2.07.2007
This Is The Year To De-clutter Your Life (Oprah’s 2/7 Show)
So I am usually not one to religiously follow Oprah but after today’s show, I feel even more inspired about choosing to become a professional organizer. It is such a rewarding experience when you can help someone completely transform their life and today’s episode showed and explained how we work.
According to Peter Walsh, the professional organizer on today’s show, 2/3rds of all American families are living in clutter and paralyzed with where to begin. Oprah was actually shocked at this figure. However, we live in a society where more is usually seen as better so people tend to hold on to things they don’t really need but have purchased maybe because it was 2 for 1, on sale, etc. For example, as the guest couple on the show stated, they were buying things for their children because they thought it would make them happy as well as the kids. However, all the purchases just lead to more clutter.
On the show today, it was explained that physical clutter actually impacts other parts of your life. I believe this is 100% true. There are so many reasons for people why they might be disorganized at the moment or have clothing still in their closet from 20 years ago. According to Peter, there are two kinds of clutter-the “I might need it later” (future) clutter and the “I want to hold onto it” (past) clutter. So what can someone do about it? Peter says you can’t focus on the “stuff” or it will never get organized. What you need to do is focus on the behavior and think about why there actually is clutter. He stated that clutter is really the manifestation of other areas of our life.
Today’s show reinforced my feeling that clutter is always around us. The solution is to call in a professional for help when you know you can’t attack it on your own and to be honest with yourself if you really can tackle the problem.
Below are the 10 tips Peter gave on how to keep your house clutter free.
1. Tackle messes one room at a time.
2. When you buy something new, practice the "in-out rule:" For every one new item, get rid of an old one.
3. Create intimacy in the master bedroom. Remember that improvements in one room can spread to the rest of the house.
4. Make cleaning up fun for your kids.
5. Create a vision for the room you're cleaning.
6. Teach your kids how to sort.
7. Use a hanger system to determine which clothes you wear most.
8. Ask yourself if you really need something. If you hesitate, you don't.
9. Establish a "magic triangle" in your kitchen between the stove, refrigerator and the sink. Keep the items you use most in that area.
10. Identify useful utensils with the cardboard box test. (Take a cardboard box and fill it w/ all your utensils in your kitchen. When you need to use one, take it out, use it and put it back into a drawer. If after 4 weeks you still have utensils in the box, get rid of them)
Because I was so inspired by today’s show, Rosey’s is running a limited time offer for 15% off professional organizing services. Please contact for more details.
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1 comment:
This show was so great! I am going to start to tackle my mess a little at a time.
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