Right, so today we’re decluttering T-shirts.

I want you to go through all those T-shirts, especially those at the back of your cupboard…I have them so I know you have them too

Look what I found…

an ex-boyfriend’s T-shirt from university!

and one from when we worked in the children’s church before we were married actually (this is 14 years old)

You should be wearing clothes that fit well and that flatter you because you’re worth it.

Throw out those old T-shirts – I don’t even think you should keep them to wear to the gym because you deserve to look cute even when you’re all hot and sweaty from exercising.

How many T-shirts did you get rid of today?

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Challenges for the rest of the month…

8 – underwear and socks, including pajamas

15 - shoes

22 – pants & jeans

29 – sweatshirts and jerseys

next month, we’re going to declutter and organise our clothes

1 - T-shirts, both long and short-sleeved

8 – underwear and socks, including pajamas

15 - shoes

22 – pants & jeans

29 – sweatshirts and jerseys

Get ready for tomorrow; it’s T-shirt time!

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The Organise your Home e-course will help you get your entire home organised in just 12 weeks. Tons of people have been through this system; are you next?

April is Financial Literacy Month

Read previous posts here:

5. Maintain

Restrict your filing space so that it forces you to clear out old bills every 6 – 12 months.

I actually only keep my own bills for 3 months because I have all my household categories in one file binder.

The entire 5-step, easy-to-use system will take you only a minute or two a day, and about 30 minutes when you sit down and pay your bills.

How long have you been keeping your bills?

If you need help getting your finances organised, check out 10 steps to your financial freedom now.
P.S. Today is our 14-year wedding anniversary

This is all part of Project Baby Organising.

I know this intellectually but every time I see it in practice in my own life I’m reminded anew of how easy it is to declutter once you get started.

What I’m doing is decluttering each of those shelves and clearing up space for some guest linen as this room will be doubling as a guest room on the one or two occasions we have people to stay every year.

Please notice I cropped out the right side of the wardrobe because my husband and I have that agreement.

Anyway, back to the topic.

I came across my old diaries/ daily planners from about 2002. I don’t know why exactly I was hanging onto them…but I was.

Now they’re all thrown out. Except for last year’s one because I may want to access some information in there.

So, do you keep your old diaries/ daily planners? How long?

And by the way, what do you call them in your side of the world? In South Africa we call them diaries and we diarise our appointments

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Do you have a bill-paying centre?

It could be a desk in your home, a shelf or even just a plastic envelope or Office-in-a-bag.

The point it that you have some place to keep all the things you’ll need like:

• The actual invoices
• Calculator
• Red pen (or is it just me who loves a nice, thick gel pen for writing PAID)
• Etc.

Everybody in your home should know where this is so that you don’t have to hunt all over the place to find the bills when it’s time to pay.

My suggestion is this:

• when the mail arrives, sort into different types of piles
• take the bills and circle the DUE date (see why I like the red gel pen?)
• based on your method of payment, either use Outlook or your paper calendar to diarise/ schedule to pay them
• I use internet banking or direct debit order so I never leave more than two days prior to the due date to attend to them.
• now put them in your bill-paying centre so they’re ready for you. Do this in chronological order so whenever you look at the pile, the most urgent one is always on top.

excuse the blurry pic

Your challenge

1. Declutter anything that doesn’t belong
2. Dedicate a place for your bill-paying centre
3. Organise it with everything you need
4. Relax and have a nice cup of tea or coffee for being responsible

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For two days only, get the financial e-course for just $21,60 (20% off) when you use coupon code money – offer expires Sat 25th 12pm EST

Have you taken the financial check-up quiz yet? You’ll find it about halfway down on this information page: 10 steps to YOUR financial freedom

For two days only, get the financial e-course for just $21,60 (20% off) when you use coupon code money – offer expires Sat 25th 12pm EST

our bill-paying centres (or centers )

Get ready to post your before and after pics … if you want to, no pressure!

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For two days only, get the financial e-course for just $21,60 (20% off) when you use coupon code money – offer expires Sat 25th 12pm EST

Have you taken the financial check-up quiz yet? You’ll find it about halfway down on this information page: 10 steps to YOUR financial freedom

April is Financial Literacy Month

Read previous steps here

4. Filing your bills

Once your bills are paid, file them in the way that’s easiest for you to manage. If you’re not a file puncher, don’t fool yourself that you will start punching and filing. The road to hell is paved with good intentions

Rather use a filing system where you simply drop the paper in and it’s done. Like this picture.

What kind of filing system do you prefer? Punch and file in a binder, or drop in a hanging file?

If you need help getting your finances organised, check out 10 steps to your financial freedom now.

Do you want the free recording?

I interviewed Beth Dargis in January on 5 Steps to a Saner, Simpler Life.

We really had a GREAT call and I’ve been quoting Beth non-stop ever since. I’ll share just one thing with you to tempt you to listen to the call…

Just because choices are HARD doesn’t mean you don’t HAVE a choice.

I love that quote!

You’ll find useful ideas you can use to simplify your life right now and get beyond the tips to the mindset of living a simpler life.

http://www.mysimplerlife.com/simplerlifecall.htm

I so often get this question:

Marcia, I’m on a mission to get my house organised but how do I get my husband to join in/ organise his stuff, etc.

Great question but I’m afraid …. the answer is not that easy.

You don’t have control over other people, only over your own actions. In other words, you can’t force your spouse to get organised.

I once had a man phone me to ask me to “please come and get my wife organised”. These sorts of things are HUGE alarm bells for me; I do NOT want to get in the middle of a fight so I refused (politely) and said that I preferred it if the person who had the organising challenges phoned me when they were ready.

That story has a good ending because she phoned me about a year later and I then went over and did her home office.

The golden rule is focus on sorting your own stuff out first. Hopefully your spouse will be inspired and will start organising his stuff after he sees the example you’re setting.

Remember these words of wisdom:

1. Your way of organising is not the only way. Don’t discourage him if it’s not done the way you would have done it.
2. If he doesn’t show the slightest bit of interest in organising, respect his right to have his stuff look just how he wants it. You don’t have to like it; just respect it. It’s his house too.

My husband is very organised at work and I joke and say, “what happens when you get home?”

He says it’s because he knows I have the house totally organised that he completely relaxes when at home.

Honestly, he is actually quite organised at home too; just not to my standards, but I do respect his space and leave his things be.

With Project Baby Organising, I started doing the room and what-not and without saying a word, I’ve seen him do some decluttering and throwing out of his own things. Not just once, but on at least 3 different occasions.

Well well well!

Just goes to show what happens through just setting an example.

I’d love to know what works with your own spouse. Please share in the comments.

Usually when I do organising workshops, I make everybody organise their wallets since both men and women carry one.

It’s so fun to see all the rubbish that comes out of some people’s wallets; I think because they just add and add to it, and never take out the whole lot to see what’s actually there.

So today, when you declutter your wallet (and you will, won’t you?), please do me a favour and follow these steps:

• remove everything
• decide what you NEED and what you don’t
• throw away the stuff you don’t need
• think about the best way to store things for you (remember the organising process needs to be suited to your unique lifestyle)
• then please, please go through it weekly from now onwards. You’ll make me very, very happy if you do so

To help you out, read about how I organise my own wallet here. I bought this on 2 Nov 2006 and have not stopped loving it – isn’t it gorgeous?!

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Have you taken the financial check-up quiz yet? You’ll find it about halfway down on this information page: 10 steps to YOUR financial freedom