Getting more organized has been energizing for this introvert! I’ve always liked the metaphor that clutter is to our lives like cholesterol is to our bodies: it clogs us up! Starting with our kitchen counter tops put my husband in high spirits – he’s a neat, obsessive, extrovert, Virgo around clutter. His desktop and drawers are always neat. One week after my cleaning up, he was still checking in on my office and saying how much he likes it. But one month after my initial clutter cleaning, I am still staying organized. Maybe it’s here to stay.
Every night before-clutter-clearing, I would leave my office with my desktop looking like the photo here – or worst. And because I have a bookcase, a credenza, a filing cabinet, and two small shelving units and yes, it also meant that every one of those surface tops in my office was in disarray.
Getting organized and leaving some empty space has proved to be quite a positive experience.
Can I offer a few findings that might, as one of my subscribers who emailed me said, give you that kick in the butt for your cleaning? Or maybe even give you a chuckle?
1- Get rid of anything that you haven’t used in a year, maybe even six months. I don’t need to keep overhead transparencies that I stopped using about 10 years ago, and when it’s likely overhead projectors aren’t even made anymore. NOTE: I subsequently learned it’s also a good idea to ask people if they have a need for anything in good shape you are tossing that you believe to be outdated. Some private schools actually do still use overheads and need transparencies.
2- Use the technology you have. Is there any reason to keep a printed copy of the workshop participant materials when I already have them on my computer? It’s useful to scan relevant documents onto your computer – tax forms for example – if you know you do have to save them for a period of time.
3- If you feel fairly certain you can research and find it online, toss papers that you might be stacking for “read later.” For me that cleared up at least one-third of a credenza drawer.
4- Emotions are cleaner. Yep; I am still getting upset when my husband doesn’t listen to me. I really believe this IS a guy/gal phenomena. It’s just not as irritating. When vendors don’t return calls as quickly as I expect, I’m not getting as upset. And, when things go better, I can feel my better emotions more strongly. That’s so much more the place I want to be.
5- Letting go helps you to trust yourself and others more. In particular I had lots of reports, printed emails, paper work on top of the large, flat surfaces of my desk, credenza and bookcase shelves. I find it quite encouraging and uplifting that when I finally did act to clean up, I just trust that if I need that information again, it will find me. It usually does.
My final step in my plan to clear clutter is to tackle a storage room in our garage. It’s become like the often talked about “junk drawer” that some of us have, me included. But fortunately, my husband and I are both in agreement that it can wait: it’s organized and there is a good amount of empty space that we are able to walk comfortably in it.
Let me know if you are getting your space more organized, what have been some of your lessons?
Or maybe you are just inspired to do so? After all, look at me now:
