A QUICK DECLUTTER

Do you ever spend ages trying to find something – that winter jacket you packed away for the summer or an urgent document you need right now?

How much time do you spend looking for things in and around your desk, in your files and unsorted piles of paper?

Declan Treacy, in his book “Clear Your Desk”, estimates people on average spend 20 minutes a day looking for things only on or around their desk, that’s over 2 hours a week, 8 hours a month and 72 hours a year – simply spent searching! You can reduce this wasted time the more you work electronically – provided you have an effective online filing system.

There are many types of clutter. What are yours?

• – Unsorted papers
• – Newspapers & magazines
• – Books
• – Clothes
• – Bric a brac

What else?

Whilst April is a popular time for a spring clean and clear out, a quick reduction declutter from time to time is a great help.

Here are some simple steps:

Clutter Prevention

First, prevent more clutter accumulating: 

1. If you drop it, pick it up (eg magazine)
2. If you open it, close it (eg cupboard door)
3. If you take it out, put it back (eg a document)
4. When you take it off, hang it up (eg jacket)
5. Take 10 minutes a day to tidy your desk (same time each day)
6. Write points 1-4 on post-it notes and place them at visible points in your home. Hold a competition with the children to see who can do it for 7 days

Clutter Cure

Secondly, have a one hour clutter cure towards reducing existing clutter:

1. Give to charity – choose 5 items (eg household linens, crockery, bric-a-brac, unwanted gifts) and take them to a charity shop. They’ll be delighted to have them before Christmas.
2. Give more to charity: choose 5 items from your wardrobe: clothing/shoes you haven’t worn for a year and take to a charity shop. Perhaps you have unworn items you realise were a mistake to buy in the first place.
3. Choose & return 1 item you’ve borrowed from family, friends or colleagues
4. Take the paper pile that bothers you most and spend 15 minutes deciding what to discard, what to file and what needs action (Repeat this daily until the pile has gone)
5. Decide a day and time to start.

Electronic clutter: prevention & cure

• – Use clearly marked folders within your email system to reduce paper & make your files accessible at the touch of a button (or two!)
• – Give yourself a fixed amount of time for social media each day (rather than allowing it to drift into infinity!)
• – Go offline whilst you complete your most urgent and important tasks (unless you need to be online to do them)

In brief

Clutter is a source of stress. Aim to keep things under control by preventing further clutter. Give yourself limits – set a number for the items you clear and the amount of time you spend clearing. It will feel more manageable and so motivate you to get started.

Repeat the programme once a week or fortnightly, or until your clutter has gone

Keeping all manner of clutter under control is an important contributor to having an uncluttered mind and to good time management.

Finally, remember the words of textile designer and poet, William Morris: Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.