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!
Day one – done {bring on day two}
Done! Thanks for the motivation!
Done and happy to report this is something I do every two or three days. The clutter makes me crazy!!!
DONE!!! And as i sit here surfing online…I am running papers through the shredder to be used in my flower beds and gardens! This is a really great idea! Thanks so much!!!!
Done, that was easy and fun!
Living room was easy, but I knew there was a pile of mags and catalogs elsewhere that needed to be thinned out! Now I have a big stack of them for recycling…..and I feel SO virtuous!
Ended up going longer than 5 minutes but I also had my 5 year old son helping!
Living room tidied, dusted and vacuumed. 🙂
Well, that was easy!! My daughter actually has one of those buttons from Staples. Its so much fun to press it when the task is complete.
I am motivated and looking forward to tomorrow’s chore already!
All done!
Junk has bascially been gone (small space), so instead I put the video games and dvds back in their place (everyone leaves them out after use). Plus got all the trash out. So day 1 complete.
My living area gets this once-over about once a month. This was a great way to quickly hit the most junky areas of my living room!
Thanks!
Finished! I didn’t have a lot of clutter in those rooms – but I did go through all my daughters toys that are in the family room. I got rid of a lot and cleaned the rest. Very nice.
not at home … but will do as soon as I get there! thanks .. yikes..
thanks!!!! I can’t wait!
Had to force myself to quit after 15 minutes…could have spent all day completing all these tasks, but it does look better, and I got rid of 30+ VHS tapes that I’ll take to Goodwill this afternoon!
Living room is done!
Wow! What a difference! Just like quitting smoking or any other bad habit, it’s all in the mindset. You have to be ready to let go, ready to change…and then the magic happens! Like it was meant to be : )
Ok did it but hate the fact that by tonite the remotes will all be scattered again.
I actually did task 1 last night! So, I improvised and did this in the spare bedroom! Yay!