Welcome to the first of our 52 Organizing Missions.
In some ways this is a challenging one – but you’ll feel so wonderful, liberated and light when it’s done I think it’s worth diving in the deep end right away.
And remember – it is only 30 minutes.
Ready?
Get Organized Mission #1: Fill a Hu-u-uge Trash Bag
Step 1
Get a giant trash bag. (If you don’t have one find 20 small ones, or ask a neighbor, or go to the shops, or use boxes, or pile things up on a rug until you get to the shops tomorrow. There are no excuses!)
Step 2
Set a kitchen timer (or your clock radio or iPhone alarm, etc) for 30 minutes.
Step 3
Start filling the bag and continue doing so as you move through your house, until either the timer goes off or your bag is full.
Throw into the bag anything you don’t use, don’t like, that has negative associations, is broken or tatty, or is no longer your style. See below for room-by-room examples.
Step 4
Take it straight out to the trash or even the tip if you’re so motivated. Just be sure to remove the temptation to look in the bag or to rescue released items.
Dos & Don’ts
- Don’t try to organize rooms, cupboards or drawers at this stage.
This mission is about getting rid of stuff so do keep an out-it-goes mindset. - We’ll have another organizing mission for charity items, so don’t get bogged down with that now. I don’t suggest giving lame stuff to charity – decent, usable stuff: yes; crapola: no.
So do feel fine about ditching all the dross. - I want you to move fast – so don’t overthink it.
If your gut feel is to release something from your life, then do toss it into the bag.
Examples of Items For Your Bag:
Living Room
- Old magazines
- Tatty rugs and cushions
- Old/no-longer-used videotapes, DVDs, CDs
- Unloved ornaments, gifts, vases, etc
- Dead plants
Study
- School/college notes and texts (unless you just graduated they’re probably out of date)
- Old paperwork, bills, mail (keep if needed for taxes or reference; shred if sensitive or confidential)
- Excess stationery you won’t use this decade
- Knickknacks that provide no meaning, beauty or inspiration
- Reading piles you know you’ll never get to
Bedroom
- Tatty dressing gowns, slippers, and anything you’d be embarrassed to answer the door in
- Tatty bed linen
- Ancient pillows harboring various non-human life forms
- Anything on bedside tables that detract from a comforting bedtime sanctuary
- Anything in your closet you hate (we’ll tackle closets in detail in another organizing mission)
Kitchen/Dining
- Chipped or stained crockery
- Rusty or mismatched cutlery
- Expired food and condiments in the pantry or fridge
- Cookware, plungers, teapots, gadgets, utensils or sundry infomercial purchases not used in the past 12 months
- Cookbooks and recipes not used in the past 12 months
Bathroom
- Tatty towels, bathmats, etc
- Expired or old toiletries, hairbrushes, combs, etc
- Empty or mildewed bottles
- Yucky bathroom accessories – eg rusty shower caddies
- Unloved bathroom ornaments
Kids’ Stuff
- Tatty, no-longer-used toys
- Outgrown clothes
- Torn posters
- Outgrown CDs, DVDs etc
- Outgrown back-packs, drink bottles, etc
Extended Organizing Mission Options
- If you run out of time or your bag fills up and you want to keep going, then do. Put on some music and have fun with it. But your basic mission is only to fill one large bag or keep going for 30 minutes.
- If other household members want to participate give them their own bag and encourage them to let go of stuff.
- If you want to tackle extra, unneeded items that are in good condition, do a second run with a charity bag. (I guarantee you’ll still have plenty to do when we get to our charity-bag organizing mission.)
Ready, Set, Go!
Remember – move quickly, act fast, don’t overthink.
Before You Go – Check In
Have you completed this week’s Get Organized Mission?
You’re now accountable to your organizing mission-mates – so please add a comment to let us know you’ve completed your assignment and you’re keeping your commitment.
(Click ‘Comment’ at the very top of this post or scroll down to the bottom. Depending on how you’re viewing this post, one of those options will be available for you.)
And see you back here next week. 🙂
Update
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Click here to sign up for 52 Organizing Missions.
Image by Material Boy
One h-u-u-u-g-e box filled and burned. On to step two.
Been doing this “all” week….made several trips to the thrift store to donate!
Mission #1 is complete thanks to the help of my husband. We couldn’t believe how easy it was to fill up one bag in so little time. WOO-HOO!
@CozyCoach Bet u find LESS stuff gives u MORE energy. U cld try Mission 1 & see how u feel. Or just read the comments! http://is.gd/7chmr 🙂
done
Mission 1 is complete…I filled a large kitchen trash bag in 30 minutes. Yay.
We did the FIRST bag. I have so much clutter I need to sort, too! But we got it done. Old books nobody would want, old magazines, trash, etc.
Thank you!
Done!
Will be making this a weekly job! 🙂
Finished Mission 1, but need to do it again. Wasn’t that good at throwing things away without thinking too much.
Am I the only one? 🙁
Hi did I miss the next mission? I don’t know how many were posted yet?
Hi finished mission one! Took out papers from last year, ads, old food in refridgerater, trash from basement dungeon, aka laundrey room.
When my husband first sent me this site in Sept. I thought it sounded perfect for what I needed. I did the first mission on a Saturday with the whole family. We easily filled eight large trash bags. Things got busy after that, so I rededicated myself for the new year. I was again able to easily fill two large trash bags by myself in about 20 minutes. I’m on to the next mission, but when my family gets home I’m sending them on mission #1 again (ha ha ha).
I do this every Sunday night since trash/recycle day is on Monday. I also keep a box in the bedroom for donations and can usually fill the box every month. If I try someting on and it doesn’t fit or looks terrible on me, it goes in the box and I don’t look at it again. When this mission came up (I’m late on posting) I was having a french foor put in which required me to remove some kitchen cabinets. In 30-45 minutes I had filled 2 large garbage bags of trash, 3 boxes of donations, and 1 box of recyclables. It was a success. I just need to pick a room each week because there is lots more to go……..
Mission #1 complete.
Done and will do it again next week probably! Could do many of those garbage bags!
@1 done – three contractor bags– know more has to go. Shock for family too.
Three carloads to Goodwill, woohoo!
Mission #1 complete!!
My husband has been very good recently going through many of the areas of our home and decluttering. There was still work to be done in the basement. We managed to get rid of a lot of things that had “made the cut” in previous decluttering sessions. It was fun working on the project together and we relived some memories while sorting through certain items. My husband tends to be a bit of a pack rat (fortunately in a neat and organized manner!). He keeps a lot of items that I would be ok with throwing out. The solution to that is I don’t chuck anything I know he would like to keep, and he’s responsible for organizing and managing those items. It works out very well!
All done! I ended up with 11/2 bags. So I am pretty please with myself.
Week two, here I come!!