O is for RE-ORGANIZE

Take a deep breath. Maybe two or three more.

It’s now time to tackle the closets-yes ALL of them. This is a MAJOR project.

Set aside a few days or a weekend and get it done!

Actually schedule it on your calendar.

Block out all interruptions including calls and internet.

Another deep breath.

This doesn’t have to be a long –drawn out process.

The goal here is to do the most good in the shortest amount of time so that you can get on with your life and enjoying things that are more fun.

Let’s turn this into a game. It’s not necessarily fun, but definitely important. It doesn’t have to be horrible either. How you choose to deal with it is up to you.

You can set a timer and clean in increments….say for a half hour or so.

One system that I put in place was to reward myself almost immediately.

I would time myself for 30 minutes and challenge myself to get the closet emptied out, sorted, dusted, and wiped down-top to bottom.

Now by sorted I mean I placed each item into several different piles such as: Keeping, donating, throwing out, not sure and “what was I thinking?”

Once that was complete I got to walk away and play 3 games of solitaire. Once the 3 games were done it was on to the next section of the closet. Obviously you can reward yourself with the internet, video games, email, a quick phone call, (to someone who will encourage you to finish and keep you accountable rather than talking you out of it) or whatever you would enjoy.

When my break was over I would put the ‘keep’ items neatly and functionally back into the closet, figure out who and how I was going to deal with the ‘donate’ pile, got a garbage bag-or two for the ‘throw out’ pile, a box for the ‘not sure’ pile to ponder later (it has 24 hours to find a home weather its back into the closet or if it goes into any of the other piles).

*Added incentive was to get 2 or more friends to pick the same time frame to go through their stuff. Different things could be swapped, switched, exchanged or consolidated into items for a garage sale (or pick-up from a local non-profit) along with a celebration together when it was all over.

As for the ‘what was I thinking?’ pile, well… those went into a box that I could only discuss with my closest friends to see what we could come up with as to what to do with it.

Once I was completely done with the closet I would get a half hour (set that timer again), to play unlimited games of solitaire until the alarm went off. Then it was on to the next closet.

My BONUS was that if I managed to get ALL the closets done in 1 day then I had the separate day off-to do or not do whatever I wanted.

**If you’re not ready for the closets or are fortunate enough that yours are tidy, you can choose the garage, a basement or an attic. The choice is yours.

Imagine how GREAT you will feel when it’s all finished!

Until we meet again….Have an OUTRAGEOUS day!