Weekly Assignment: Shed the Stuff That's Holding You Back
March 21 - This week's assignment: Lighten up! Here's a few ways to unload your mind.
Tackle your clutter for two hours each week for the next month. Break the time up into half-hour chunks, or do it all at once. Prime for tossing: books, DVDs, and unworn or rarely used clothing.
Read or watch something that makes you laugh for at least 15 minutes a day. May we suggest our faves: awkwardfamilyphotos.com and improveverywhere.com.
Say no to a project, meeting, or obligation each week -- and do something for yourself.
More from WholeLiving.com:
+ Spring Clean Your Life
+ Better (Greener) Storage Strategies
+ How Clean Is Too Clean?
What are you doing to get clean and organized this spring? What are you doing to lighten up and give yourself a mental break? Share your thoughts and questions below.
For more healthy strategies and previous weekly assignments, return to the Action Plan group page.
Tackle your clutter for two hours each week for the next month. Break the time up into half-hour chunks, or do it all at once. Prime for tossing: books, DVDs, and unworn or rarely used clothing.
Read or watch something that makes you laugh for at least 15 minutes a day. May we suggest our faves: awkwardfamilyphotos.com and improveverywhere.com.
Say no to a project, meeting, or obligation each week -- and do something for yourself.
More from WholeLiving.com:
+ Spring Clean Your Life
+ Better (Greener) Storage Strategies
+ How Clean Is Too Clean?
What are you doing to get clean and organized this spring? What are you doing to lighten up and give yourself a mental break? Share your thoughts and questions below.
For more healthy strategies and previous weekly assignments, return to the Action Plan group page.
Tags: action-plan, cleaning, organizing
Views: 10
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Pat on
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My daughter and I bought a 4 pack of those Clorox wipes and put one in each bathroom and the other in the kitchen. Whenever I start to de-clutter, I see the dust and grime. So now I just pull out a wipe or two everytime I visit the room and wipe down something in the room: a light-switch, a corner, a ledge, whatever. Makes me feel like I am getting something done in less that 2 minutes at a time.
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Permalink Reply by Roxy on -
I had all of this year's paperwork thrown into a big messy pile on top of the fridge, waiting to be organised and put away. Yesterday, I bought a portable hanging file box and filed everything away according to category. There's nice big tabs on the top of each file, and it's all in alphabetical order. The box is in an easy to reach place, so there's never any excuse just to throw paperwork on top of the fridge. It's just as easy to walk over and file it away in the file box.
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Permalink Reply by nannette vie on -
My only comment is that in advising people to "de-clutter," there always seems to be the suggestion to "get rid of books." There seems to be an attitude that books are to be read and discarded. Since when is a personal library considered "clutter?"
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Permalink Reply by Caitlin Losey on -
I don't think we're referring to a personal library as clutter, just as we don't consider a wardrobe of clothing clutter. Whatever the material, if you don't need or use it, get rid of it. Too much stuff can definietly mess with the energy in any given space.
Rather than think of it as "tossing" or "discarding", donate or give away the things you don't need. There are plenty of shelters and non-profit organizations that would love unwanted books to distribute to those who don't have them. For example: booksforsoldiers.com ships books, dvds, video games and relief supplies to deployed military members of the US armed forces.
You could even score a little extra cash by selling them on Amazon marketplace.
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Permalink Reply by Julie Randolph on -
Thank you for the booksforsoldiers.com link. We love our personal library but we either have to keep on top of it, or else build an addition to our house. We have an actual library room with six floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, filled (plus books in all the bedrooms). When I ended up with several boxes of books for donation, I discovered that most of the charities in my area won't accept books. Some said they were inundated; others mentioned a new law that I am unfamiliar with. Vietnam Veterans of America will take books, with a limit of a couple boxes per pickup. Their website is pickupplease.org.
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Permalink Reply by nannette vie on
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Public libraries in my area accept book donations (in all formats) and sell them to the general public at very reasonable prices. This is an ongoing fundraiser for "Friends of the Library" who have had occasion to send funds to libraries who have sustained a loss of some kind. At the local library we have changed from fixed pricing to whatever a patron cares to donate for the books they select.This minimizes waste and allows people to acquire what they really need or want especially for textbooks and other nonfiction.
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Permalink Reply by kat foster on
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I just love this whole line of conversation. I'm off to look at the booksforsoldiers.com link for the box of books I discovered in my attic while trying to de-clutter :) I'll check into my public library, too. Public services, like libraries, are some of the first institutions to feel the crunch when tax dollars get tight. Any way I can support them, I'll check it out!
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Permalink Reply by Anita on -
I made the switch to electronic billing - Now when a bill comes in I pay it electronically and save it immediately to the applicable folder set up on my zip drive. I can find them any time and print them as needed.
The file cabinet has been replaced with a 6 inch by 4 inch Zip Drive - some of my friends save to a Disc for back-up.
No more paper to recycle and going to the mail box is more fun because its either empty or filled with Good News from friends.
Next Step - find out how to have my name and address removed from the Junk Mail circulation list.
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Permalink Reply by Clare on
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I have been meaning to donate the clothes that the kids have grown out of. I'm going to get that done this week. I keep having to look through clothes that don't fit them to get to the stuff that does, it's been driving me crazy but somehow I never seem to make the time to do it.
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