Today - A review of the series

In the past 37 episodes I’ve covered rather alot of ground. I’ve explained exactly what clutter is, what causes it and the mental and emotional impact that a cluttered home or work space can have and some survey statistics to back that up. Then I listed the common mistakes that people make when attempting to organise their clutter and how to avoid these problems. I touched on the mental blocks that often stop us from making any progress and the number one secret of organised and successful people which of course is managing their time.
Then I covered the concept of the family CEO or domestic diva as a way of stepping fully into the very important and responsible role of successfully managing your household. This was followed by learning how to set goals a couple of ways to go about decluttering and then what your big picture vision is for your home and life., and then the huge importance of plugging the leak that’s causing much of your clutter problems in the first place.

At this point we got into the nitty gritty of how to go about clearing your clutter by taking the tried and true clutter diet method or the bigger and harder week-end wallops. I provided some resources for recyling useful but unwanted items you find in your clean up and some options for limiting the build up on the future. I followed this by providing detailed ways of approaching specific problems areas of the home like kitchen appliances, garages, wardrobes, kids rooms and many more.

Then onto the paper problem with solutions for filing systems, mail and setting up a communication centre and family binder. I covered dealing with hobbies, emergencies and staging your home for sale and lastly preparing for a house move.
I’ve enjoyed creating these information and how to programs for you and hope they’ve been of us to you.

Follow the series link below to find all the previous episodes.

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The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present
3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every
Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET
4:30AM GM)

Today, kids bedrooms!

This can be a scary thing! Here are my thoughts on the matter. If your kids have their own rooms then that space to a degree is theirs and should be respected by you as such. Having said that though - this is your house & teaching them to respect house rules is a great life lesson. Now in my opinion your role as a parent is to teach your kids what they need to know to function effectively in society.

There are skills they need to move through life without suffering negatives consequences on a regular basis.
These skills include knowing how to take care of themselves. How to clean and tidy their home, do the laundry, prepare meals, schedule their time and manage money, to name but a few basics, & yes boys should learn these too.

If you aren’t too great at some of these things, well teaching is a great way of learning and you have the motivation of knowing how helpful it will be for them to learn while they’re young so it just becomes part of their lives rather than a regretted activity that they believe someone else should be responsible for.

You are not their slave you’re their life coach. Teach them  by making them responsible for their own things now. And start in their bedrooms.

Partner with them to get it decluttered in the first place. Make a game of it and reward them when the job is done. Kids can be more realistic about what they no longer use than adults are and suggesting that a perfectly in tact item could go to some child who is less fortunate is generally received very well. Don’t dictate to them how they should organise their things, ask them their ideas, make suggestions and offer reasons why you think their idea won’t work if you think it won’t.

Have a physical limit on the volume of toys they can own at any one time and make birthdays xmas and season changes  regular calendar events where older items must be purged in lieu of the new ones received.
A way to retard the inflow of stuff into the house and a great habit to get them into, is whenever they want a new toy simply ask ‘what do you have  at home you’re willing get rid of, if I buy you this?’ if they agree to get rid of somehting make sure you remove it when you do get home.

That’s it for this time next episode is a suprise!

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The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present 3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET 4:30AM GM)

Planning for the Clutter Diet method

This is where the 2 options I discussed in episode 10 diverge so, for this reason I’m going to tackle them separately.
If you’re using the ClutterDiet method then you’ll need set up a daily schedule for yourself or preferably for the family that includes regular time to do whatever corner, closet, cupboard, shelf, etc that is scheduled for that week. Even 15 minutes a day of totally focused committed action means you’ll  see a big difference within a week. Remember to plan your goals and deadlines based on this strategy if it’s your choice.
Now the big question is where to start? This needs to considered in light of your own situation, if for example you’re clearing clutter for the purpose of moving house redecorating or some such thing then I tend to use the Pinball process to find ground zero to start at.
For example you might want to create an office space  but in order to do that you need to move what’s in the area you’re putting the office lets say under the stairs to somewhere else, lets say that’s the spare bedroom, so that spare bedroom becomes ground zero - you need to declutter that room in order to create an office under the stairs.
If, on the other hand you have no particular purpose but simply to get organised and clutter free then you may want to just start with the room or area that bothers you the most in other words the worst, busiest or most important area of the house.  Generally I find that the kitchen, Home Office or Master Bedroom are key spaces to get under control.

Starting in the space most used by the most people is logical, as a way to begin to get the family joining in. Chances are that some of them will be keen to clear the decks for a new start. If on the other hand you’re chipping away at this project on your own it may well be a great idea to begin in your bedroom, so that as you continue your kicking clutter workout through the home, you always have that private haven to relax in.
The feng shui approach is to locate the actual physical centre of your home and start there if that’s possible because it’s at the heart of your home and therefore affects everything else.
In the next episode planning for a week-end wallop!

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The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present 3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET 4:30AM GM)

Your big picture plan.
This is it this is where it all begins. THe first and most important thing to remember is to put your blinkers on to all the mess that currently exists and to focus! Now to keep this simple I’m approaching it based on the assumption that the entire house needs help. So let’s get started.
The plan: Your first step is to establish the purpose for each room in the house. By this I mean that you state on paper what room it is and what activities it’ll be used for. For eg - your dining area - perhaps right now it’s just one enormous dumping ground. After checking out all other options - you need a computer system & desk in there as well -  so your dining area is for dining and a home office. Now do you see what I mean? - go through each room and state it’s purpose and all the activities that it’ll be used for.
This process should involve the entire family save time by having each member do this task individually  this avoids lengthy doorway debates, then have a family powwow & come to a household decision about each space, Everybody’s opinions should be heard and everyone will more than likely need to compromise but the end result will be more harmonious for everyone.

Next on the sheet of paper for each room make a list of the items that are required to fulfill the purpose of that room, so for eg in the master bedroom - the purpose SHOULD be something like - a pleasant parental retreat for sleeping, relaxing.. and getting dressed. So all that needs to be in that room arebed, chair, dresser, closet for eg, anything else in the room like kids toys, the laundry, exercise machines need to be removed. - and so it goes for each room - Once completed THere’s your plan! Post it somewhere that everyone can refer to. This way if anyone wants to spend a few minutes decluttering they can refer to this plan without the need to seek advice - anything that’s in a space that isn’t on the list to stay there gets removed!

In the next episode what to do before you begin clearing clutter.

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