Your goals form for Feb is ready over at my site. If you’re already signed up, you will have received the form this morning. Otherwise, when you sign up, it will be delivered to you in the welcome pack.

Happy planning

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On Saturday morning I tried to squeeze something into a cupboard and when it wouldn’t fit, I  just lost it.

I then chucked out stuff like crazy.

Why do I have four huge plastic salad bowls when I only ever use at most two at a time?

I use these ones for baking when it’s a 3 cups of flour or more recipe too, and of late, for my sweet and savoury snack mixes.

And that’s how it went.

I had a pile big enough for two grocery carrier bags on my table and told Nester (our cleaning lady) to please help herself to it all. Or otherwise, to toss!

I’ve been seriously decluttering and organising for just over 6 years now, as long as we’ve been in this house and it was my stinginess that started it.

I actually considered getting a kitchen cupboard built to house all my extra stuff and when they quoted me R5000-odd in those days, I nearly fainted.

But I did have an aha – those things I wanted stored weren’t nearly worth R5000 so why would I pay for storage to house rubbish that I probably wasn’t using anyway.

Let that be some inspiration for you!

What do you need to clear out this week?

PS Organise your home will help kick-start your decluttering journey.

I’ve just come back home after having been out with some girlfriends and realised I still needed to post for today

Kim says:

I really need to figure out an easy way to STAY organized…apparently all the different ways haven’t worked for me, or I would be organized, right???? I’ve tried, but can’t seem to stay upon it. Not sure what is really going wrong.

Today, I’m taking the easy way out.

If Kim asked you this question, what would you say are your best tips to help her stay organised

Sherry Smith says:

I need help figuring out a home for things.

I look at something, don’t have a clue where it should go, so I end up leaving it where it sat and in my best Scarlett O’Hara say “I will worry about that tomorrow.”.

Sherry, I love your question!

My good friend, Suzanne, used to say something I love, love, LOVE.

“Don’t put it down; put it away”

I have another saying which is indecision = clutter.

I honestly believe it takes about 10 seconds longer to put something away than to just dump it but the benefits are immeasurable.

These are my ideas for you:

For things you don’t yet have in your home, first think about where you will put them before you even allow them access.

Yes, things need to earn the privilege of remaining in your home.

In the store or if someone wants to pass on things to you, if you can’t think of a place where they will go, don’t buy or accept those things.

It’s hard the first couple of times but then becomes easier as you realise that there’s less to clean and organise

For current things, I like to store them where I use them.

• children’s toys in our sun room – that’s where they play
• children’s books in their bedroom – that’s where they read
• phone chargers in a container in the kitchen – I charge phones while cooking
• and so on

Of course ALL of this “finding a home” business is a lot easier if you don’t have an overflow of stuff to start off with.

So if you feel overwhelmed, then step one is to declutter.

Readers, do you agree? Disagree? Any other suggestions for Sherry?

  Alicia Motyka says:

Why do you think it is easier for some to organize more than others? I LOVE organizing and thrive on the sense of accomplishment when I’m finished. But I have a number of friends who always say they want to be more organized and ask how I do it. What do you say to others that wonder why they’re not organized? Is it their personality, habits or something else?

Great question, Alicia.

I do think there are some of us who naturally crave a more organised space than others due to our personalities.

Those would be the J’s on Myers Briggs.

I’m an ESTJ and I know I need to have order in my surroundings in order to function effectively.

BUT…. and this is a big but…

I personally know TONS of people who are not “naturally” organised but have learnt over the years to set up and maintain systems that work for them, and are now quite happily organised.

You see, organising is a skill set and anyone can learn how to get organised.

I explain the process in detail in the Organise your home system. Please DON’T pay full price if you click through – use your discount code that you get when you signed up for the TMPP.

I also think that people need 3 things to get and stay organised:

1. motivation
2. know-how
3. accountability and support

Maybe your friends are lacking one or more of these 3 components.

Readers, what do you think?

Are you naturally organised? What is your MBTI? (that’s just to satisfy my curiosity!) Do you agree with my 3 parts to getting organised?

I thought I’d share a quick tip with you that will help you to keep your organised space…well, organised.

Boundaries.

For me, this is one of the best ways to keep things under control.

I have one lever arch file folder for my household filing (phone, bond, water and electricity, insurance, credit card, etc.).

When things get too much, I need to declutter as I’m not prepared to create any more space than just that one file.

As for magazines, this is the container I use.

I allow myself just this one basket for any reading material. Ignore the tangled phone extension cord.

If this basket ever becomes too full, I have to go through and declutter it.

Two questions for you:

Do you have organising boundaries like these in your home?

How many magazines do you allow to flow in before they have to flow out?

This is just a sample of the tips you’ll receive on the virtual Spring into Organising workshop.

While I was reading through all the comments on the Clutter Rehab giveaway post, I noticed an interesting trend.

A lot of us favour the good old notebook and pen (or pencil) as our organising tool of choice.

I love it.

That is all.

No, not quite

I brought home my work notebook and a new notebook this weekend to sort out so that I’m all set for 1 August next week.

Do you know why?

Because even after ALL these years, I still constantly flirt with different organising systems within the notebook and pen system.

It’s not that they don’t work for me; they do. It’s just that I know myself and when something starts being a bit annoying, I’m less likely to use it and then the overwhelm starts.

Which is exactly what happened.

The smaller size blue notebook I had been using, while exceptionally cute, is just not big enough for my daily notes. The lines on the page are also not spacious enough for my medium-size handwriting.

All this to say, don’t beat yourself up about having one system and sticking to it consistently.

I’ve said many times on the blog that part of organising is tweaking.

This weekend, consider your planning tool.

Is it working for you? If not, what needs to change?

And now, onto the winner.

I used random.org…

and the winner is Jacinta who said this:

Jacinta, please email me with your postal address by no later by Tuesday 2nd otherwise I’ll have to choose another winner.

Thanks, everyone, for playing along.

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!

Actually, before I write today’s post, I want to just give a big shout-out to Julia.

I was reading through my guest bloggers’ posts and noticed (again) that Julia has been so supportive to both of them on their simplifying journey.

I love it when I’m not the only one encouraging them and wishing them well so Julia, thank you for being an awesome reader and such an encouragement to both them and me.

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I need your help.

I commissioned a blog designer to design a new header and buttons, etc. and it’s all done but I don’t know how to fiddle with WordPress (I have a serious hate-hate relationship with WP) to install it.

If you can do it for me, please will you contact me – of course I’ll pay. Unfortunately the blog designer just does blogger…

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Last night and the night before I was on the computer until 11:30.

This is a big no-no for me.

My cut-off time is 10 pm but I allow myself another 30 minutes if I need it to tie up things, finish emails and so on.

The point is … a whole extra hour is just not acceptable!

I don’t know if you remember but I read every evening for about an hour so the extra hour would therefore cut into my sleep!

What was I doing, you’re wondering?

Well, I had a little project that I needed to complete (I’ll write more about it on Monday) and so I just threw myself into it til it was DONE!

I got to thinking that even though I’m a big believer in baby steps, sometimes I just want a project  crossed off my list and done.

What’s your style?

Would you throw yourself into it and finish in just two days, or would you do a little bit a day for 7 – 10 days?

Today’s inspiring space is an absolute dream.

I think it may even be better than Oprah’s closet

This is Megan’s custom-designed closet from Honey We’re Home.

Megan has an absolutely beautiful home (how she keeps it so stylish with a toddler I have no idea!) and it’s decorated beautifully.

There are tons more pictures on the blog posts themselves but I want to point out a few things:

This space embodies “a place for everything and everything in its place“.

I’m a little bit jealous at all the colours that suit her! I have about 4 colours in my wardrobe

Don’t you love how she drapes her (what we call) jerseys over hangers?

look at the shoe storage – beautiful

And look! A touch of pretty with a vase of flowers.

This pic is my favourite. I love the gazillion pairs of jeans all neatly organised. Uniform hangers really make a difference, don’t they?

Now Megan, what I want to know is this, “is that closet neat like this all the time?”

Thanks for sharing your gorgeous closet. Here’s a button for your blog.

Aside from all the eye candy, I LOVE her follow-up post about how she organises that space.

Have a read and catch some tips.

Over to you – what is your favourite part of this space?

I saw a cute idea on I’m an Organizing Junkie months and months ago.

Laura posted about a magnetic make-up holder to corral all the eye shadows, etc. in one place.

I thought it sounded like a good idea but I never like to buy things if I think I can make do in another way.

So I finally tried.

And it went wrong… horribly wrong.

Some of my eye shadows broke and there was powder everywhere.

If you click the pic, you’ll see the mess in all its splendour.

I’ve since moved the ones that still have powder to a smaller container so it at least looks better.

So there you go, organising doesn’t always work out perfectly the first time.

That’s why you have to constantly tweak your systems.

Over to you.

Have you ever had organising mishaps? Share in the comments.

You know how there are places in your home that bug you everytime you look at them, but because you don’t see them regularly, they don’t bug you enough to sort them out?

Yes?

Well, that’s my linen cupboard.

In my old house (which I actually need to stop hankering after…except that it had tons more storage than this one) I had space to store linen and towels in each of the bedrooms.

Not so in this house.

When we moved here and started unpacking, I was horrified at how little storage space there was.

I got a few quotes to add extra cupboards here, there and everywhere (mainly the kitchen) and when I saw how much money it would cost, I thought, “no way am I spending money to store more stuff”.

That’s how the decluttering and organising journey began.

And this blog, 5 years ago in 2006

Anyway, so now the babies’ linen and towels are all stored in their room, I have one shelf in the guest bedroom for an extra duvet cover, sheet, pillowcases, set of towels and a thick quilt.

And one cupboard in our bedroom for the rest.

There is also a tiny drawer in the main bathroom for hand towels and bath mats, and another tiny drawer in our room for hand towels for our bathroom, also known as the smallest bathroom in the world.

But let’s show you the main linen cupboard.

Nothing to write home about but that’s the thing.

It doesn’t have to be.

So often we think everything has to be picture perfect to be organised because of the rooms and spaces we see on TV and blogs.

Not so.

Function first and then form.

Also, my own personal organising guideline is if it’s for the inside of a cupboard it can be less pretty than if it’s on show, like on a shelf.

Of course, if you can do pretty on the inside, go for it.

But don’t go and buy lots of pretty things if you have perfectly good and functional boxes/ baskets.

Back to you.

Where do you store your linen? And how much do you have?

Also, do you have any personal organising guidelines?