Decluttering in 15 Minutes a Day!

Are you sick of the mess in your house? Would you like to be able to invite friends over again? Would you like to have some clutter control?

It's possible!!! All it takes is 15 minutes a day, a strong desire to get it done, and the extraordinary strength to let some things go. It won't necessarily be easy but by breaking it down into 15 minute time increments, you'll achieve clutter control before you know it!

We're only going to focus on one small area at a time. We'll focus on that small area and only spend 15 minutes a day on it. You won't believe your eyes or your timer at how much you really can accomplish in such a small amount of time!

Here's the area that I picked to start with. It's that collect all area right inside the front door where everything seems to accumulate. Let's see how much I can accomplish in 15 minutes.

Have you ever tried this? If you've lived with the mess for a long time, it's probably invisible to you but take a picture, and wham! There it is! It's like removing the cloak of invisibility from all of the piles of stuff!! The stuff becomes part of the background and your brain will block it out.

Digital works the best for this process because you will physically see instanteous results. You will actually be able to see a difference in 15 minutes and wow it's amazing how good it will make you feel! When you see a difference, you get motivated to keep going and the more you get rid of, the easier it gets.

I use the timer on my iPhone but you can use any timer that you prefer. Some watches have timers on them. My oven has a timer. I have a stand alone timer. Whatever you have and whatever works, use it!

No excuses here! It's only 15 minutes of your time each day and you will accomplish so much. Before you know it, it won't take more than a few minutes to clean your entire house.

I know that's hard to believe but it's true. The less things there are in your house, the less work you have to do to keep it up. It might take awhile to get to that point but you will if you keep working on it every day or almost every day.

I only spent 15 minutes working on this spot. I threw a lot of stuff away - receipts, wrappers, and expired coupons. I put away a bunch of pens and a necklace. There were a lot of little connectors that I put in the basket. I organized the letters in the letter holder but they will need to be gone through tomorrow. At least if they look a little more organized, I wouldn't be so overwhelmed when my next 15 minutes starts.

I don't know about you but I think it looks a lot better! It should only take another day or two of these 15 minute cleanings. The next time I do this, as long as I don't wait too long, it will be much easier. And each time after that, it will get done faster and faster until one 15 minute session is all I need to finish the job. These small areas can hold a lot of stuff and it collects quickly in certain spots.

This is just an easy basic technique to get started. If you need more intensive help, visit www.flylady.net. When I first realized that my house was out of control, I found her website and it helped immensely!

There might not be quite as noticeable as a change because I spent most of the time going through the mail that was in the slots. It was a lot of old bills and ads that someone stuck up there and then forgot about.

I think it's looking much better! One more day of this and then I'll be moving onto something else. I don't really want that second basket sitting there but I haven't decided what to do with it yet. Maybe I'll figure it out tomorrow or get busy giving it away. It's best to get rid of as much as possible but sometimes that can be hard.

You can go all the way around the room 15 minutes at a time. I got rid of a ton of stuff in this next area! What a great feeling!! I can never understand how one area can fill up with so much stuff so fast. It seems I get rid of a bunch of stuff and then a bunch more comes home. I think the trick is to do this often!

Tonight, all I wanted to concentrate on is this one area. This took me 2 - 15 minute segments. But, like I said, I really got rid of a lot - unmatched mittens, excess scarves, too small shoes and empty boxes. There were things that people had given me that I didn't really want and those went too. I had more to get rid of than I had even realized.

Have you ever tried this technique? It's pretty basic and you may have already tried it. I find this works really well for me so I'll use it every time I get stuck. I don't seem to have the attention span to do much more without getting overwhelmed by it all. If I try to do more, the time seems to be wasted because I get too distracted. I start putting things anywhere I can find a spot instead in the places where they belong.

For more before and after pics of a de-hoarding project, visit www.hiddenhoarder.com.