Several people have mentioned that it is fun to unclutter and organize. I know I feel relieved and pleased when I'm finished, but getting there can sometimes be torture. When it's not torture, that means I have found something interesting in the mess, and I have gotten sidetracked. LOL!
I truly believe, if I change my mindset, I will win this battle! So...How do I make it fun?
Music works wonders.
I clean my entire house while listening to music. Put anything you are in the mood for. Cleaning can also be fun if you sing along with the music.
You can also turn organizing into a strategy game. Stop and observe your surroundings. Think of ways to make it easier to use your items and put them back in place without creating clutter. Thinking strategically can be very entertaining and good for the mind.
I hope this helps.
Cheers!
I put on my ipod, put on some upbeat music, and sing loudly as I do it. Smaller tasks get done in commercial breaks
Music is good, but I find a lot of the time I need to either make a playlist ahead of time or have to stop every 5 minutes to skip songs I don't feel like listening to at the moment, and since I play music on my computer instead of my mp3 player, it's easy to get sidetracked.
Instead, what I do is put on a DVD of a movie I know by heart; it keeps my mind semi-occupied and makes cleaning less torturous.
I have a specific playlist full of upbeat music that I love to sing along with. When I'm alone, that really helps.
But even better is to have a friend over so we can chat while I work. Maybe they can help, but often times it's me who needs to make decisions so I do it by myself and just have them around for moral support. Besides, they can "tut tut" me when I start to get side tracked.
I'm not a phone person, but if you are, you can get a similar effect by calling someone and chatting to them while you work.
i like to have a cup of tea at my side and music happening.
and that old flylady tip of setting a 15 minute alarm....that's a good one too.
it's psychological.....i set the alarm and i feel all happy knowing it's ONLY fifteen minutes that i have committed to.
and b the time the alarm goes off, i am deep in my work and don't want to stop.
Anything is fun with the right ambiance. :)
I HATE taking down my Christmas decorations, so this year I took out an old Christmas classic movie that I hadn't seen yet, made an eggnog latte and hit play. By the time the movie was done, I had packed every ornament. It was painless and rather fun!
I love putting on a good movie while I organize - if it's a big job (like when I went through my file cabinet) I take it into the living room and turn on a movie and it is great fun! And it gives me a time limit to be finished by...the end. :)
Good luck!!
I talk on the phone with friends when I'm uncluttering something that does not require deep thought (such as my linen closet or wardrobe). Otherwise, I just do it and I am one of those crazy ladies who loves to organize! (And that must be why I do this as a living!)
I'm always amazed by how much I find to donate, sell, or gift. The other night, I was lying in bed thinking, what will I get rid of next, looked up, and saw an antique linen purse I have displayed in a shadowbox and realized, that's next! LOL! What can I say...;-)
i have a hard time motivating myself to unclutter sometime, and other days i feel like i want to go everything so i just take advantage of those time and try to get as much as possible done.
Didn't "Free to Be ... You and Me" have a track about this? The Carol Channing piece (lyrics); (popup audio). Housework isn't fun. It just plain isn't.
Nothing I can do will ever, ever make cleaning and straightening "fun" for me. So instead I focus on the end result (a clean house) and the goal (an uncluttered home where the cleanup is streamlined because of its uncluttered state).
Thanks for the good ideas. I'm going to focus on playing music while I'm uncluttering! I like the timer idea very much, too. That makes it more of a challenge or a race, and I like it when it is game-like. Even though I think the movie idea is a good one, it probably wouldn't work for me, because it would be a distraction for me; I'm such a movie nut.
Mrs. Mack, I would love to have someone come keep me company. There is a nice lady that I could pay to do that, and I may consider it!
I often have a cup of tea or coffee with me, too. Comfort!
Thank you all so much for the good advice!
I will admit it's not fun for me, either! (although, music or tv in the background helps -- especially webisodes of Hoarders!!) One thing that helps me, though, is doing the decluttering in a really systematic way. For example, this weekend I let EVERYTHING slide so tonight my house looked pretty shabby. I started from one point and worked my way around the room. That way I could see my progress really fast and it made it really seem worth my time. Sometimes I just cherry-pick my way through the mess and it's a lot harder to see the effect I'm having. Working my way in a path makes a huge difference.
I'm going to do that with the final room I have to organize, citygirl. I usually cherry-pick, too, until it all comes together, but the way you described it sounds a lot better. Just the simple things we learn from each other help a lot!
I've been trying to remember, when I was a little girl, if my mother showed me how to organize things. I remember her telling me to pick up my toys, but I can't remember if she ever showed me how to put things away neatly. It has been soooo long ago! LOL!
I have a friend that is so organized. I will have to ask her if she remembers being taught or if she was just born that way! :)
In fact, I'm going to go call her right now!
i have decided that when i get it really uncluttered to the vision in my head....then i am going to employ a cleaner.
there now, that feels like more fun already!
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