Recently, a Get Organized Wizard subscriber requested our help. She was coping well with new challenges and tasks she was facing in her everyday life. But she had a deep, dark secret. A room full of clutter backlog she couldn’t face. Dunt, dunt, duuunt!
Does that sounds familiar?
Sometimes it’s a drawer that hides receipts, hundreds of pens, elastic bands or paperclips. Or a cupboard where things are thrown unceremoniously into the abyss, with the door closed quickly to avoid fallout. It plays on our mind every now and then, but it’s never enough to move us to action and start decluttering.
Well, let’s do something about it. Now!
- Name and shame a backlog item that needs priority attention*.
- Select a time to work on this task within the next 24-hours.
- Commit to the task and complete it.
- Come back here and tell me about it.
- Give yourself a big tick and consider another backlog task begging for your attention.
*Don’t attempt anything too torturous! Consider a 10-20minutes task that will make you feel good once you’ve tackled it.
I have an attic full of Barbies and Cherished Teddies that I have wanted to sell for at least 5 years. They are all organized in totes, so I can feel like they are “managed”. But I have to move them inside every summer when the attic gets too hot and they take over an entire room. I need to go ahead and start selling these on eBay or Amazon! I’ve been researching for at least 2 years, but I never get started.
I have a room in my home that I use for; home office, scrapbooking and sewing. This room is also a catch for anything I cannot find a place for; UGH! I am trying to set up useable zones for this room. It is not easy trying to decide what to keep and what to give away. I’ll keep working on it one bite at a time.
I’m going to clear my desk so I can do my taxes.
Well, that was easy! Trash, recycle, donate, and lives elsewhere. Done.
I have a bag that has been sitting on a chair in the living room for far longer than I am willing to admit. I will pick it up and go through it.
We got new carpet. As a result I have beautifully empty room of clutter (bar the one I put stuff in) my son and I worked together to rid his room of clutter. I have been asking him for months to get rid if high school book and old shoes. He finally did it with my help. Now for the sewing room.
My desk top in my home office is the real issue! I know all the principles, but I just keep procrastinating and watching catch-up TV on my computer instead. I know I am very tired, but the task is not as big as I am pretending. And i am using the mess as an excuse to avoid planning for the week, and getting a back-log of important tasks done. Today isthe day to do it, even though I have a number of appointments. Okay, I’m committed. Time for action. Ten pieces away before I have my shower….
I conquered my backlog this year by getting rid of 10 things per day – every day. Some days it was just ten pieces of paper, some days more complicated things. This kept me moving forward, and eliminated that paralyzed, overwhelmed feeling. And it started a habit that has spilled over into other areas of my life! Success!
10 things a day! That’s a great idea :0)
I took a call off from work and, no longer tired as I had slept since early afternoon yesterday, last night I cleaned out a bag of work related papers (that had been sitting on my study floor for several months, ashamed to say) and also went through a stack of professional magazines I had been hoping to read (as they piled up), and went through the stack of papers that had been on my desk all summer and moved to the top closet shelf- most of which went into the recycle papers basket. Took a few hours, but it is done. Now onto some kitchen cupboards! Hope to do much more starting next week as the skiing we have been blessed with from the polar vortex, will wind down as winter starts to break up (as it starts to do traditionally in late February ).
My Christmas decorations are down and packed away neatly…in my living room. My excuse is that the weather has been either a blizzard or below zero so I have not taken it over to the storage facility. The real kicker? The storage facility is indoors, with a place to pull in and unload INSIDE the building. So, I brought the boxes down with me today and they are in the trunk – stopping on my way home, no matter what the weather is like!
Cleaned out my closet, now need to sort through the items and donate, toss, recycle, and organize the space so I can reclaim my living room.
Pulling out all files related to each of my 3 grown sons and putting into individual portable filing boxes. These few include medical, dental, banking, automobile records, to name a few. Because these are already in separate folders within my own filing, it will probably only take me a half hour tops, yet i continue to put it off. Go figure….
Did it! All the 2013 papers are sorted, my tax papers are together (so I will call today for an apt to have taxes done), and the 2014 accordion folder is now started. Yea!
I’ve got a box, which needs naming. In it put used envelopes, which I periodicaly hand shred for recycling, because the little plastic windows on them, are not for recycling-;#
Taking down my Christmas decorations. I’ve been avoiding it for approximately a month and a half (that’s how long it’s been since I actually plugged in the lights, so I can no longer claim I’m “still enjoying them.”) They’re coming down tonight.
2013 financial papers – there isn’t that much to do, just finish sorting and filing December’s papers, and pull all the tax-related ones (I keep them in a separate pocket of the accordion folder) so I can get our taxes done. I’ve been putting it off since mid-January. Time to get it done! Then I can put the 2013 folder in storage and put the 2014 folder in place.