#cleaning clutter

In honour of the new year, I set myself a momentous task that I have been putting off for approximately eight years. Dealing with this monstrosity.

And look how beautiful this is:

Melvin Feller is an experienced entrepreneur and former executive, so he speaks from experience, as well as years of his own personal and professional development.  Melvin Feller is also an online Business educator who loves to teach all aspects of business. Melvin Feller’s clients hire him for his depth of business knowledge to motivate, educate and inspire aspiring and current executive leaders to achieve a higher level of success, professionally and personally. Melvin Feller aligns leaders to the vision and future of the organization, supports them in the execution of key strategies and tactics to move initiatives forward and helps them build capabilities to transform culture.

Melvin Feller deals with a lot of clients that are dealing with clutter.  Therefore, they know that the clutter is an issue in their production and business. Now you might be asking, what is clutter and why should I care about it? Clutter is essentially anything you don't need, don't want and get no joy from seeing. There might be 100's of items in your home or office right now that could be cleared away.

 According to Melvin Feller, the cost of having a lot of clutter around you is that it:

Clutter takes up physical space and energy, consider the energy it takes to constantly walk around a pile of clutter or clean up a spill caused by balancing a glass on an uneven pile of magazines.

Clutter takes up mental energy, it's much easier to think of new and creative ideas when you have a clean slate around you and within you.

Clutter takes up emotional energy, it's difficult to feel excited and hopeful when a pile of clutter is in your line of sight.

Thus, the main question is, what will you gain from clearing clutter? New ideas and a fresh perspective, not to mention less stubbed toes and lost phone bills! All kidding aside, in my own life it's been proven that in order to start something new I need to make space for it. It was only after I cleared the clutter from my own office that I made a commitment to become a specialist about it.

 Melvin Feller Gives Five Tips on Getting Started

First, you must imagine the finished product.  You can do this by drawing a sketch or just close your eyes and picture your uncluttered space looking just how you want it. Imagine what you'll do in this space and how much more effective and happier you'll be. Know what you're working towards and why.

Secondly, you must remember that you can do anything for 15 minutes at a time! Work for 15-minutes and then stop before it gets overwhelming.

Thirdly, Melvin Feller recommends that you pick out the hot spots that really drive you crazy, like your mail stack, your in box and that you focus on those. Getting those areas cleared will give you the most satisfaction and motivation to keep going.

Fourth, Melvin recommends that you fill a bag or even several to give to your favorite charity. Your clutter can mean a lot to someone who is in need. You get to feel twice as good once you've opened up space in your home as well as in your heart.  Or better yet ask around for needy families and deliver anonymously.

And finally, keep up with your clutter; spending 5-10 minutes at the end of the day putting things "back in their place”, I can promise you it will save time, space and energy later on.

New Post has been published on https://outrageousinteriors.com/index.php/blog/?p=899

Curing Clutter

All of us here at Outrageous Interiors love reorganizing, remixing and refreshing spaces. Many people looking for room refreshment have a problem starting up their redesign. The problem may just be that they’re indecisive but often the problem is more concrete than that. It’s clutter. Piles of junk mail, laundry, toys and memorabilia all jumbled together, making any redesign wishes impossible. How can you imagine a new space if all you see when you look at is stuff, stuff and more stuff?

Because we want you to love the space you live in and be able to successfully makeover your home when you want, we’ve gathered up the most useful clutter curing advice we could find and cut out the unnecessary stuff. Hopefully it’ll enable you to cut out the unnecessary stuff around the house.

On average, homes are larger than ever. Yet even with smaller families and more square feet of living space, many Americans still fill up attics, basements and storage units with clutter. After those fill up the clutters can start spilling into your living space and that’s where you definitely want to focus when starting your purge.

Pick one room to begin in and make an assessment of the things that are junking it up. Realize that there are two types of clutter: the “I can go through that stuff later” clutter resulting from general laziness and the sentimental “I just can’t rid of this!” clutter.

We all struggle with lazy clutter but that’s okay because it’s the easiest to get rid of. Lazy clutter consists of that which accumulates out of negligence over time. It’s not stuff you really care about so it gets ignored: un-filed papers, unopened junk mail, magazines, ticket stubs, unwanted gifts, that free promotional t-shirt you somehow ended up with and then left sitting on your counter for days. Lazy clutter is mostly garbage. The easiest way to get rid of it: throw away the trash, bin the recyclables and donate the donate-ables.

Sentimental clutter is more of a challenge but a surmountable one.  To conquer it, pre-schedule a time that works for everyone involved. If you make the time, you’re more likely to deal with it. Cleaning these things up should be a family affair, so scheduling it ahead will also ensure that everyone can attend. You may need a few hours so shooting for a Saturday or a Sunday can’t hurt.