De-Clutter Your Life

By: Melissa Smallwood (DME)

Have you ever wondered where all your things come from?  Clutter is stuff, things, and objects.  Where does it come from?  How did all this get here in the first place?  Let’s take a look at what creates clutter and the ways to keep track of what is coming into your environment.

We live in a materialistic society.  Things can give a person status, comfort, recognition, a smile.  None of those things are negative, however if we rely on things for our positive attitude than we are setting ourselves up for disappointment.  We are also making ourselves vulnerable to relying on the accumulation of things to feel satisfied.  This is like trying to gain weight and only drinking water.  It’s not going to work!

There are a few different ways we accumulate things- but any way that we get something, the decision to keep it is ours alone.  Whether you purchase something on a whim, are given a gift that you know you won’t use or just can’t pass up a bargain, you have to remember that you are choosing to keep that item in your environment.  I am vulnerable to this when it comes to shoes.  Especially if they are cute and/or on sale J

So, how do you deal with the urge to collect things, accumulate stuff, add that notch to your shopping belt?  Here are a few things I recommend when trying to decrease the things you own that are just creating clutter and chaos in your environment:

• Keep a journal of purchasing.  A pair of shoes here, a clearance item there may not seem like a lot.  But, when added up all of these unnecessary purchases could be causing your cluttered environment.  You won’t know until you are honest with yourself about what you are bringing into your home.  Write it down for a few weeks and then examine how many of those items were necessary and you have a place for.

• Resist the urge to buy in bulk.  Now, let me clarify something here.  I am a frugal shopper and a strong advocate of doing everything possible to be good stewards of our financial resources.  However, if you do not have the room to store items in bulk- don’t buy them in bulk.  Many people will buy in bulk without doing the math to see if it is truly a better deal to do so (it is not always the cheaper route).  Think it through and ask yourself if you have room to store all these items BEFORE purchasing them.

• Be a bargain snob.  If you are easily sucked in by the clearance rack (as am I) then make a deal with yourself that if you are buying something new, something old has to leave.  If I buy a new blouse then I am already deciding in my mind which blouse I am willing to part with from my closet.  That type of mindset will stop impulse buying in its tracks quite often.

• Understand why you are accumulating.  Many times, accumulating things can be meeting more of an emotional need than an actual physical need.  Ever heard of retail therapy?  Many people say this jokingly but it is an actual phenomenon and can become addictive. Evaluate your motivation for purchasing an item- are you getting a temporary rush (fix) and then going to be stuck with the item for the long haul?

These are just a few of the things you can do to evaluate where your “stuff” problem is coming from.  Allow yourself the time and attention to discover the reason your environment is cluttered and you will have a much easier time rectifying the problem.

Melissa Smallwood (Multi-tasking Mama) has worked with seniors and families as a professional organizer for several years and is the owner of Organized Life by Design, LLC. She has an extensive human services background. She is also the mom of three active boys (one of which has special needs). She enjoys helping people get their lives, calendars and homes organized so that they have time to see and enjoy their blessings!

Some Organizing Tips for You

By Melissa Smallwood (DME )

Organizing is not a personality trait, it is a learned skill. Granted that some of us come by it more naturally than others but it is a skill that anyone can learn.  I cringe when people say they want to “get organized” as if that will be the answer to all their problems.  Everyone is organized in some aspect of their lives.  My goal with a client and now with you, my reader, is to help you become more organized than when you started.

The first step to becoming more organized is to identify the obstacles in your path.  If you are tripping over toys is it because the toys don’t have a designated place?  You haven’t taught your child to pick up one thing before getting out another?  The pace of your life is too hectic to allow time for clean-up?  Toys on the floor really don’t bother you?  Every one has different internal motivators and different organizing challenges they face.  Yours may be clutter, another time management, another piling, another hoarding.  Once you have identified the reason behind the problem it becomes much easier to devise a solution!

Here are some tips when beginning an organizing project:

• Start small.  The important thing is just to start.

• Resist the urge to feel overwhelmed.  Working in 10 to 15 minute time increments, taking breaks, enlisting a friend to help can all be tools to help with this.  If you haven’t seen your family room floor in four years you are not going to “organize” it in a day.

• Work with what you have.  Until you understand the problem and how it was created, don’t go out and spend lots of money on organizing tools and gadgets.  Clear the clutter first.  Develop a plan and see what you already have in your home to assist you in making a space more organized before using any other resources (and potentially adding to the clutter).

• Create a place for EVERYTHING.  If it doesn’t have a home in your home it shouldn’t be in your home.

• Develop routines and stick with them.  This is something we will discuss more in the upcoming weeks.

• Cut yourself some slack.  Rome wasn’t built in a day, as the saying goes.  Give yourself credit for even small achievements.  This will help you stay encouraged and maintain your momentum in overcoming the clutter challenge.

• Keep at it.  This is probably the issue people struggle with the most.  We have all had a fit of “we are going to get this darn house organized” only to find ourselves in the same cluttered environment a few weeks later.  That is because there is a difference between picking up and organizing.  We’ll be talking more about that as well.

So, is there hope for your cluttered counter tops?  Your juice box infested mini-van?  Your “don’t open that door” closet?  Absolutely.  It just requires effort, motivation and the desire to learn new skills.

Melissa Smallwood (Multi-tasking Mama) has worked with seniors and families as a professional organizer for several years and is the owner of Organized Life by Design, LLC. She has an extensive human services background. She is also the mom of three active boys (one of which has special needs). She enjoys helping people get their lives, calendars and homes organized so that they have time to see and enjoy their blessings!