First let me congratulate each and every one of you that finished the organizational challenge! The challenge is now closed at 41 participants in the whole room category and 17 participants in the small space category! Woohoo! I’m so very impressed at how many of you did whole rooms, I wasn’t expecting that! Over the next two weeks we will be busy checking out each of your posts to determine our prize winners and well just soak up some fine organizational goodness. Of course I still have to make sure to feed my kids so I’m going to have to pace myself!
Those that didn’t finish, that is okay, but don’t give up! Just keep plugging away because I’m still expecting you to email me once you do finish…you didn’t think I was going to let you off the hook that easy did you?
Organizational expert, Peter Walsh was on Oprah this week so what kind of Org Junkie would I be not to take notes again for my favorite readers. Enjoy!
Words of wisdom from Peter Walsh:
Clearing out the clutter and chaos in your life will allow you to live a fuller richer life.
Your house is a metaphor for your life.
Basic principles of organizing:
- Establish a vision for the room/space and decide what will help you achieve that vision and what will not.
- Purge
- Organize
- Establish routines
First step in de-cluttering is not the stuff. Ask yourself what kind of life do I want and what do I want from this room. If anything in the room helps you create that, keep it, if it doesn’t what is it doing in your house?
When you start sorting, think FAST:
F: Fix a time
Sort into the following three categories:
A: Anything you haven’t used in a year
S: Stuff that doesn’t belong
T: Trash
How to free yourself from memory clutter:
- Realize that if you let go of an item, you do not let go of that person. People do not live on through material items.
- Hold on to items that only bring back positive memories, not painful ones.
- If there are items that encourage you to keep up a ritual based on grief, consider letting it go and focus on the positive instead.
- Make sure your space has a great representation of the past but also leaves room for you to celebrate the present and plan for the future.
- Keep the items that truly represent your loved one.
- To help, use this three-step process:
Step 1: Place all items in another area.
Step 2: If you’re looking to renovate a room, decide how you want to feel in that space.
Step 3: Sort everything into three categories: charity donations, keepsakes and items for a memory chest.
Debi says
“Your house is a metaphor for your life.” Now that’s a scary thought! Hmmm…excuse me while I now go hide under the covers for a while.
health watch center says
what a cute template … I liked your blog’s look…and the colors…so cute…
new here wanted to say hi…
Self Help Zone
keri says
Hey…
First time here!
I love to organize too!
I am going to enjoy coming here and seeing how YOU do it.
I like the menu ideas.
Haley says
I tagged you!
~Haley
Annie says
Hey Chickie,
I really liked that Oprah show, it was pretty emotional for the family but it was handled so well.
Hey thanks for the support!!!
Megan says
I missed this episode so thanks so much for the recap!!
Jana says
I’ve tagged you for a meme if you are interested in playing along.
Kim says
Great notes on Peter Walsh. Congrats on so much participation with your challenge. I love it! I have been working on mini projects this week and it feels so good to get some stuff accomplished. I so wish you lived in my neighborhood; we could knock these projects out in no time! I hope your week is going well.
Rosie says
I am hoping that my metaphor is a clean happy home with joy and peace inside! I am trying hard. I need ideas for labels–got any ideas for me?
gail says
“Your house is a metaphor for your life.” I liked that but like Debi, it’s scary too!
I saw this show, thought it was good. Memory clutter, from this seemed like it was more for people who’d lost someone…..maybe mine is more sentimental clutter? If there’s such a thing; I have a hard time letting go of stuff my kids had as babies, toddlers etc. so wonder what the key is for something that’s sentimental?