 of these principles in my life and teach my clients as we work together to try and integrate them into their lives as well. Getting organized is a process and every step you take towards it helps.
The original article can be viewed here but here are the 10 Principles to Declutter Your Life as described by Colleen Madsen @365lessthings
- Stop the flow of stuff coming in
- Declutter at least one item per day
- Declutter the easy stuff first
- Put a disposal plan in place
- Decide to not keep things out of guilt or obligation
- Do not be afraid to let go
- Gifts do not have to be material
- Do not over-equip your home
- Do not declutter things that are not yours without the owner's permission
- Do not waste your life on clutter