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!
What a great way to get started in this month of cleaning and organizing! My house is looking better already! Thanks! 🙂
P.S. my cousin is JBette
I spent more than 5 min & it was productive. Ironically none of the “if you have another 5 min” tasks needed to be addressed!
Results: No games, No food, No mags except the Smithsonian & Nat Geographic that came today (the old ones go to the waiting areas of the nearby hospital)
BUT I did come up with a long to do list because I couldn’t finish dealing with all the books
I have never had a coffee table because they attract too much clutter.
However, in my first apartment, which had a very long sloped hallway from the kitchen in the back and the salon/living room in the front, I used a Radio Flyer “little red wagon” to bring drinks and snacks to the front room & haul away the empties when we entertained. In that case having it collect the clutter was useful. I might still be using the little red wagon if I didn’t have a flight of stairs to navigate rather than a long hall.
My cousin, with my encouragement, signed up yesterday but her gmail account is not working properly and she can’t open the message that would allow her to confirms the subscription. She’s beside herself but called me & did the challenge (she has MUCH less clutter than I do! ) so please consider this her posting, too
Came into this late, am definitely in but it’ll take more than 5 mins, then to find day two! Anyone that can do this in 5 mins doesn’t need help. Great motivator & helpful detail though.
Laura mc – the “tip” is the nearest rubbish dump or could be a council provided skip bin in some parts of the world.
I can do this! I did this!
It was pretty clean already, but super good now!
Well, it took me 36 min, but I did it! Next!
4/1/11-John
Took me a while to get started. Enjoyed the nice day with the kids at the zoo! Once I started, it was hard to stop. Thanks.
Spent more than 5 minutes but I did go through a number of old magazines and newspapers.
Took me ALL DAY to get around to doing this? I hope I’ll get an earlier start tomorrow.
Done!
Task is complete.
Got it done. Yay!!
Done! 🙂
Yay! Day 1 done!
If all the tasks are that easy, I’ll be thrilled by the end of the month. All done!! Thanks!
Good to go!
how refreshing to have things put away and one job done! Motivates me to do more….
Day 1 accomplished! Yahoo!
Here’s my comment in the form of a question: What does “tip” mean?
I’ve copied the section of today’s task, so you will know what I am referring to:
“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.)”
As far as the task, I am working on it now!!