Friday, April 10, 2015

The Lighter Side Of De-cluttering.



Yesterday l was listening to a webcast of Oprah chatting to a professional de-clutterer and me being the potential CLUTTERER..... l was all ears.
These are the 10 things l want you to get rid of TODAY....starting with PAINT, you know those old tins of touch up paint for your house, go out now and get rid of it all.....well, she lost me at GO 'cos l don't even know what SHED those tins are IN, let alone be able to locate (or remember) those specific colours amongst the millions of tins that have accumulated out there over the last 20 years.
Then....All your old pens, those promotional pens and non-working pens lying around in drawers.....THROW them...and l'm like, is she SERIOUS....l can't even FIND a pen in my house, so lf l spot one, l sure as hell WON'T be throwing it out.
Also.... now ALL your old mobile phones...Don't know about YOU but l'd need the help of a couple of SES workers and a sniffer dog to pull THAT one off :-).....but the absolute kicker was when she said, now ladies go and throw out all your excess black boots....she obviously has NO idea how many miles, markets and opshops it took to find even ONE decent pair of black boots, so just NO....and then l had a light bulb moment. She must be a de-clutterer for NORMAL people and not for ACTUAL pickers, hoarders and collectors, so l thought l'd write a few (SEMI) serious tips for THE REST OF US.



1. l won't say PLAN.....let's just be gentle on ourselves here.....but l would say keep in mind a day through the next week or so where you MIGHT have a free hour or two and set it aside for a "tinsy"  tidy up....hey a little delusion can't hurt :-)

 
2. It definitely helps to be at your least stressed, so if you're an early bird, start early so you can start fresh. If you're a night owl wait 'til late when the house is quiet and begin then.
 3 DON'T de-clutter when hungry....a non rumbly tummy will go a long way to stop you from flagging in the middle of a process that COULD take (WAY) longer than expected:-)
 
 
4. HIDE your phone so you won't hear it and turn off the telly....the least distractions the better and try to de-clutter alone, other people can also be distracting and dare l say it...annoying, even if they ARE just trying to help. Unless of course they're professional de-clutterers, in which case you won't NEED my tips...haha!!
5. Start with one pile at a time, and make it the one that annoys you MOST...maybe it's the one on the end of the bench, the table, or in the corner of a room....that way you can get the maximum pleasure from the space when you're done, which might also encourage you to continue....even if you only do ONE drawer, cupboard or space at a time you'll eventually GET there.
  


6. Now the professional de-clutterer will say make THREE piles.... a keep pile, a throw pile and a send to charity pile...but DON'T do this, it's way too slow and confusing.....make TWO piles only... a keep pile and a "yeh but" pile, which is shorthand for the..yeh but l can DO something with THAT pile..... At least then you'll have TWO distinct piles.


 7. Sort as quickly as possible so as not to overthink things, this will also prevent you slipping into a coma from either confusion, distraction, boredom or all of the above:-)
8. If you've been working on a pile that doesn't have an ACTUAL home, eg. the end of bench or table top pile, after sorting try and stuff what you've KEPT into a cupboard somewhere and that can be a project for some other day.....you KNOW how this works right:-)




9. After sorting try and find storage for what you've saved or display it beautifully somewhere so you can enjoy it. Then there's only the problem of what to do with the "yeh but" pile (which of course you also want to KEEP).....but ask yourself rationally if you'll REALLY make or DO something with ANYTHING in that pile over the next few weeks....more than likely you won't, so seriously TRY not to even sort through this pile and throw it ALL immediately into the bin so there's no time to rethink......if some of this pile is truly too good to bin then bag it up and place it in your CAR right away so it can be dropped off the VERY next time you're out.


 Botanical print doona cover was found at Ikea.....VERY reluctantly l even threw out an old one to make way for the new one:-))

l hope you've enjoyed my tips....even though I've written them as a bit of a laugh, most of them actually DO work for me, it'd be great if they did for you too:-)



Have a great weekend everyone and catch you soon,

Bron.

 

16 comments:

  1. Okay, I think you channeled my husband for this post! We aren't able to hoard too much because we live in an apartment but, if we had a house with a garage and shed...it wouldn't be pretty. I very reluctantly got talked into "helping" my husband clean out our entry way closet a few weeks ago which consisted of him doing all the work and me coming across my Billy Idol concert tickets from 1983, my kids baby shoes and an old recording of me when I was about 4. For me, I'm very out of sight, out of mind...just stuff things in and shut the door. As long as what I can see looks pretty then I'm good with that:)

    I love your Ikea sheets! Our closest one is 2 hours away but we're heading up that way in a few weeks, can't wait:)

    Thanks for the morning laugh! Have a lovely weekend:)

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    1. Yes Victoria, l agree with you about stuffing things into cupboards..that's my ideal way to declutter too:-) My hubby's thankfully not a collector but he sure IS a hoarder so our sheds and garage aren't pretty. If we ever have to shift from this house.....well l dread to even want to think about it.,...how fantastic to find your old Billy Idol tickets, what an awesome night that would have been. Hope you're having a lovely week. Thanks so much for stopping by.

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  2. Thank you so much for this post. I don't think I can do even your list, but I got a kick out of reading it. After all, I didn't have to DO ANY ORGANIZING while I read it. Beautiful post!

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    1. Hahaha......so glad l could cheer you up Karen and that you enjoyed the read. Have a great week won't you.

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  3. Bron,
    I'm with you, too many piles just add to the confusion and then instead of having one mess, I've got several piles of mess, hehe, very self defeating!! For me the stuff has to go the immediately or else it just becomes a mess somewhere else in the house, yikes! Cute post, have a great weekend :-)
    Teresa
    sugar, spice and whatever's nice

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    1. Yes that's right Theresa...l'm the same, anything in the throw pile has to GO, otherwise l'd be tempted to start poking through it all again and pulling it out. haha....thanks so much for stopping by and hope you're enjoying your week.

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  4. I think those tips are great and your photos are beautiful! Hope you're having a lovely weekend!
    Jennelise

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    1. Thanks so much Jennelise for your lovely words, have a beautiful week my friend.

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  5. I loved your list, much better than the pro's. Thanks for stopping by, it's always great to visit and hear from you.

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    1. Thanks so much for the encouragement Karen and so great you could pop in for a visit also. Hope your week's off to a great start:-)

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  6. The bedding print looks so fresh. It makes it look completely decluttered already. You didn't need to do any more. LOL! I'm a crazy declutterer. I get these days when EVERYTHING goes. Then a couple days later I start looking for stuff. Just Nuts!! This is a funny and adorable post!
    hugs♥,
    Caroline

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    1. Hi Caroline...so glad you loved the doona cover, l couldn't resist when l saw it made up on a bed in Ikea. Wish l had your de-cluttering stamina and discipline, how fantastic, but yes it's only a few days before l start looking for something l threw as well haha!! Thanks so much for your lovely comment.

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  7. What a great Post Bron ... I can relate to everything
    especially the promotional pens!
    This has been a very thought provoking post.
    I love, love love your botanical doona cover.
    x Michelle

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    1. Yes you would get heaps of promotional pens in your line of business, but l bet you know where all yours are hahaha!!!. Glad you liked the doona cover, it IS pretty cute isn't it:-)

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  8. Thank you so much for your post ! Thanks to you As I was reading it I didn't wait to finish reading : I took the pots on my desk an through away half of them ! so happy and proud but I have a lot to throw away (I"m a painter so I have a love affair with pencils ans pens!!!)
    xoxo from PARIS

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  9. This is a timely Post for moi... since I'm almost always in some phase of editing, purging and generally trying to de-stash the Hoard of Lovelies and clutter that always seems to multiply like weeds around here. Also glad that I could relate to so much of it, makes me almost feel slightly Normal... almost... slightly... Dawn... The Bohemian

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