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Simplicity News May 2005 If you are receiving this newsletter, you either subscribed via www.CatalystOrganizing.com, And remember... if you are planning to change your email address, we don't want to lose you! Simply UNSUBSCRIBE your current email address, and then RE-SUBSCRIBE with your new email address. You can do both by Remember you must confirm when you receive the email asking you to, or your subscription will not be processed. Thanks! In This Issue:
You Asked... Kathy in Goodman, Missouri writes: "I need some help as to what to do with all that junk in the garage! We are hoping to move this summer and I am NOT looking forward to tackling
all the "stuff" that we have out there. There are books, linens, gift basket company "leftovers", tools, and more out there! How do I get the motivation to get started on it BEFORE we get into the actual move?" Here are six tips to help you in this area. 1. Understand How It Happened
Some things live very appropriately in the garage, such as tools, sports equipment, garden equipment and the like. However, I suspect your garage is like many others, and has ended up being a dumping ground for everything you didn't have a home for, or didn't know what to do with. You delayed making decisions in the past and now these decisions are all piled up in the garage. Not what you planned on, huh? This is a great time to become AWARE of why you created this situation in the first place, so you can avoid it in the future. This hard project will help teach you that it's far better to make a decision about an item -- give it a home, throw it away, donate it or sell it -- than to delay those decisions for "later". You've learned that when "later" finally comes, you find yourself overwhelmed. 2. Plan Ahead
Choose a few dates in advance that you and your family are willing to work on the garage. Remember that you don't have to do it all in one day, so break it down into two or three days if you need to. Agree to only work for a set number of hours each day, to keep yourself from feeling overwhelmed. You might have the stamina to work from 9am to noon and that's it. Well that's great, so agree to that schedule, put each date on the calendar and stick to them! 3. Get Some Help
It's no fun to tackle a large project like a garage by yourself. Enlist the help of your spouse and children. It will make the job more fun and it will go that much faster with more hands in the mix. 4. Create A Staging Area You will need to use the yard or the driveway for a staging area to create piles for KEEP, SELL, DONATE and TOSS. Purchase inexpensive plastic drop cloths at the hardware store to lay down as a foundation under each pile. 5. Be Aware Of Distractions That Derail You The garage is often home to a lot of things that you'll be tempted to go through and reminisce about. Don't be tempted! Your job is to assess the item's value in your PRESENT life, then choose its fate, either to be kept, sold, donated or tossed. Don't get bogged down in thinking too much about every item or you'll never get finished. 6. Stay In Reality Aside from those items that are appropriate to store in the garage, be realistic about the things you've stashed in there all these years. If you've used your garage as the dumping ground, you'll have a lot to sort through. Odds are that the majority of the stuff in your garage can be donated or sold. Because let's face it... if all the things in your garage were really valuable to you, they probably wouldn't be living in the garage would they? I also want to recommend a new book from Que Publishing, called Organize Your Garage In No Time. It's written by Barry Izsak, the President of the National Association of Professional Organizers and is a terrific guide to help you through the process! You can find it on Amazon.com and have it shipped right to your home.
Declutter Your Life By Freecycling! Decluttering your life is a wonderful way to rid yourself of the things that no longer give you value and is a great way to help someone in need at the same time. All over the world, people are helping others and decluttering their lives by giving away the things they no longer need, through FREEcycle.org. This means that fewer items are going into the trash and filling up the landfills of our planet. It's so simple to join! You just sign up through the web site, and you'll begin getting the emails that people in your local FREEcycle group send out either seeking free items, or offering free items. It's as simple as that! Just go to www.FREEcycle.org to sign up!
Check it out and let me know what you think of the idea. If you've received something or given something away through this wonderful concept, tell me about that too!
Upcoming HGTV Appearances Be sure to catch Monica on these upcoming episodes of HGTV's popular show, Mission:Organization! Episode #503 Restoring Office Functionality Episode #513 Multipurpose Activity Room
Book Report Monica is writing her first book for Que Publishing, called Organize Your Office In No Time. It will be available in July 2005, however you can pre-order it on Amazon.com. Simply enter the full title in the search bar to find it. Or simply use this live link:
She is the Past President of the GA Chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers and was named to the Editorial Advisory Board of Atlanta Home Improvement Magazine. To schedule Monica to speak to your conference, team, department, or association, or for an on-site organizational evaluation, contact her at 770-569-2642 or Monica@CatalystOrganizing.com (c)2005 Catalyst Organizing. All Rights Reserved. | ||