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 - When you file your latest statements or papers, you discard, archive or shred out-of-date papers from your files.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]
Done!!!!
I have always thought about doing this…not sure if I will or not. My husband tells us to do that all the time, but doesn’t of course with his own stuff!! We’ll see…
done
Oh this is a wonderful way to declutter.
Great idea. I went to Hamricks with my friend and didn’t buy but one skirt and blouse. I knew I needed I had plenty of clothes and didn’t need to spend the money.
Is anyone else like me? Find things on a good sale, buy them for gifts and never give them away. New motto…go to spare room and give away the new things before shopping for anymore gifts.
I actually refused buying more family DVDs because I have some that I’ve never watched.
This plan is going to work. Yes!
I have tried to practice this for several years now – usually successful.
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Done. I sort of apply that, but a little different. I can’t let go of my fav. magazines though. It comes from the States and I live in Germany and it is pretty expensive to import – so I keep it.
Will do…thank you for the last 30 days! It was so refreshing…
I have tried to instill this concept, but sometimes it gets put on teh back burner. Thank you so much for helping get it back to the front and keeping it there! 🙂
Michelle, I didn’t think you could come up with a day that outdoes all the other days of this month, but this was fantastic….I love this concept and it can apply across every area! So this is a big KEEPER!!
Sometimes I forget this one simple rule. Most of the time it is a simple thing to do. Thanks for the reminder.
I couldn’t believe it when I read yesterdays was a mind set shift. What I did do was just get back from shopping and made sure to get rid of an old tattered shirt for the new one I purchased. Such a simple task and free hanger space. Hmmm, there is something to be said for this one! Done!!!
Done – 29 of 29 – I have written about this and will post it in the morning WAY too late now …..
You have been the inspiration for this month to change my mindset.
From January I have had this feeling and urge like never before in wanting to regain control, order and peace in our wild out of control loves. In writing my blog I was then opening up my self to commit to others that I would be doing this.
I can not believe that I have hung in there during this very busy month. I now can take time to breath and do some reading on your site and plan my next ideas.
Thanks for giving us all this great gift and being there every day !!
1 TO GO !!!
My Mom has been telling me this FOR YEARS. Always listen to your mom. 🙂
I do hereby, solemnly swear…toTRY MY BEST for this one. It is SUCH a good idea, like a ‘why didn’t I think of that’?!’ kind of idea. I’m getting ready for a trip and have bought a new carryon…up to the attic I’m going to ditch the one that was too ragged to take. I never would’ve thought of it.
Thank you.
I got this idea from you previously and I have been sticking to it most of the time. I also have difficulty in getting rid of craft items but like Tamara I have the items organised. I know that I am going to have to get rid of some of it tho some day. Only good thing is that I follow through with it in most other areas.
This is hard, but I think I can start adopting it!
This will take some time to incorporate but i”m working on it so I guess I can say Done.
This is great. I already have my son doing this with his toys. When he wants something new, something old must go so there is a place for the new.