3 Ways to Get Organised During National Get Organised Month
Did You know that January is officially National Get Organised Month? No, well if it makes you feel any better, neither did I until it was pointed out to me by Sarah Arrow, the inspiration behind the acclaimed 30-day Blogging Challenge.
But it makes sense, January being the first month of the year and everyone making resolutions and new starts. The importance of being uncluttered and organised cannot be underestimated because it effects all areas of your life. Without it, it’s hard to see clearly what’s going on around you. One of the first steps to being organised is to understand why we accumulate so much clutter in the first place.
The first step to being organised is to understand why we accumulate so much clutter in the first place.
Why do we accumulate clutter?
We sometimes get inadvertently surrounded by clutter. We collect things for a variety of reasons, but three of the main ones are:
It has sentimental Value
We all keep things because of their sentimental value and rightly so in some cases. Bbut your Son or Daughter is 25 now, do you really need to keep their first tooth or the hundreds of scribbled works of art that they did when they were two years old? And what about that box of unsorted photos that’s hidden away in the corner cupboard?
It’ll come in handy
How many items do you have around your house or office that you keep, ‘because it’ll come in handy?’In truth, most of these items will never be touched again until the day you decide to throw them out.
I spent good money on it
We’ve all done it, spent money on items that we’ve never used, and because we spent good money on it we are loathe to throw it away. Are you really going to read that book you brought a year ago, and still haven’t started? Will the right occasion to wear those killer heels ever materialise?
In the book Organizing for Dummies the authors give three acronyms that are very useful when we wish to declutter and get organised. They are WASTE, REMOVE and PLACE.
WASTE, REMOVE and PLACE are three acronyms that are useful when we wish to declutter and get organised.
WASTE
Sometimes we are so overwhelmed that it’s difficult to make the decision to keep or throw. Use the WASTE acronym and answering the questions honestly will help you decide if something is worth keeping or not.
- W — Is it really Worthwhile Keeping?
- A — Will you definitely use it Again?
- S — Can it be borrowed or found Somewhere else?
- T — Will the world end if you Throw it away?
- E — Do you need the Entire thing or just part of it?
REMOVE
Do you have an in-desk as opposed to an in-tray? If so, you can easily clear your desk and set it up to support your success by following the simple steps remembered as the REMOVE acronym.
- R — Remove knickknacks and Reduce distractions.
- E — Only keep items on your desk that you use Everyday
- M — Move items to the preferred side, like the right side if you’re right-handed.
- O — Organise similar items into groups.
- V — Keep a clock on your desk, so that you can View your time.
- E — Keep the middle of your desk Empty so you have a clean area to work in.
PLACE
Do you have stuff everywhere? Use the PLACE acronym to de-clutter and get organized, making your space neat and tidy.
- P — Purge Get rid of it, either bin it or donate it.
- L — Put Like with like Create a space for things that naturally go together.
- A — Store commonly used items in places where you can easily Access them
- C — Use Containers to create space and keep things together.
- E — Constantly Evaluate Does this organizational system and layout work for me?
Getting rid of unwanted clutter and getting organized is easy if you remember these acronyms and put them into practice. So are you going to get organised? If so, where are you going to start? let us know in the comments below.
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Till Next Time
Mike Gardner is The Time Doctor
