Innovative Planning, Level Three: Using Presentation Software. The purpose of this project is to introduce or review basic presentation software strategies for creating and using slides to support or enhance a speech.
- I’m not here to make you feel bad if your house is currently a mess, or if it’s been a mess forever.
- I’m also not here to make you feel like you’re a bad person if cleaning and organization isn’t your jam, or if you’d rather sit on your couch playing video games or scrolling endlessly through Facebook.
- These are simply methods of cleaning and organization that I’ve used for years, and have returned to right now in an effort to help myself keep to a routine and better enjoy the space I’m stuck in.
- There are three main methods I’ve been using for the last few years to lessen the amount of stuff we have, keep it from piling back up, and keep what we do have and love easy to find and looking its best.
- Varied and personal definitions
- Minimalism gets a bad rap because the stereotype is of a person sitting in a room that’s empty except for a white table and two potted succulents.
- But I think what’s great about it is its flexibility. For some people it means owning only 50 items. For others it means living in a house full of things, but things they use and find value in.
- My accidental journey
- I used to be very much not a minimalist — growing up I had two rooms full of stuff. But when I went to college, I could only take so much with me.
- It was really hard at first, but over time I realized it was actually helping my brain.
- My anxiety disorder means the inside of my head is very loud and cluttered. My thoughts whirl around and bump into each other. If the physical space around me is neat and tidy, it helps my brain relax.
- Even now, when my husband and I have plenty of room in our home, I still maintain the habits I picked up from minimalism.
- Keep only what adds value to your life. If you don’t use the item, or if you’re only holding onto it because it was a gift, you’re wasting space.
- Give the 30-day minimalism game a try. On day one, get rid of one item; on day two, two items; day three, three items, etc. By the end of the 30 days you’ll have gotten rid of 465 items.
- If you really want to go nuts, try a packing party. That’s when you pack up literally everything in your house (food, clothes, bedding, toiletries, dishes, everything) then pull out specific items only as you need them. It’s a great — if extreme — way to see how much stuff you really don’t use.
- 5 categories: Clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous, sentimental
- This method was made famous by Marie Kondo and her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
- The idea is to go through everything you own by category, starting with least personal items and working your way up to the most personal.
- Judgment-free
- Kondo’s book is great, but I also recommend you watch her Netflix show that came out last year.
- One thing that struck me as she worked with people was her total lack of judgment about the things they wanted to keep — if it brought them joy, she helped them find a way to organize it. There was no guilt associated with having things, which I think is something that aggressive minimalists or organizers can heap onto people.
- If you decide to go the KonMari route, you absolutely need to follow the order she describes.
- In the beginning of the process I would not have been able to go through my photo albums from high school and college — by focusing on everything else first, I was able to build up my metaphorical muscles so I could tackle the toughest decisions more easily. By the time I went through my photos, I was able to do it with joy and be at peace with the things I let go.
- You’re not meant to do this work in a weekend. I went through my clothes in April 2017 — it was March 2018 before I’d gone through all the other categories and decided it was time to tackle the sentimental stuff.
- It’s okay if it takes you that long, or longer, to get through any of these categories. The important thing is to approach it with a sense of gratitude and willingness to try.
- I’m a huge reader, and the idea of getting rid of a bunch of books makes me sad. On the other hand, looking at my shelves and seeing things I’ve never read, or even the things I’ve read a hundred times, makes me happy. If you love it, keep it!
- Author Dana K. White is a self-professed “slob” who started a blog and podcast in an effort to hold herself accountable to her home organization goals.
- She “shares the truth about cleaning and organizing strategies that actually work in real life for real people. People who really don’t like cleaning and organizing.”
- You may be wondering why a minimalist and KonMari enthusiast feels the need to take advice from a slob. For a long time I didn’t. I listened to an episode of Dana’s podcast because it related to a specific situation I was with, but didn’t get hooked until we had to move and this whole COVID-19 thing kicked off.
- Both of these things — moving and a global pandemic — mean that my life went a little haywire. There were boxes everywhere, I couldn’t find what I needed, and then I became stuck inside during what is an incredibly difficult time for our world. Some days it’s hard for me to get off the couch, and the last thing I want is to be reminded that I haven’t folded my laundry into precise squares.
- That’s where Deslobification has become so important. Dana’s advice takes into account that I’m human, that I don’t have to do everything, that my house doesn’t have to be perfect. If all I can do is the bare minimum, that’s okay. It’s helped me maintain a basic level of cleanliness and organization during this insanity.
- The piece of Dana’s advice that’s been most helpful for me is daily habits. Those habits can be whatever works for you, but for me it’s doing the dishes and whatever is on my Trello board (pictured here) for the day.
- Do I do the dishes every day? Do I really fully clean two bathrooms every Wednesday? No way! But if nothing else, I rinse out the pots and wipe down the sinks and countertops. It helps me maintain my home, which preserves my mental health.
- Dana has tons of great advice and I encourage you to check out her website, aslobcomesclean.com. She’s relatable and funny, and her methods are the most approachable of the three I’ve talked about today.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
