I used to tell my clients, “Just take 5 or 10 minutes every day to do a little bit of organizing and you’ll be able to keep on top of it.” And then I had a baby And I haven’t had 5 free minutes ever since.
Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but even when you have what feels like free time you’re so busy just keeping up with day to day tasks, it feels impossible to tackle anything more than that. So, to all those that have come before me, let me say, I get it. (And, to any new Moms on here, ignore this post. Please stop reading, just go lie down and come back when the baby is 1.)
However, for all of those on the other side of baby’s first year, the fog has started to lift. Things are returning somewhat back to normal, and you may now find yourself with those 5 or 10 free minutes. Well, maybe they’re not necessarily ‘free’ (it never is when you’re a parent), but you may be able to find a tiny bit of room in your day to make a dent in the clutter. But, now the question is “Where do I start?”
For today, let’s just focus on what I like to call a “Top Level Purge”. This is often a task I’ll give my clients for homework (if they want some) or what we will often do in a larger area so we can see results more quickly. Below is a Before & After of one such room that we did this in:
As you can see, there was a lot of miscellaneous items to go through so before we even thought about containers or what to do with the room, we walked around and purged the larger and more obvious items, making the sorting and organizing process that much easier.
To start your Top Level Purge, pick a room (or even just a certain space in a room like a closet or even a drawer) and quickly go through it and get rid of anything you know is donate, garbage or recycle. If you get stuck on making a decision, move on. We only have 5 minutes so we want to make the most of it.
If you can manage to do this, even a couple of times a week, you’ll rid yourself of unwanted items and excess clutter, clearing the way to make a larger scale organizing project that much easier.
But for now, go! Take that extra five minutes and do a bit of “Top Level Purging” and let me know how it goes!
