Welcome to the 30-Day Organize-athon!
In today’s 5 minutes we’re going to express-declutter your living area.
Take a deep breath, and imagine inhaling a sense of clarity, freedom and order. Then get started!
Day 1: Declutter Your Living and/or Entertainment Area
Step 1: Grab a large garbage bag.
Step 2: Quickly make your way around your living and/or entertainment area, tossing these items into the bag as you go:
- Magazines other than the current month’s
- Newspapers other than today’s
- Knick-knacks – unless you really love them
- Tatty coasters
- DVDs no-one watches any more
- CDs no-one listens to any more
- Games no-one plays any more
- Remotes and technology no-one uses any more (including old game consoles)
- Food
- Books you’ve read and won’t re-read, or will never read
- Videos, cassettes, computer floppies, camera film – any storage device for which you no longer have hardware
- Framed photos – unless they’re genuinely special to you
- Tatty cardigans, socks and other apparel strewn around the furniture
- ‘Displayed’ items on shelves that collect dust but hold no meaning for you
- Dead potted plants
- Threadbare or stained cushions, throws, rugs, etc
- Anything else that isn’t loved and/or used regularly.
Step 3: Put your bag by the door or take it straight out to the car. (Take it to the tip as soon as you can.)
Step 4: If there’s something genuinely valuable in there, and you’d lose sleep over tossing it, then you can put it into a separate charity store bag. But if it’s junk, just let it go. If it doubt, don’t over-analyze – toss it.
And you’re done!
Got an Extra 5 Minutes?
- Return items that don’t belong in the living area to the proper place – the kids’ bedrooms, the office, the kitchen, etc.
- Straighten the coffee table and wipe it down.
- Neaten remotes, DVDs, and anything else that lives in the living room.
- Fluff up the cushions.
Now doesn’t that feel more like a ‘living’ room?
The 30-Day Organize-athon Mantra
Move fast. Don’t overthink. Let it go!
Leave Your Comment Below…
Please leave a comment below to say you’ve completed today’s task.
And I’ll see you back here tomorrow!
Awesome! I so need this challenge this month!
WOW!~Amazing what just 5 minutes can do!
I’ve finished Day 1’s task!
I got it done 🙂 🙂 I did an additional 5 minutes!! WOOHOOO!!!
DONE – 75 minutes later my 5 minutes is completed and I feel great about it – THANKS
I will write about each day on my blog as I go
HOLY COW, I had a lot of magazines. 🙂
Done!!
Done!
Day 1 down…… so nice to look at the beginnings of change!
Feeling better already!
Done and not too difficult!!
I started with the bedroom.
Though I’ll admit, in addition to filling my “trash-it” bag, I also made a point of making laundry baskets for sorting the keep-stuff during the 5 minutes. Hopefully that still counts.
Completed task #1. Now, waiting for DH to come home. He is not going to be happy about his missing magazines! LOL.
Done — but I get a message that this is a duplicate comment. Trash bag is full and out the door.
Enjoyed it and even did the next 5 minutes!
Done — but I have more than one living area so I’m starting on the second one now. The garbage bag is full and is in the garbage can outside. Wasn’t too hard to part with things.
Done!
Did it!
Completed!
This took me more than an hour. I started decluttering after I put my 3 kids to bed so it took me till 10pm (on a Friday night!!) It’s looking so so much better now, so thanks for the challenge.