Does spring cleaning excite you or nag at you?

The cleaning part of things is hard to do if you don’t clear the clutter first.

But where do you start? Spring cleaning sounds huge. When things are huge we put them off.

Forget the idea of spring cleaning for now.

There are reasons why your home or office is overflowing with stuff. Notice if any of these sound like you. Are there any of these behaviors you want to stop?

1. You love to shop. Your many interests fuel impulsive buying. And….you forget — or can’t find — what you have, so you buy extras.

2. You always need to be prepared, so you hold on to things “just in case.”

3. You get distracted and often don’t finish putting laundry away, sorting the mail or cleaning up dinner.

4. You are nostalgic and want to remember the awesome concert, theme park, movie or any experience so you keep the tickets, programs, and souvenirs.

5. You are emotionally attached to all those homemade cards your kids made you over the years. Or, you’ve inherited your Grandma’s tea cup collection that you secretly think is ugly but will never use for fear of breaking them.

6. You keep cabinet doors open or keep your stuff on the counter so you can see it…because if you don’t see it, you’ll forget about it. If it is out of sight it will be out of your mind.

7. You promise yourself you’re going to read all those magazine subscriptions and thumb through those retail catalogs soon. So why do you still have the 2010 Holiday Edition of Pottery Barn?

8. Making decisions and trusting yourself to know what is important is hard for you, so it’s just easier to keep everything.

The result? You have piles of “stuff” so high you can’t find what you need. The clutter is beginning to take over your home and your peace of mind.

Forget overhauling your house. Pick one thing to focus on and do it. Here are some coaching questions to help you discover what is important to you.

1. What is the one thing that will bring you peace of mind to have organized?
Papers, kitchen pantry, shoes, a drawer in your bathroom, your desk.

This should help….

• First, sit or stand in a cluttered area of your home or office.
• Next, close your eyes and imagine how the space would look WITHOUT the clutter. That’s right. Imagine it all tidy and clean.
• Now open your eyes and notice the mess. Does it really bother you? If not, move on to another cluttered area.
• When you start feeling uncomfortable you have hit your sweet spot. Let it really bother you. You may be feeling overwhelm, anxiety, and want to scold yourself. Accept those feelings for only a moment and use them as your motivation.
• Before you touch a thing answer the last two questions below to cement the value of organizing this for you. When we understand our values around this we are able to tackle the clutter and stay clutter free longer.

2. If this one thing were organized what would become easier in your life?

If I wasn’t always searching for my left shoe in the morning I wouldn’t have to change my outfit and I would arrive at work on time for once!

3. What is it costing you to not organize this one thing?

My relationships because I blow up at others when I’m frustrated.
Or, I’m losing money every month paying late fees because I can’t find my bills and when I finally do it’s way past the due date.

So, just how organized do you need to be?

What’s organized for you might be too organized for one person or not organized enough for another. That’s why ’one size fits all‘ organizing solutions seldom work.

You need to be organized well enough to quickly find the things you use the most when you need them.

It’s that simple.

Finding things you need when you need them fends off overwhelm, chronic lateness and self-sabotage.

Remember, when it comes to organizing we care more about how it works for you than how it looks.

Okay, go for it. Attack that clutter.