Keep It Sorted!

Get rid of unnecessary mail and school papers immediately.  I used to let mail pile up until it was ready to tip over and create an avalanche of bills, circulars, coupons, and random donation requests.  I finally found two ways to make that stop.  The first thing I do is go through the mail as soon as I take it out of the mailbox.  Anything I one hundred percent know I will not be needing goes right in the recycling.  This leads into the second thing I do to help with this issue.  Right next to the door is a table with a plastic mail divider on it.  Any mail I’m keeping in the interim goes in that mail divider.  From there I can make the decision of what’s left, and what’s to be done with it.  Coupon for Bed, Bath, and Beyond?  Into the coupon folder you go.  Who knows when I’m going to need something from the Beyond section?  If it’s a bill set to be paid and you’re ready to file, into the (hopefully not to travel) kitchen table pile you go.  

Same principal goes for school papers.  There were years when all three of my kids got the same piles of papers sent home.  And, to add insult to injury, most of the papers sent home were those that I didn’t need one of, let alone three copies of.  Go through those papers right away, and into the recycling bin they go.  Be honest with yourself with all of it.  Are you really going to go to the pizza place that’s five miles away, when you’re perfectly happy with the pizza place a half a mile down the road?  Most likely, no.  So, get rid of the coupon that came in the mail.  It is awesome that your kid got a check on their homework assignment, but do you think that when your kid is twenty-five, they’re really going to want twelve years’ worth of homework assignments handed over in a giant plastic container?  Probably not. Sometimes the decisions on what to keep and what not to keep are tough.  We are good at talking ourselves into a whole lot of things, but once you’ve read the progress report, is it really necessary to keep it for prosperity’s sake?  

Choose one thing to clean out and be proud that you’ve done it.  This can be super tough when you go for something small.  If you choose to clean out your bedroom, or a closet in your house, the results are obvious.  But what about the small things?  The things that no one else sees?  That junk drawer in the kitchen only closes now if you puzzle everything together just right.  Take the time to go through it.  It’s going to take longer than you think to pull everything out and go through it.  And again, be honest.  It’s great you’ve saved two years’ worth of twist ties from the produce section of the grocery store, but let me ask:  In those two years, have you used even one of those twist ties?  Now, you may feel that maybe someday there will be twist ties no more and boy wouldn’t you be sorry to have thrown them all away.  Keep the twist ties.  But going through, finding things big and small to get rid of, and putting things back in a way that perhaps the puzzle of the junk drawer is a little easier, helps you declutter.  And it’s not just the junk drawer.  Pick a section of a closet to do, or even a section of a room.  What’s happening in the black hole in the corner of the living room?  Things keep getting sucked in there and can’t seem to get out.  Even if the rest of the living room is in need of a good dusting and vacuuming, focus on that one corner alone.  Creating small goals to feel good about can help giving you a sense of accomplishment and keeps the inner critic quiet.  Show off your now clean junk drawer.  Jump at the opportunity to give someone a tissue from your newly organized bag.  Marvel at the perfectly rolled rows of socks.  

Spring is almost here, time to shake off the stillness of the winter, and make space for change and growth.  Decluttering is a great way to create that space.  Remember, change does not have to be big to still be change.  These tips may seem like small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but if they make life a little bit more open to potential change, then perhaps they’re worth giving a go.