Welcome to the 30-Day Organize-athon!
Today and tomorrow we’re going to prepare for the end of the 30-Day Organize-athon by making two incredibly important organizing mindset shifts.
They will help you to preserve the organizing gains you’ve made over the past month – for life!
Day 29: Get Organized Mindset Shift #1: Adopt OCI-OGO
Step 1: Decide to adopt OCI-OGO (pronounced oh-see oh-go) in your life. This stands for One Comes In – One Goes Out: every time something new comes into your home, car, handbag, briefcase, closet or life – something old goes out.
Here are some examples:
- When you buy a new item of clothing, you donate or discard an old one from your closet.
HINT: Only have enough hangers for your existing clothes – that way you’ll have to get rid of old things to make room for new ones. - When you buy new shoes, you donate or discard an old pair.
- When the kids receive a new toy, they give an old one to a child who doesn’t have as much as they do.
HINT: Have a donation basket for kids’ clothes and toys and encourage the kids to make contributions. - When you receive the latest magazine in your subscription, you automatically put the previous one in the recycle bin. (‘But I haven’t read it yet!’ you say. Do you want to feel pressured to read everything, or to be happy and calm? Let it go.)
- When you buy a new book, DVD or CD, you donate an old one to the library.
HINT: If you buy a lot of books, DVDs or CDs, have a dedicated library donation box. - When you file your latest statements or papers, you discard, archive or shred out-of-date papers from your files.
HINT: File papers in reverse chronological order so you can easily remove the oldest ones from the back. - When you buy a new cosmetic, you toss out an old one.
HINT: Make-up has a shelf life. Use it, and then be happy to lose it. - When you receive a gift, you find something you no longer use or love and give that away.
- When you buy a kitchen gadget or utensil, you donate or discard at least one old one.
HINT: Having fewer, but more useful, utensils will make it easier to find what you need and use what you have. - When the kids get a new backpack, drink bottle, game, or whatever, they discard or donate an old one.
You get the idea.
Step 2: Read over the examples again to check that your mindset has shifted!
And you’re done!
Got an Extra 5 Minutes?
This is such a radically powerful idea that you might want to create some reminders for yourself.
Write ‘OCI-OGO’ on several cards or post-its and place them wherever you need reminders, eg:
- Inside your closet
- On your shoe-box tower
- On your kitchen drawers
- On the kids’ toy boxes
- On your credit card; etc.
Now you’ll get to enjoy new things without any increase in disorganization or clutter in your home. Stuff will flow through your life rather than accumulating into a quagmire of clutter. How cool is that!
Note: This post is adapted from my article: My Magic Formula For Staying Clutter-Free For Life (Or: How To Avoid Organizing Entropy)
Organize-athon FAQs
I’ve put together a special 30-Day Organize-athon | Getting And Staying Organized Q & A post.
Leave Your Comment Below…
Then please leave a comment below to say you’ve completed today’s task.
See you tomorrow for your final 30-Day Organize-athon task: Get Organized Mindset Shift #2!
[Image by aussiegall]
Day 29 done!!!!
I read your post and thought, “Now…where have I heard that before?” …..and then I remembered…oh yeah…from YOU! Lol- I have written up several index cards with OCI-OGO on them …and have decided on a plan that will ensure that I am reminded of this principle several times during the day. I have even included it as a daily reminder that is “pushed” to me on my phone. Thanks for all of your missions and great ideas!
Done!
I just love it. I want to put up those words omy basement. Door to to remind us all. Going. To
Try tokeep it.up
T Hank. You!
That’s it? Really? Done!
Done.
Had to say that this one is done…but I am hoping that this mindset shift has happened. I guess only time will tell but I am committed to making this a habit.
Done and I really like this outlook!
check
done
done…
29 down
29 comments left
one left to go!
This is such a good lifestyle change to adopt and one I have thought of many times but have never had the push I needed to actually make it stick. Hopefully now it will. Done 🙂
I try to do this regularly but some times forget – hence the bags and boxes at my front door waiting for a trip to the closest thrift shop.
Thanks again. It is done and it was a good reminder.
@Laura B: I guess it depends how cluttered your life is – the more you tend to accumulate things and feel overwhelmed, the closer you should stick to OCI-OGO. If clutter is not a big problem, then you can be more flexible. 🙂
This will be tricky but it’s going to be great 🙂 I love the idea of taping reminders in a few spots! def going to be doing that!
I love hits OCIOGI method! I learned this in my teens when working at a coffee shop and always had it in the back of my mind but never really put it to use. Hearing it again now has reminded me how much benefit can come from such a simple idea.
I was informing the children that we are now going to be doing OCI-OGO and that we were back dating it from christmas 😉
One of mine is a clever little creature and brought me – homework books, the chore list I made him, his SIBLINGS belongings!!! hehehe Think I may have to have a small amount of input as to what Goes Out!
I think I need One Comes In, Two Go Out for the time being!
I have attempted to re-align my mindset!
I WILL do this one better. I sort of do it now only I purge annually it makes for a very LONG week. This is much better and easier to tackle the smaller project.