my theory of decluttering, it works!

[contactmaya]

Hi folks, awhile ago i came to this board, asking about people's theory of clutter.

Well, i did an experiment, and it works!!!

One of the major sources of clutter is those magazines, pieces of paper, mail, broken books that need to be mended, something that has to be read etc. Well, i got rid of that clutter really easily.
This is how i did it.

I labelled bags/boxes with one week, one month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, and put everything in each bag according to which category they belonged to. So if i had something that needed to be done in the next 3 months, easy, put it in the 3 month bag, if it had to be done this week, easy, put it in t he one week bag.

Now i have no clutter at all! And i havent even done anything yet, i can still procrastinate!!!


Now i just have to see if this works for other stuff. For eg, kitchen stuff, if i only use it every few months, it goes in the 3 month section etc, etc. Only stuff i use every day is close by. That means, no more clutter!


Anyway, ill check back here and let you know how it goes over the next few months.

Anyone else ever tried anything like this?
Maya

[greenmamapagan]

I love that you can still procrastinate

[contactmaya]

...that could be why it might actually work....

[aprons_and_acorns]

Originally Posted by contactmaya

For eg, kitchen stuff, if i only use it every few months, it goes in the 3 month section etc, etc. Only stuff i use every day is close by. That means, no more clutter!

That is genius!

[LCBMAX]

but ... I'm confused ... if you put something in the 3 month bag today, and you put something else in that same bag 30 days later, don't they have different due dates? how do you keep track of that?

[durafemina]

ooh, interesting!

[wife&mommy]

Sounds like a good plan to me!

[*bejeweled*]

Interesting. Let us know how it works out...

[contactmaya]

...its not really a 'due date' so to speak, so much as an approximation of a time frame within which you might need something. My guess is you will periodically update stuff, and sort stuff as you need it. Each week, the 'week box' should be different, so eith stuff is 'done' or put away in another category, like into the 'month' box, etc... i dunno, will see...

[cheer mom]

ummm, honestly, it just sounds like you are "shuffling sh_t" as we call it. You aren't really getting rid of anything, you are just creating rules to allow you to clutter.

[nd_deadhead]

I'm with cheer mom - in the time it took you to get your system together, and sorted all that stuff, couldn't you have dealt with some of it permanently? And don't the bags have to go somewhere? I'd be afraid they would be out of sight, out of mind, and things that needed to get done would get lost.

[contactmaya]

to the naysayers-i hear you, shuffling stuff around, procrastination, doesnt sound promising...however.....

I think that if you have stuff, however much, you have to shovel it around somehow. The only way to avoid that, is to not have any stuff.

So the question is, whats the best way to shovel it around?

So im doing this experiment, where i organize by time rather than by type.

Admittedly, i only started this a couple of weeks ago.

So far, i am liking the results. First of all, i always have somewhere to put something. That means, clutter doesnt build up. I look at it, and think, ill need this is 3 months, so i put it in the 3 month bag/box, and write it down in my file, so i know where to find it.

Or i think, doesnt go anywhere, dont need it, throw it.

As a result, i have no clutter build up in sight.

I am motivated to do something about some of those difficult items, because i know where to put them.

Now, as for 'out of sight, out of mind', not really, because important things always come to mind. Like those school applications, or those birth certificates, etc etc, or even that big bottle of shampoo that i dont need yet, but definitely will in a couple of months.

I dont think procrastination is a bad thing. I think procrastination is to time, as putting things away is to space. I would rather have free time (uncluttered time) in the present, and still have my stuff organized out of sight.

The alternative, is to forever be organizing and reorganizing to keep clutter at bay. No thanks, thats clutter in time to me, ie things to do all the time, instead of enjoying the present.

But... will it work over a long period of time? I dont know. So far its working, and its liberating.

[mymaybaby05]

Im going to try this! What kind of boxes did you use?

[Tjej]

I sort of have things organized that way, but I find that most of the stuff that isn't in the more immediate zones just gets forgotten.

Tjej

[cheer mom]

I didn't mean to offend you. I am a big believer in the "whatever works for you" (and not in a mean way!) Different things work for different people and maybe this woulod work for you. Looking back, I can say that I responded when I thought about me using your system. ywim?

And yeah, stuff does get shuffled. I'm working really hard on this, but it's a problem for all of us.

[clutterwarrior]

I am open to any new methods and thanks for sharing your system.

I must admit I am a little confused though about where the bags/boxes go, or 'live'? Like if they are sitting in rooms, then I am wondering if it may look cluttered with bags or boxes sitting in sight.

[contactmaya]

...dont have specific types of boxes yet, will see how it goes. Right now, im using what i have. I think i would put anything that isnt in the 'week box', in a well organized closet, with everything labelled, and an inventory written down, and pinned to calender or something.

I agree that the stuff builds up in the closet, but.... i find i am eliminating more things, and also, stuff is well organized, and easy to find, so it will probably work out. If there is too much stuff, i eliminate the '1-2 year' box first, so to speak.....

[TanyaS]

It sounds like this could be a good solution for incoming clutter while you work on putting things where they actually go. I often get overwhelmed because I don't have time to do a deep declutter because all the new clutter doesn't have a home.

[JERENAUD]

Originally Posted by nd_deadhead

I'm with cheer mom - in the time it took you to get your system together, and sorted all that stuff, couldn't you have dealt with some of it permanently? And don't the bags have to go somewhere? I'd be afraid they would be out of sight, out of mind, and things that needed to get done would get lost.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but my understanding of her system was that she put everything that she anticipated needed this summer (but not currently) in the 3 month box. And then at the end of that 3 months, whatever hadn't been taken out to be used, wasn't kept.

Erica