Purge a little, toss a little, purge a little, toss a little, cheep, cheep, cheep. Toss a lot, purge a little more! (Music Man, anyone?)
Books: Look around, what books (that other people wrote) are cluttering up YOUR space? Those books won’t make you smarter, more organized, your introvert more extroverted. They won’t get dinner on the table or straighten out that mess with your mother-in-law. Be ruthless, donate ones that have served their purpose and open up your bookshelves to the life you are living NOW.
Self Defeating Thoughts: If you hear yourself saying the words ALWAYS or NEVER, you can be fairly certain that you are in a self defeating self talk loop. "My kids never do their homework." "My spouse is always late". "I’m never going to lose these last 5 pounds." Purge those words PEOPLE! Throw them out, see what comes up in the empty space. "My kids are clearing their places almost every evening." "My spouse is more on time then he was 10 years ago." "My fitbit has energized me to walk every day." Do you hear it? Purge always and never. These little buggers will keep coming into our self talk, be prepared to purge and toss over and over (cheep, cheep, cheep).
New Ideas: This one is edgy – you may not like it, AND we are almost ½ way through the year. Purge the new projects and go back and continue to work on the projects you picked in January, see Five Keys for a Good Relationship with Your Resolutions and This IS Tomorrow for a refresher. Generating projects and ideas feel so good in the moment, and in reality create more clutter in our lives, make us stressed and tend to make us less motivated and productive. I know, I hear you, you think I’m squashing your creativity. I’m not. I’m helping you spring clean so in December you e-mail me and say, “Paige, it’s so exciting, I got that basement cleared out, the kids rooms tidied, I exercise 5 times a week. I’m so glad I focused!”
Closets, Drawers and Calendars: Closets, drawers and calendars work for us so much better if they are 2/3’s filled. What can you purge from your clothes closet, front hall closet, pantry, book shelf (eek!), calendar so you have a roomier situation? Let that number alone guide you, "I need to get this closet (or drawer or week) down to 2/3's full - what can I purge, postpone or delegate." Try one closet, one week, one file drawer and let me know what you think. Are you inspired to tidy it up more? Remember, tidy and roomy closets (drawers & calendars) are usually kinder and talk more nicely to us then overstuffed sock drawers and stressful, overpacked days.