Welcome to the Plan-and-Organize-Life.com Newsletter. I hope you enjoy getting the newsletter and that it helps to keep you on track with your organizing goals. Remember, you can get a lot done in only 10 minutes of decluttering and organizing!
Table of Contents
-Introduction
-Did you know?
-Monthly Mission – Kitchen
-What’s New on Plan-and-Organize-Life.com – Recent site additions
-The One-Minute Rule
Introduction
We’ve been enjoying a wonderfully mild winter, but I’m still looking forward to spring and getting outside to work in the yard. There are plenty of weeds calling my name! As for the inside of the house, keeping organized is an ongoing endeavor. There is always a corner to work on given the time and ambition. Let’s just keep at it, even if it’s just 15 minutes a day! Set a timer and be amazed by how much you can accomplish!
Did you know… Each year, about 100 million households receive 16.6 billion catalogs. —Direct Mail Association
The Monthly Mission – Kitchen
Let’s clean out the kitchen cabinets and drawers and clear off those counters and the dinner table to make your kitchen more streamlined and functional. To read more about the monthly mission for March,
click here.
Recent Site Additions
Here are some of the more recently added pages to the website you may have missed.
How To Organize Books For Kids
- A quick and simple way to organize kids books so they can actually access them and put them away when they're done.
Before and After Photos
- If you enjoy seeing before and after photos of organizing projects, you can find them all right here.
Living Room Storage Make-over
- See how we recently re-organized our living room (play room) with a new Ikea wall unit that's great for storing lots of stuff.
Adding A Closet Shelf
- See how adding a quick and simple shelf to a closet can add functional space.
Spice Rack
- See before and after photos of my spice storage including my new spice rack.
Garage Makeover
- before and after photos of my personal garage makeover. See how we tackled the problems and ended up with a functional garage.
Streamline Your Morning Routine
- Ideas to help you get out the door in the morning and be on time for work or school.
Bathroom Drawer Make Over
- How to organize a bathroom drawer, an example with before and after photos.
Stop Clutter
- Quick simple tips on how to stop the clutter from coming into your home in the first place.
The One-Minute Rule
I’m sure most of you are familiar with the famous Nike saying “Just Do It”. If something has to be done, just do it. But as true as that saying is, sometimes the idea of just doing something is too much. When the task at hand seems too big and daunting, no one wants to do it!
However, if you talk about much smaller tasks, things that take less than a minute, then the idea of “just doing it” becomes super easy. Anyone can do something that takes a minute or less.
Gretchen Rubin wrote about this tip in the January issue of Good Housekeeping and I’ve been trying to get into the habit of doing it. I truly believe that one of the very biggest clutter makers in our homes is NOT putting things away! The One-Minute Rule is one simple weapon with a large impact to help stop clutter from forming.
Her rule states that anything that takes less than a minute must be done. So as you’re going through your day you can hang up your coat, put away your keys, file that paper, put that can in the recycle bin, put that toy back on its shelf, put the dirty clothes in the hamper (not on the floor), put the book away, etc. It sounds SO simple, yet we need to get into the habit of doing these things naturally. I know that in my home, there would be a LOT less things sitting around if they were put away in accordance to the one-minute rule. Things would stay looking nicer and cleaner and make the idea of wiping down counters and vacuuming floors a lot simpler. This rule would also help avoid needing to take a larger chunk of time later to clean all these things up. When these tasks are done one at a time throughout the day, in under a minute, they don’t make much of an impact on my day. But having to take care of 50 tasks in one session takes the better chunk of an hour of my day and definitely feels like “cleaning”.
We’ve been trying this half heartedly the past month or so, but I’m going to post reminders and get the whole family to participate and see just how much difference one simple rule can make. There are SO many things that we can do in a minute or less if we “Just Do It!” I’ll let you know how it goes.
I’d love to hear how the one-minute rule works for you!
Until next time, happy organizing!
Tracy Greene
Plan-and-Organize-Life.com
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