Welcome to the first of our 52 Organizing Missions.
In some ways this is a challenging one – but you’ll feel so wonderful, liberated and light when it’s done I think it’s worth diving in the deep end right away.
And remember – it is only 30 minutes.
Ready?
Get Organized Mission #1: Fill a Hu-u-uge Trash Bag
Step 1
Get a giant trash bag. (If you don’t have one find 20 small ones, or ask a neighbor, or go to the shops, or use boxes, or pile things up on a rug until you get to the shops tomorrow. There are no excuses!)
Step 2
Set a kitchen timer (or your clock radio or iPhone alarm, etc) for 30 minutes.
Step 3
Start filling the bag and continue doing so as you move through your house, until either the timer goes off or your bag is full.
Throw into the bag anything you don’t use, don’t like, that has negative associations, is broken or tatty, or is no longer your style. See below for room-by-room examples.
Step 4
Take it straight out to the trash or even the tip if you’re so motivated. Just be sure to remove the temptation to look in the bag or to rescue released items.
Dos & Don’ts
- Don’t try to organize rooms, cupboards or drawers at this stage.
This mission is about getting rid of stuff so do keep an out-it-goes mindset. - We’ll have another organizing mission for charity items, so don’t get bogged down with that now. I don’t suggest giving lame stuff to charity – decent, usable stuff: yes; crapola: no.
So do feel fine about ditching all the dross. - I want you to move fast – so don’t overthink it.
If your gut feel is to release something from your life, then do toss it into the bag.
Examples of Items For Your Bag:
Living Room
- Old magazines
- Tatty rugs and cushions
- Old/no-longer-used videotapes, DVDs, CDs
- Unloved ornaments, gifts, vases, etc
- Dead plants
Study
- School/college notes and texts (unless you just graduated they’re probably out of date)
- Old paperwork, bills, mail (keep if needed for taxes or reference; shred if sensitive or confidential)
- Excess stationery you won’t use this decade
- Knickknacks that provide no meaning, beauty or inspiration
- Reading piles you know you’ll never get to
Bedroom
- Tatty dressing gowns, slippers, and anything you’d be embarrassed to answer the door in
- Tatty bed linen
- Ancient pillows harboring various non-human life forms
- Anything on bedside tables that detract from a comforting bedtime sanctuary
- Anything in your closet you hate (we’ll tackle closets in detail in another organizing mission)
Kitchen/Dining
- Chipped or stained crockery
- Rusty or mismatched cutlery
- Expired food and condiments in the pantry or fridge
- Cookware, plungers, teapots, gadgets, utensils or sundry infomercial purchases not used in the past 12 months
- Cookbooks and recipes not used in the past 12 months
Bathroom
- Tatty towels, bathmats, etc
- Expired or old toiletries, hairbrushes, combs, etc
- Empty or mildewed bottles
- Yucky bathroom accessories – eg rusty shower caddies
- Unloved bathroom ornaments
Kids’ Stuff
- Tatty, no-longer-used toys
- Outgrown clothes
- Torn posters
- Outgrown CDs, DVDs etc
- Outgrown back-packs, drink bottles, etc
Extended Organizing Mission Options
- If you run out of time or your bag fills up and you want to keep going, then do. Put on some music and have fun with it. But your basic mission is only to fill one large bag or keep going for 30 minutes.
- If other household members want to participate give them their own bag and encourage them to let go of stuff.
- If you want to tackle extra, unneeded items that are in good condition, do a second run with a charity bag. (I guarantee you’ll still have plenty to do when we get to our charity-bag organizing mission.)
Ready, Set, Go!
Remember – move quickly, act fast, don’t overthink.
Before You Go – Check In
Have you completed this week’s Get Organized Mission?
You’re now accountable to your organizing mission-mates – so please add a comment to let us know you’ve completed your assignment and you’re keeping your commitment.
(Click ‘Comment’ at the very top of this post or scroll down to the bottom. Depending on how you’re viewing this post, one of those options will be available for you.)
And see you back here next week. 🙂
Update
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Click here to sign up for 52 Organizing Missions.
Image by Material Boy
I need to do the 30 minute thing over and over again. In every cupboard and every room. Feeling good as my two little daughters answered me as I said in regard to every item in their cupboard – keep it – throw it. They would say throw it to items, I would not have thought they would send out.
Yeah me l did it to.
I did it and realized that I could do this a fe times more without even digging deep!
Done! One bag filled last weekend, and plans to fill more when I have a few spare minutes. It felt great to get rid of some of the junk, and there is still more to go, but you have to start somewhere! My kiddos even got involved, which made me have to watch a little closer, but it’s great they helped and had fun doing it!
Can’t wait to clean out my bags tonight!
Another 2 bags filled tonight! Woohoo! Also a pile of outdated electronics. Started a donation pile which will be packed up tomorrow & dropped off to a good charity and a small pile to be sold on Ebay by my hubby. I gave him this month to get it listed and sold or out it goes! The room I did tonight was the worst. It was a junk collection room now it is a nice guest bedroom again and hey, we can see the bed, floor and dresser again 🙂 Gonna hit it again tomorrow.
Wohoooo!! A huge bag so heavy after filling it up that I had to ask my hubby to carry it out, by the way he loves you now!!!! ooh and I also filled up a box with old papers and trash from out home office, I feel sooooooo much lighter, although a little concerned, I can’t beleive all the trash we were storing! Thanks for opening my eyes
I did it!!!!!!
Did a huge bag tonight with help from my husband. Great start but will continue tomorrow night. Yep, there is a lot more to get thrown away. I was leery not knowing how cooperative my husband would be but was pleasantly surprised that he got into it! We had brought 2 households together 11 yrs ago when we moved in together which wasn’t too much at that time but the stuff we accumulated over the years has been crazy!! I didn’t know how or where to start until I found this website. Thank you!
Not one but 2 bags in 30 minutes. Hopefully I can do this 5 days this week!
1 huge bag of rubbish gone…and I do believe that I could fill another 1 or 2. While I was sitting down after dinner and the kids were in bed I even wrote down things that I will put in there as I did a “mental” walk through some of the rooms in the house. These things will be the first into the bag tomorrow, with whatever else I come across on the way. Thank you for getting me started with such an inspiring site.
@Catherine: Sounds like you’ve made a fantastic start! Even with 5 small children, you can do a lot in 30 minutes if you have a plan!
Looking forward to seeing you in future missions…
Ok, just found your site and so far enjoying it greatly! I found time today after homeschooling and day to day that comes with a family with 5 small children at home to complete mission #1 – some of it was just actual papers and junk lying around, but it helped fill the bag. I figure it was garbage and needed to be tossed and was there, so I put it in. I might do another bag later when baby is in bed and I can get into super messy areas I’d rather she not follow and be a lot more productive then. Looking forward to mission #2 and thankful to have a guide to keep me motivated and focused! After almost 11 years of marriage and 5 children, we have a ton of stuff! The baby stuff has never left b/c we’ve always had another coming along, and the bdays/Christmas/etc. gifts just keep coming each year X 5 children now – it’s TIME TO PURGE!
I did it! : ) Week 1 complete. That was easier than I had imagined. I’m ready for week 2. I filled 2 trash bags without having to put much thought into it at all.
Did it! Probably need to do another 30 minute session tomorrow. 🙂 Made the kids do this with their books (got rid of unloved, torn, battered books and papers, magazines, and other junk off their shelves). Lots more room!
Done! Wow, I can’t believe how easy it was to get rid of so much stuff, especially right after Christmas. With a 1.5 and 4 year old, sometimes what I think is junk, may not be to them. So we all did the mission together. I led the troops, followed by my 4 yr old son, then my 1.5 yr old daughter, then my big hairy Charlie (He’s our Collie), and then last but not least Jack. Out 6 month old kitten that was more intrigued by the dog’s tail in from of him, then what we were getting rid of, which did inlcude some chewed up tailess toy mice!! That was cleansing and entertaining.
@MM: You can put the charity stuff out of your mind because we’ll have a whole mission for that later!
Ahhh.. it’s great to be focused on hand – the tip that mostly worked for me is that ‘this is not a bag for charity” …this is for throwing out…. normally i get stuck with the items that can be given away… and then the day is over…
okay, I did it at least 50 pound bags each–6 of them. That was just the laundry room cabinets.
I am already organized, well except for two rooms in my home. The Basement and the Office/Craft room, my two (just close the door rooms). I did the 30 min. bag grab in each room and wow I cant believe the space I just gained. Now I am going to tackle the basement and organize my Easter, Summer, Fall and Christmas decor. I plan to throw out or recycle all junk. I volunteer at a local shelter so I already know that people don’t want our junk. If you wouldn’t give it as a gift, please toss it because even the needy have their dignity. Well I am going in for one hour see you when i surface.
@Priscilla: If the money potential is creating clutter and stress, maybe you can think of it this way – you’re SAVING money you would have to spend on a therapist by clearing the clutter! 😉