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- School/college notes and texts (unless you just graduated they’re probably out of date)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
Threw away so much stuff ! Feel a lot less decluttered now !! Bring on Mission 2 !
i filled up one bag. but i stopped in the middle to look at old pictures i found (kept half). so i tacked on 15 more minutes to make up for it. and i threw away a pile of ratty underwear. yuck!
thanks!
Well I thought this was going to be really hard because I have been doing this for a few weeks now and have thrown out what I thought was HEAPS of stuff but to be honest I think I just rearranged a lot of it.
The first 15 minutes were a little slow but once I got going I was amazed at how much more STUFF I really don’t need, am never going to fix, or really don’t think will come in handy one day.
I feel as though I have made such a small dent in what needs to be done but I also feel as though I have made a start and that is great.
DONE — AGAIN. I had already completed Mission #8 (Declutter 50 Items) last week when I happened upon the site. So I simply confined this mission to paperwork that’s been accumulating. I’m on a roll, so now I’m purging 50 books to resell or give away. Those are my only 2 options because I can’t bring myself to throw away a book! And this will obviously take longer than 30 minutes. I’m looking forward to the next challenge.
The first bag was easy, a huge plant that has been almost dead for weeks filled over half of it. So a grabbed a second one and filled it too 🙂
Done!
Hi Amy,
This first mission is meant to get some of the surface clutter out of your life.
If you’ve used your 30 minutes in the kitchen/dining you may want to do the extended mission and keep going.
Or, if the kitchen dining is a particularly tough zone, you might want to treat what you’ve done so far as a pre-decluttering ‘bonus’ and simply start again.
But do keep going with the missions!
Michele 🙂
Are we supposed to only do this once this week? Because quite frankly, I didn’t really get passed my kitchen/dining room. Who knew so much junk could be crammed in such a small space???
Still not done! But trying
Well, as I said, got kids helping me during school hols. Their rooms have never been so organised! I’ve found someone who’ll come and collect unwanted toys, etc., and sell them at “table top sales” for children’s charity.
Done….I got rid of ‘old’ food that expired in 2007!!! Now it is gone! And it feels great. I think I will do this every week!
I did it…can’t wait to get back to it because I am finally making a dent…and eliminating clutter
I was surprised to see how much could be accomplished in 30 minutes!
I was suprised to see how much could be accomplished in 30 minutes!
Check! That was easy.
A 30 minute organization exercise http://bit.ly/hZxWD
I completed exercise 1 on Monday but gave it a second round today.
I did what i thought was a big clean up a few weeks ago so didn’t think I would be able to find enough stuff to fill a bag. But following your room by room list I started at the pantry – I filled a bag before I moved onto the next room. I had all this out of date food! Things that I was given in Christmas hampers etc that I was saving to use when we entertained etc. So I ended up getting too much rubbish and I couldn’t fit it all in the bin!
Last night I decided it was time for another huge bag effort and got rid of another bag of stuff.
Loving the missions. and I’m telling so many people and they are all exactly the same – their lives need organising!
Done!
Having a time limit and instructions makes filing the bag easier! I filled 3 trash bags. I will need to do this exercise at least one more time this week.