1 / 60

Getting Rid of Your Midlife Clutter

Getting Rid of Your Midlife Clutter . Nancy Recker, Extension Educator, FCS, Associate Professor Lois Clark, Extension Educator, FCS, Associate Professor. Are You Living In Clutter?. Do You Want to Feel More Organized?. Are You Suffering From Mid-Life Clutter?.

nimrod
Télécharger la présentation

Getting Rid of Your Midlife Clutter

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Getting Rid of Your Midlife Clutter Nancy Recker, Extension Educator, FCS, Associate Professor Lois Clark, Extension Educator, FCS, Associate Professor

  2. Are You Living In Clutter?

  3. Do You Want to Feel More Organized?

  4. Are You Suffering From Mid-Life Clutter? • Do you waste time trying to find things you know you have? • Do you feel you don’t have enough storage space? • Is your lack of organization causing you stress?

  5. Why Do People Clutter? • Urged to buy things everyday • Can’t bear to part with a • piece of the past • Don’t know where to put it • and so it’s set aside

  6. Did You Know… Clutter Facts • More than 3000 documents can be found in an average home • Cost of paying late fees and premium prices can amount to 15-20% of a family’s budget • An average household may accumulate 300 pages of paper a day • Average households have 25% more furniture and 75% more toys than they need Source: Dean, S. (2002, May), Clutter and Chaos. Reader’s Digest, 90-97.

  7. More Clutter Facts • Lack of space is not the cause of clutter in the home. Disorganization results in 80% of the clutter in most homes. • In the average home, getting rid of clutter eliminates 40% of housework • Americans waste more than 9 million hours looking for lost items Source: www. Orgcoach.net/clutter.html

  8. Midlife Clutter The Challenge . . . Midlife • Realizing that life has a time limit • Taking stock of what we have • Organizing, simplifying, downsizing to give ourselves peace of mind • Determining what you want to do with the rest of your life • Completing estate plans

  9. Why So Much Midlife Clutter? • Feel guilty • You might need it • It’s hard to let go • Everything we own, every piece of paper has its own story • There just hasn’t been time • Don’t know where to start

  10. The Definition of Clutter • According to Webster the definition of clutter is “Clutter \Clut"ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cluttered; p. pr. & vb. n. Cluttering.] To crowd together in disorder; to fill or cover with things in disorder; to throw into disorder; to disarrange; as, to clutter a room. [1913 Webster]

  11. Or Clutter Can Be . . . • Clutter:Anything you own, possess, or do that does not enhance your life on a regular basis. Orgcoach.net/clutter.html accessed 2/10 • Clutter is a cute word we use to make us not feel so bad about our bad habit of being disorganized and sloppy

  12. Organizational Styles Time Personality Styles And Space Personality Styles

  13. Time Personality Styles…Drop and Hop • Have a number of irons in the fire • Thrill of doing something new is motivator • Easily distracted • Want immediate gratification

  14. Clutter Ends Up Where You Drop It

  15. Time Personality Styles…Perfectionist • Want to have everything just perfect • Get over-involved with details • Seldom satisfied with results

  16. Time Personality Styles…Detail Dodger • Can’t be bothered with details • Others are forced to pick up the • pieces • Appointments missed, details ignored, • and thing forgotten

  17. Time Personality Styles…Procrastinator • Put things off as long as possible • Work better under pressure • Hate to start a new job • Do what you like to do and postpone • what you don’t like to do

  18. Putting Off Cleaning Your Basement?

  19. Time Personality Styles…See-Saw • Go back and forth between “should I” or “shouldn’t I” • Worry about not having enough information to make a decision • Let others make important decisions for you • Don’t like to take risks

  20. Space Personality Styles… Sentimentalist • Never met a memento they didn’t like-or keep • Memories are tied up in things • Throwing away is like giving up the past

  21. Space Personality Styles…Hoarder or Pack Rat • You keep everything because you might need it someday • Accumulations are security blankets • Feel guilty getting rid of things

  22. Of Course it Still Fits!

  23. Space Personality Styles…Minimalist • Nothing out in the open • Clear space means clear mind • Hide things from sight and forget where you put them

  24. Out of Sight..

  25. Space Personality Styles…All Out • Everything needed is out in front of them • Waste of time to put things away when they’re going to use them again

  26. Space Personality Styles…The Piler • Confuse neatness with organization • Arrange things in neat piles without actually putting anything away

  27. Space Personality Styles…The Total Slob • Totally disorganized • More important things to do with life than be neat

  28. "Out of clutter, find simplicity."--Albert Einstein

  29. Clutter Happens…Why Organizing Systems Don’t Work Most people fall into one of three groups: They’ve tried and tried to get organized but never quite succeed. They used to be organized but something happened somewhere along the way. They are basically organized but are always looking for different ways to improve the system. Source: Waddill, K. (2201). The organizing source book. Chicago, IL: Contemporary Books, 8

  30. Classify Your Clutter • Travel Clutter- Souvenirs you got on a special vacation and can’t bear to throw away • It Used to Be Important Clutter-Keys that don’t work, clothes that don’t fit, toys no one plays with • Phony Clutter-posing as a bargain-garage sales, 2 fers-2 for one

  31. Classify Your Clutter • Inheritance Clutter-Anything someone gave you because they didn’t know what to do with it-Video collections, Mom’s old dishes • Bequeathed clutter-stuff you get as a present • Rabbit Clutter-clutter that multiplies fast-Beanie Babies, fabric, needle work kits

  32. What Am I Supposed to Do With Aunt Tillie’s Stuff?

  33. The More You Buy, The More You Need

  34. Classify Your Clutter • Imposter Clutter-Clutter disguised as good stuff—musical instruments, outdated cameras and video equipment, electronics • Ambiance clutter-Household accessories that you put away after you changed your decorating schemes • Get-to-it-someday clutter-anything you need to fix, finish, or get to someday

  35. And You’re Saving These Toys Because…?

  36. Classify Your Clutter • Eclectic Clutter- miscellaneous clutter-stuff in your drawers you don’t know what to do with, clothes that still fit but don’t match anything else, a lone sock, a lone glove • Car clutter-fast food bags, empty water bottles, bits and pieces of handouts from programs, kleenex, broken car scrapers, matchbox cars, old maps

  37. Kids’ Closets…An Eclectic Mess

  38. Classify Your Clutter • Bob Hope Clutter-Thanks for the memories-love letters, honeymoon matchbooks, babies first birthday card • Snob Clutter-Crystal vases, silver platters, silver tea service • Mysterious Clutter- objects you find and don’t know what they are but they must go to something important • Adapted from:Paauwerfully Organized-What is Clutter?www.orgcoach.net/clutter.html

  39. De-Cluttering • How did I get to this point? • How much time do I have? • How much do I have to get rid of? • What is my plan? • Where do things belong? • Put things away.

  40. Organizing System • Space • Things • Information • Time • Relationships Waddill, K. (2001)The organizing sourcebook. Chicago: Contemporary Books.

  41. “Strategies of Reasonably Organized People” • Make your system fit your own life • Sort and classify • Clean out constantly • Label • Use storage devices to fit your system • K.I.S.S. • Make a decision • Ask for help if you need it • Is your system still working?

  42. Make Storage Work for You

  43. Store Hobby Items Together

  44. Organizing Year 'Round • January – Mail in warranties for products you received as holiday gifts. Purge your filing system. • February – Prepare files to file income tax information. Straighten your desk drawers and toss out the junk. • Etc.

  45. Get Started Before You Get Too Old Step 1 • Take a good look at what you have • If something is working, stick with it • Make a list of everything that needs to be fixed • What’s important for you to keep • Why do you need to get organized

  46. Plan Your StrategyStep 2 • Plan around activities in your home • Make a time table for action

  47. A Good Way to Say “No” to a Request…“I’m Cleaning My Sock Drawer.”

  48. GET STARTED!!!!!Step 3 • Go through everything including all piles • Attack what’s visible first to show results • Do one space at a time • Don’t get sidetracked

  49. What Better Way to Start…Go Shopping!!!

  50. What Does This Have to Do With Midlife? • It’s a time for re-evaluating your life. • Have you accomplished you life long goals? • Is your estate in order? • Where do you go from here? • Who’s going to get your stuff? • How are they going to find the stuff you want them to have?

More Related