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!
Done. Nothing to toss this time around. Just did that a couple of weeks ago.
Day 1 done, 29 more to go!
all done!
one living room in Guam finished!
All done
DONE!
not much in the living room lying around… but if i open the cabinet doors under the tv…there is lots of stuff to go through!
OK that was easy! ;-)) happy to get rid of some dust collecting items!! still have some paper work in the living room which we partly use also as office… we’ll get there!
Complied with!
Got rid of a bunch of crap. Love it!
we started with a hard one for me – who told you about the dead poinsetta in my living room???
Done. Wow, I am amazed on how full my garbage bag is 🙂
Thanks for the reminder! I’ve cleaned up our living area.
Done!
Whew! That was easy. It looks so much better already, I think I’ll keep going.
Done – there isn’t much clutter there so I just straightened up! And dusted.
This took a lot longer than 5 minutes and I didn’t even go through all the DVDs and CDs and Videos. I mostly went through things that were out in the open. But at least I did something.
What great and easy motivation. The idea of organizing for just 5 minutes makes it less daunting. It even motivated me to go the extra 5 minutes. All I have to do now is dust and sweep. Thanks!
Took a little more than 5 minutes and I’m sure my toddler will mess it up again in less than 5 but its done.
It took me a little longer than 5 minutes, I just had to clean the fan blades. Done