Table of Contents

-Introduction
-Did you know?
-Monthly Mission – Recap First 6 Months and Tidy Up
-Check Out These Pages! – Relevant pages and new site additions
-Four Guidelines to Eliminate Clutter

Introduction

Hello! I hope you’re all enjoying your summer. We’re well into ours. This summer, in addition to the traditional summer fun activities, I’m putting my kids through Self Sufficiency Boot Camp for Kids. That’s a little program I put together to make sure my kids learn some much needed skills so they can be more independent as well as helpful around the house. So far, they’re doing a pretty good job. They’re learning to do things without having to wait for help, but on the downside (for them) they say they miss being waited on! Ha!

I also mentioned in the last email that I was considering trying a new email system to stop the email clutter, but I have to admit, I’m afraid to start it. I’m really concerned that I won’t be able to keep up with it. I guess that’s the perfectionist side of me talking. But really, what do I have to lose since anything has got to be a better system than my current way of scanning for important emails, which are only a very small percentage of the tons of emails I get! So maybe I should bite the bullet and see how it goes. How do you all prefer to handle your emails?

Getting rid of clutter eliminates 40% of house work in an average home and that 80% of the clutter in most homes is a result of disorganization, not lack of space. (Ottawa Citizen, 2003)

So, there you have it. A bigger house is not always the answer to your problems, especially if you’re seeking more space to hold all your overflowing belongings. Instead, you need to live within the space you have and work on decluttering and organizing to make it function. Honestly, so much of what we have and keep isn’t necessary or used, or doesn’t make our lives better. You THINK you need a bigger house, but guess what, without some organizing systems in place, you’re just going to fill the bigger house up with stuff too!

Here are some pertinent pages on the website you may have missed along with any new pages.

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.

Since we’re at the mid-point of the year and we’re checking in on how we’re doing with our decluttering and organizing, let’s recap four very important keys to keeping clutter to a minimum.

Give everything a home. Everything needs a place to live. Still got stuff looking for a home? Let’s see if we can find some homes for a few things.

Put things away. When you’re done with something, put it away. I am a true believer that this is one of the biggest keys to keeping our homes clutter free. And for some reason, it’s a hard one to do, as easy as it should be. Maybe because there are so many things to put away (see #3).

Own less stuff. The less stuff we have, the less stuff we need to put away, clean, maintain, and find homes for. That means we need to continue to declutter our belongings and focus on trying to narrow our possessions down to things that serve a purpose and things that we love. Also helpful with reducing stuff is the “One in – One out” rule. Stuff will continue to come into our homes, so we must regularly also let things go.

Keep at it! Having an organized home and life is not a one day project. It’s an ongoing process and a way of life. We need to keep working at it to get to a level of organization we feel comfortable with and then continue daily to maintain it.

Take these rules and hang them up as a reminder (I will) and go back over the areas you’ve worked on so far and see if they need a little maintenance. Then, kick back and relax a little bit before we move onward!

Until next time, happy organizing!

Tracy Greene
Plan-and-Organize-Life.com