I know everyone doesn't subscribe to the idea of fall cleaning, but I am one of those people who always feels that I must do something that will "count" as a fall cleaning accomplishment. Because I have been complaining so much about how overly cluttered and crowded things are in my apartment (the car, too!) and how messy that makes everything look, I think some serious uncluttering might be the thing I want to do for this year's major fall cleaning project.
So, guess what I came across? An article in "O Magazine" by Andrew Mellen that takes on this very challenge and offers some real good tips. I am going to share these tips in this post and in a series of posts to follow so that you, too, may find some help if you're facing a similar situation and should decide to do some uncluttering, too. ( I wish all of us luck!)
Mellen believes in this scenario as the key for determining what to keep and what to get rid of..." If your house were burning and your family, pets, and purse were already out of harm's way, what else would you want to save? Probably not the blender that only works on one speed, the china you inherited but never use, or the photo in which you're not exactly looking your best. Which begs the question: If those things aren't worth taking, why are they in your home in the first place?"
If you really think about it, his point makes sense! There's really no reason to keep things that don't work, don't fit, or are not needed. Allowing for some exceptions (sentimental items, for example), of course, because we are all human, after all- :0) , but for the most part, there really is no reason to keep these things.
So, the best way to get started is to establish some rules...list them and stick to them! Mellen calls these THE GROUND RULES.
So, the best way to get started is to establish some rules...list them and stick to them! Mellen calls these THE GROUND RULES.
1. Everything you own should have value, either because it's functional or beautiful or you just love it. Remember the question of what you would grab if your house were on fire. Use this as your "measuring stick".
2. Every item needs a place of it's own. Setting things down on the coffee table or kitchen counter creates piles and confusion. You don't lose things when they have their own established place and they are always put/kept in their place.
3. Focus on one thing at a time. Multitasking is supposed to help you get more things done quickly, but when you try to do 19 things at once, everything ends up incomplete. Remember that you are trying to simplify your life, that's why you are trying to get rid of all the clutter, so concentrate on specific areas one or two at a time, keep your focus on the task at hand until completed, and then move on to another task.
2. Every item needs a place of it's own. Setting things down on the coffee table or kitchen counter creates piles and confusion. You don't lose things when they have their own established place and they are always put/kept in their place.
3. Focus on one thing at a time. Multitasking is supposed to help you get more things done quickly, but when you try to do 19 things at once, everything ends up incomplete. Remember that you are trying to simplify your life, that's why you are trying to get rid of all the clutter, so concentrate on specific areas one or two at a time, keep your focus on the task at hand until completed, and then move on to another task.
So, now that we have the ground rules, we should be set to go, right?- :0)
So, what I am going to do, besides writing down these GROUND RULES and sticking them on the refrigerator door, is to do a quick inventory of what is the most obvious to be tackled. I will be back really soon with the next post, which borrows the hints from Andrew Mellen, so YOU AND I can really get started!
16 comments on Uncluttering - A Challenging Fall Cleaning Chore
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Great tips. I needed them desperatly. All I need now is the motivation to shift my butt out of this chair.
Well, I'm going to take a shot at being a little humorous here...if your butt is cluttering up the chair, then it needs to be cleared off of it! Is that motivational enough?
If not, go back to the basic rule...if the house was on fire rule...would you want to save your butt? Then it's a keeper and it should have it should be kept safe and in good shape. Staying in the chair may not accomplish that.
Hey, I'm only saying these things because I can see myself needing the motivation, too, so I'm using your comment as the means to push myself along.
Good Rules of Thumb. Also a good idea to keep in mind before you buy more stuff. Ask....IS this something I need? It also works for what I put in my mouth, and what I watch ...dvd's..tv.. and what I read.
It is empowering to make choices, instead of mindless purchases because of programed commercials.
A thing I have done for detoxing my consumer polluted brain is to use those catalogs we get in the mail as therapy. I make an order out of what I desire, then never mail it in. I've released the urge to buy.
Happy cleaning...oh and it is nice to release the energy mindfully to the dumpster devia, a nice ritual. And the Universe really dosen't know if what you are releasing is good or bad, to the Universe it's all energy, we label it good, junk, etc.
Happy day Donna...
I might also try doing the "three pile" image in my head....one pile is all the things I really should and want to keep...one pile is not needed here anymore but may be of use to someone else (so I can sell those things... I do need the money, so I'm not being selfish...and I can donate some or all things)...and one pile is really useless, unimportant stuff. (I will call it junk and will determine the best way to dispose of what's in the pile and do it.)
Good luck to us, Donna! I am doing the same uncluttering, a long positive progressive effort to simplify my home and lifestyle. It can be transformational — in terms of physical uses of space and quite freeing for the psyche.
Yes, I have realized that the clutter and mess does get to me and sometimes makes me resent the apartment, criticize myself for being an inadequate housekeeper, and makes me just downright frustrated and/or embarrassed by it. So, instead of looking at it and brooding over it, it's time I do something about it!
I am not going to do the deep cleaning until I have my house back! I refuse, I say, I refuse! These, however, are wonderful tips. Many of them I already practice--since I am the queen of obsessive behavior!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't blame you for waiting, I truly understand your reasoning.
Like you, I can be obsessive, too...and that exists in the category of collecting things. Do I really need so many things that really are junk but I call them souvenirs to justify keeping them? Do I really have to have something I really like if it really doesn't fit or serve a purpose? I have to do some serious sorting, clearing, storing, rearranging, and exercising future control.
It's my stuff and it's staying, step away from the clutter and put the dust pan down... I have a reputation to up hold. Who you calling a pack rat?????????? I am a collector of unusual prizes accumulated over a life time. So back out with that vacuum and mop. This collection is my way of being remembered. I can hear the praises when they send some one to come and clean. It's unamerican for men to have clean places. Thank you for your suggestions, but you picked the wrong address this time. Clean is a sign of time wasted instead of playing on Pogo.
Thank you for the post.....
The Grouch is taking a stand on this one
Whoa! I can see that you are not a big fan of holding yard sales or bringing things to the dump! I know the key ring from that one day spent at the festival where you had that sandwich while watching that show is something you can never part with, just like with the other 392 keyrings you have! And, oh, the coasters and the drinking glasses and the coffee mugs and the baseball caps and the empty wine bottles and the trophies and the blankets and the magazines (never mind what kind they are!), and the old newspapers, and the matchbook covers, and the mis-matching set of grocery store pattern dishes, and the Swiss Army Knife, and the 10-piece set of ratchets, and the monogrammed sweaters, and the autographed footballs, and the nostalgic lunchbox collection, and all your albums and tapes and CDs and DVDs, and all the driver's licenses you had in your lifetime, and that soap on a rope, and the collector's Avon men's cologne dispensers, and the comic books, and ....HEY, WHO CAN FIND THE MOP, THE DUST PAN, OR THE VACUUM CLEANER, ANYWAY?
My SIL is the worst about never putting anything back in its place. Then, he's constantly looking for it. That is one thing to which I adhere. Everything has a place and I always put it back there. I like order.
I have found that the time, energy, and patience spent on trying to locate misplaced things is a heck of a lot more than the time, energy and patience spent on putting things in their proper places.
(My brother got so used to dropping things wherever he pleased, that when he did put something away where it belonged, he'd forget where that place was or where he put the item and he wouldn't be able to remember or find it!)
I'm getting new locks! How the hell did you get into my place? And i'll have you know that it is called collectible melmac dishes with matching place mats. Another thing Miss smarty pants key rings make beautiful jewelery. And the wine bottles make wonderful candle lobbies for a romantic dinner. And I read those mags for the articles of deep appreciation of women. I hope you didn't break anything when you were here.
Don't bother changing the locks...I have my ways, so I will still get in! By the way, the bobble head dolls add a nice touch to the mantle! And now I see why all the affection for cows! I never saw so many cow motifs in one place in my life! They're on every towel, potholder, placemat, and even the darn spoon holder! (By the way, that IS a spoonholder...I don't know why you keep all those thumbtacks in it!)
I promise you that I didn't break a thing! Oh, you know that collection of Monopoly money you had in one of those collector's tins? I helped myself to a few hundred dollars...I didn't think you would mind. It was to help pay for my airfare to get back home here.
What you didn't like my Elvis on velvet paintings? Good thing you didn't see my Dixie Cup lid hoarde.
I didn't want to say anything about the Elvis on velvet, but now that you bring it up!...Do you really need 40 of them? On one wall? You can't even SEE all the ticket stubs you have tacked on the wall in the itsy spaces that you stuck them in! But, no, I did not see the Dixie Cup lids. Hmmmm, maybe I'll have to look for them on my next surprise visit! (Anything else I should know about before I get there? Don't bother mentioning the PEZ dispensers...I spotted them right away!)