Organization Tips You Never Thought to Try Jodi Gonzalez
How many times have you looked at the sheer volume of belongings and lack of order in your home and thought, “Today’s the day!” And then promptly turned on a new show to binge and tuned it out. Or started the job and then became too overwhelmed. Here comes Cas Aarssen, known as creator of the Clutterbug method for taming mountains of mess in spaces around the world. Aarssen once was like the masses: Drowning in clutter and no hope in sight. But she had a revelation that led to her Clutterbug system of organizing by personality, and she shares several tips on getting organized that probably had never even crossed your mind. They sound almost too simple to be true! But Aarssen says indeed they do work, so take a look at some of the easy things you can do now to make you—and your home—breathe a little easier. 1. CHALLENGE YOURSELF TO FIVE MINUTES
“The hardest part of decluttering and organizing is getting started,” Aarssen says. “You are overwhelmed and overthinking it. It’s all in your head.” Overcoming the mental block is a huge challenge for many people, and a big reason that the best laid plans to get your gear together never make it from thought to action. So how do you take that leap? “Grab a garbage bag and just do some trash bag therapy,” she says. “Look for things that are obviously trash that can go, and grab a box and hunt around your home for things that you’re not
using and loving. Set a timer and tell yourself, I only have to do five minutes. Usually what happens is you get started and you’re motivated, and you keep going, and it isn’t as bad or scary as you thought. Or even if you stop, your house is better than it was and you’ve done five minutes.” 2. GET RID OF LIDS ON BINS
One of the first things people tend to do when they decide to declutter and get organized is to go out and buy a bunch of plastic bins. There are pros and cons to this idea, depending on your cleaning personality. But if you insist that bins are going to save you from your stuff, follow Aarseen’s lead on something first. “Don’t have lids on bins,” she says. Lids make it more difficult to get at what you have tucked away in the first place. And though closing up the bins might not seem to be a big hindrance doing so plays into a theme for many of us. “Even taking a few extra seconds to take off the lid, you’ll set it aside, right?” Lids require enough extra effort and enough of a block between you and what you want to find that many times, we will just leave the bins alone and walk away. That means the things we had saved in the bins because we didn’t want to toss them out won’t get used at all and will continue to take up space. and won’t use them.
