Welcome to the 30-Day Organize-athon!
Today and tomorrow we’re going to prepare for the end of the 30-Day Organize-athon by making two incredibly important organizing mindset shifts.
They will help you to preserve the organizing gains you’ve made over the past month – for life!
Day 29: Get Organized Mindset Shift #1: Adopt OCI-OGO
Step 1: Decide to adopt OCI-OGO (pronounced oh-see oh-go) in your life. This stands for One Comes In – One Goes Out: every time something new comes into your home, car, handbag, briefcase, closet or life – something old goes out.
Here are some examples:
- When you buy a new item of clothing, you donate or discard an old one from your closet.
HINT: Only have enough hangers for your existing clothes – that way you’ll have to get rid of old things to make room for new ones. - When you buy new shoes, you donate or discard an old pair.
- When the kids receive a new toy, they give an old one to a child who doesn’t have as much as they do.
HINT: Have a donation basket for kids’ clothes and toys and encourage the kids to make contributions. - When you receive the latest magazine in your subscription, you automatically put the previous one in the recycle bin. (‘But I haven’t read it yet!’ you say. Do you want to feel pressured to read everything, or to be happy and calm? Let it go.)
- When you buy a new book, DVD or CD, you donate an old one to the library.
HINT: If you buy a lot of books, DVDs or CDs, have a dedicated library donation box. - When you file your latest statements or papers, you discard, archive or shred out-of-date papers from your files.
HINT: File papers in reverse chronological order so you can easily remove the oldest ones from the back. - When you buy a new cosmetic, you toss out an old one.
HINT: Make-up has a shelf life. Use it, and then be happy to lose it. - When you receive a gift, you find something you no longer use or love and give that away.
- When you buy a kitchen gadget or utensil, you donate or discard at least one old one.
HINT: Having fewer, but more useful, utensils will make it easier to find what you need and use what you have. - When the kids get a new backpack, drink bottle, game, or whatever, they discard or donate an old one.
You get the idea.
Step 2: Read over the examples again to check that your mindset has shifted!
And you’re done!
Got an Extra 5 Minutes?
This is such a radically powerful idea that you might want to create some reminders for yourself.
Write ‘OCI-OGO’ on several cards or post-its and place them wherever you need reminders, eg:
- Inside your closet
- On your shoe-box tower
- On your kitchen drawers
- On the kids’ toy boxes
- On your credit card; etc.
Now you’ll get to enjoy new things without any increase in disorganization or clutter in your home. Stuff will flow through your life rather than accumulating into a quagmire of clutter. How cool is that!
Note: This post is adapted from my article: My Magic Formula For Staying Clutter-Free For Life (Or: How To Avoid Organizing Entropy)
Organize-athon FAQs
I’ve put together a special 30-Day Organize-athon | Getting And Staying Organized Q & A post.
Leave Your Comment Below…
Then please leave a comment below to say you’ve completed today’s task.
See you tomorrow for your final 30-Day Organize-athon task: Get Organized Mindset Shift #2!
[Image by aussiegall]
Simple and flexible. Love it.
Hi
Woohoo one i can actually do while i am in hospital
This is what we are trying to do
Good te actually put it into words
Thank you so much Michelle
Luv Deb
Not buying it completely. While I do believe that generally speaking one in one out is a good rule, which I have adopted already, I also believe that for some things you set reasonable limits.
Love this idea. Thanks!
I think with toys we need to do one in, two out!
I love this. I bought 2 new t-shirts today and I ended up putting a bagful together for Big brothers. Done
Love it! Complete!!
This is going to be hard to do with clothes, but some of the other areas I can do. This is a great tool!
I have had this as my resolution for this year & am doing well; mainly because I no longer permit myself to do “recreational shopping” or cruise through the small warehouse across from my (formerly) usual grocery shop to see what odd items they have on hand at incredibly low price.
Also, I drive my donations to the thrift shop at the end of the day so I won’t be tempted to go inside and conduct a treasure hunt. I would go without money or credit card but I combine errands on a single trip.
I tag all my clothing hangars twice a year, remove the tag if I wear it, and donate or discard anything I haven’t worn. That makes it easy to pluck out an item if I were to buy a new one. I have to be more alert to the smaller items, especially things like socks which come in multiples. Or earrings.
On magazines, I have 3 reading areas and allow myself 3 issues of a title. If there is an article or story I really want to read I tear it out and put it into an interoffice mail envelope (the kind with a perforations to allow you to see if there’s something inside) & keep one in the car and another where I pick up wallet, keys, sunglasses, etc on my way out. I’ll take a folded article, in my pocket, to read if I find myself waiting somewhere. It’s great for plane travel as it’s far lighter than even an e-book or whole magazine and easier to get back to after an interruption.
thanks for all your great tips. I hope my ideas might help a fellow struggling clutter bug.
This is a pretty easy one for me, since I already practice this. It also helps that I don’t shop a lot! ;D
O No! Organize-athon is coming to an end. Important idea that I have treasured from this 30- day exercise is OCI-OGO. TanQ!
We keep an ongoing thrift store box and cart it off when it becomes full. But its good to remember to keep adding to it more regularly. I’ll keep that mantra in my head.
That is especially useful tip! I got nice dress today and I get rid of one of my blouses, which I haven’t use in ages. 😀
I need to keep OCI-OGO in mind for ever!!
Oh boy, How am I going to do this with my yarn??? Guess I have to knit faster.
Everyhting else: Watch me do-se-do OCI-OGO!
I’m definitely going to have to read this over and over again for it to sink in. I was having a bit of a stress attack when we got to the book & cd part cause I love these things. I think I can implement OCI-OGO in most areas though. Just had a great idea.. an e-book reader! Problem solved! Does this mean the mindset shift is happening!
In some areas I am already doing this, but in others I really need work. Clothes, shoes, household items are easy to donate; but, oh I do love office and craft supplies!!
OCI-OGO…OCI-OGO…You can do this Nancy…OCI-OGO.
Done 🙂
great mind set, I am incorporating this,
Done. Easy to do.
I placed cards in the kid’s rooms….both are packrats. They complain abt the clutter in their rooms….and hate when I go in and De-clutter. So this will give them a good way to do it themselves.
I’m going to do this! OCI – OGO!
Have been doing this with clothing for awhile now, but never thought of using the same concept in other areas. Will start right away!