how to declutter your computer
Did you notice that the performance of your computer had deteriorated over a period of time since you purchased? The reason is that your computer had been cluttered with unwanted junk files which you will never use. Cleaning up your computer on a regularly, and defragmenting on a scheduled basis will increase the speed to a considerable extend, if not fully.
I never realized that it happened to me. One day when I was giving a presentation and my boss observed and explained me my problem. My desktop was almost cluttered with excel and word files icon. He politely asked me to retrieve a file and I was almost searching it for half an hour but in vain. He explained me that my problem was I have not organised or managed my files properly in my computer and it also reflects what kind of personality I am. I was really embarrassed by his observation.
I decided to declutter my computer immediately and did the following:-
I first took a backup of my hard disk as a precaution so that I do not lose any precious file which I need to have.
Next I created a folder by name Desktop and just blindly pulled all the files from my desktop and dropped it into my new folder. It was really relieved to see my desktop so neat and clean. I realized that I had become so lazy that I just keep creating my files on desktop and never bothered to file it properly, or trash it if not required.
Next I checked the temporary files which are created both under the windows folder as well as on the internet temporary folder. I never realized that every email attachment which I open and close creates a temporary file and it sits there permanently until I delete it.
Then I searched for files which are not used for more than a year, using the advance option in the search panel and I got a long list of files which were never used, but I simply kept it on my computer. I just scrolled the names, and decided that it is no longer required. I straight away selected all these files and deleted them from my system. There were innumerable numbers of duplicate files which have got created like photographs, multiple versions of the same files which will never be used by me.
Then I turned to see what all programs I have been using. More than half of the programs in My Program options were used only once and were never reused again. I have been installing programs, but never bothered to uninstall if they no longer required. I went into my settings and control panel and removed all unwanted programs from there. There were many games which I use to play once upon a time, but were still found on my computer. I simply deleted them.
After doing all these cleanups I opened my Recycle bin and emptied it, so that I can get some more space to breath. I then did a disk cleanup and a defragmentation on my computer. This exercise actually did thorough clean up of my computer and reorganized or rearranged my files completely. I also scheduled my defragmenting option on a weekly basis, so that I can run of its own without my intervention. I decided myself that henceforth I shall keep files where they are supposed to be, and not leave them on my desktop. I realized that leaving a file on desktop is like leaving a file on your desk.
I was surprised to see the amount of space which I had gained by simply doing these steps and moreover my system had started working faster.
three simple questions to declutter on
It has been taught form our childhood days that we have to keep our surroundings and environment neat and clean. However, we seldom follow what was instructed during our childhood. To keep our surrounding and your home neat and clean is not alone good for our neighbors but is necessary for our health and mental peace.
When your mind and place is organized you can work more productively. If everything is organized even smallest error can be observed easily, and you can really start working on exceptions. On the other hand, if everything is in a total mess, even a grave mistake will never be noticed. Keeping this in mind, having a clean office or home not only increases your efficiency, but also essential for your career development.
De-cluttering an office or home is not an end; it is only beginning of leading an organized and civilized life.
It is quite a simple task, but the difficult task is to realize that you are a disorganized person and that realization should result in correcting yourself. The simple task of deciding on items to be de-cluttered can be broken into three different parts:-
What is required to be retained? When you start your de-cluttering exercise every item need to be categorised as what are the items to be retained. You may be having certain personal or emotional attachment with the items which you have preserved. May be is a gift from someone, who left you long back. You need to decide if you want to keep it or can be trashed. Also check if an item which you want to retain, can you get it readily from elsewhere. If you have taken a print of a research paper, in today’s world it may be available on the internet. Do you still need to keep it as a hard copy of it? You need to remove the emotions you have on the items and clear it off.
What is required to be gifted or donated? Relook at the items in your house or office. You may be having items like books, stationeries which you have read, used and may never be using it any more. But you still retain it for some unknown reason. Just pickup of these items, gift or donate to someone who deserves it. You may be having toys which you had brought for your baby or kid, and had kept it on your loft for many years. You should decide to gift away these items to someone who can use it. Try it out and see the satisfaction what you will gain by gifting things to charity and you will get more breathing space in your house.
What are the items to be thrown? If you have selected items which need to be retained and items which need to be donated or gifted, then you will be left only with items which are to be thrown or trashed. Never feel upset with parting your things which you had considered precious once in your life time. You will be surprised to see you were able to clear at least 30% of the items which were cluttered in your life time. This means you were able to regain at least 30% of the space which you had lost for so many days.
Main reason due to which things get de-cluttered is mainly because of procrastination. You may be a person who has the habit of deferring things on a regular basis. The reason may be you are too busy, or you are not able to prioritize your things. Even this de-cluttering exercise should never be deferred; you have to do it immediately right now. You should also ensure that every item from now on when it enters into your home or office need to be decided whether to be retained, gifted or thrashed.
Paper Cluttering and De-cluttering – Causes and Actions
Two things accumulate very quickly in any place, papers and mails. Advent and usage of emails have reduced papers and mail cluttering to a considerable extent, but the cluttering still continues. If you self investigate the reason for paper cluttering problems, you will mostly end up with the result that you are a person who procrastinates. You may be the person who keeps deferring things because clearing your papers on a day-to-day basis is not a priority work on your agenda.
Some of the points listed here will help you to understand the causes and organize yourself from paper cluttering problems.
Paper attracts papers – The moment you start piling up papers on your desk, you tend to create an attitude that you will clear it later. Leave alone the existing mess, any new papers or mails which arrive on daily basis too get added to the mess irrespective of the importance. You will promise yourself that you shall de-clutter it on the coming weekend, but that weekend never arrives, and the papers simply get piled up.
Do it once and close it forever – You should make it a habit that when you open a mail and read it, action on it immediately, if required file it, put it in a folder, or trash if is not required for your future reference. But do one something or anything, other than keeping it on the table for clearing it some time later.
Spend less time doing now:- You should realize that doing things on an ongoing basis is faster than doing things at a later date. When you clear the papers which is related to your current activity, then the content and the action you need to take is fresh in your mind. The related files, tasks, persons whom you need to contact are closer to you. If you defer your action for a month, you need to study the content again, search for the related files, get in touch with the related persons whom you need to contact regarding the content, freshen up their memories. You will be required to spend more time doing it later than now.
De-cluttering, do not make a habit:- Remember de-cluttering is a lazy man’s job. When you actually manage your papers, files on a day to day basis, as and when it comes, you will never have a separate task of de-cluttering. You start this discipline of handling the papers which come to you or to your desk on day to day basis. Keep doing this religiously for the next 21 days; you will be amazed to see yourself that it has become a habit for you. And habits die hard. You will never like to defer your paper management.
Regain huge amount of Time and Self satisfaction:- What will happen if you discipline yourself managing your papers on an ongoing basis. You will realize you have lot of time, and energy to do your other jobs. This habit will get infected in a positive way on your other tasks too, like managing your files on your computers, managing your wardrobes etc. You will suddenly realize that you have too much of time, and too little task to do.
If you already have papers that require your attention, declutter paper immediately. You action it in such a way that you do not have tomorrow and today is the only day left. Once all papers are de-cluttered, develop a simple habit of doing it now and closing it once for all. Enjoy your time which you gained from some simple paper management discipline.
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How to De-clutter a Kitchen
I had just finished decluttering my Kitchen, and am extremely glad that I was able to do it. Kitchen is one of the worst place where things can get cluttered very quickly and in unmanageable proportions. The worst part of it is, unlike other areas of your home, it sometimes start smelling.
In China they say that when something is left over in a place for a long time, the energy or chi gets stale and become stagnant there. When energy becomes stagnant, there is no new energy to refresh that area. You would have definitely realized that after some days you feel a heaviness or dullness when you move to that area.
Open all the windows even before you start your de-cluttering work, just to get some fresh air. Keep two boxes in the center or in one corner. You can name one box as to be trashed and another box as to be moved elsewhere. Place some old news papers in the center of the floor to place things which you are going to remove from the cabinets.
Best way to declutter is to start the cleaning work in clock wise direction. Open all the doors of the kitchen cabinets too. You need to check and decide what is required to be kept or retained. Those items which are not suppose to be kept can be kept in the box which is named as “to be moved elsewhere”. Next see for the expiry date of your food packets, and those which are beyond the expiry date must be removed immediately and moved to trash. If a place is not cleaned for a longer period of time, don’t get surprised to see some insects running around.
You should clean one cabinet at a time and keep moving in a clockwise direction instead of doing everything in a rather haphazard manner. Never do things in an unorganized way and you might end up in discontinuing your de-cluttering exercise.
Group and place all similar small items together like your spoons, fork, and cutters into one transparent box, so that you can see it and can easily pick up as and when you require. One more thing what you need to check is, ensure if you have used them at least in the last six months, otherwise you can move it out of the kitchen. Place your items which you require for cooking in separate containers, which can be easily accessible when cooking. Pasting stickers and naming them about the content inside shows how organized you are in your work. Clean your other items like your refrigerator, remove all the items which are kept inside the refrigerator, and defrost the refrigerator, which will clean all the cluttered ice inside your freezer. Keep specific space for vegetables, eggs, meats, chocolates, milk, juice, water, ice cubes etc. Remove the two boxes from the kitchen, which you kept for moving items to be trashed, and items to be kept elsewhere. Your de-cluttering exercise for your kitchen is complete.
I have observed that as you clean your kitchen, you can feel the surge of energy flows inside the room, which will help you to clean further. As the things are getting cleaned and fresh light and air flow inside the kitchen, you can feel the new energy or the new chi rushing inside.
If you want to do it in a more professional manner, there are many professional firms who can offer specialized solutions in space management. De-cluttering your kitchen is very simple task and you only need to decide what is necessary to retain and what to be trashed as simple as yes or no.
kitchen declutter
How to De-clutter an office
In general people like to work with someone who is systematic and organized. Organizing an office work space allows you to save precious amount of time and energy, from going through the clutter to find the required information. This is not only in respect of the physical clutter but also in respect to the soft copies of the files which you have on your computer. Just imagine how pleasant life will be if you are able to get what you want in a moment, without any struggle and the very same applies in your office too. De-cluttering an office will be the best thing you would have done to yourself and your career.
First take the layout of your office floor. Visualize the ideal space required to move around the place, and see if the same is available on the floor. Ensure that you have clear walk ways from your desk to the file cabinet, inside your team’s cubicle, your work area desk to the filing cabinets etc. Think always in terms of space when you are focusing on de-cluttering.
Is your desk large than what is required to work comfortably. Do you get a cramped feeling inside your office? Then your desk needs to be changed. Select a better and smaller size desk, and you can have space to move around. Check if you have proper furniture which can hold all your office essentials like your photocopiers, fax machines, telephones etc. You can get huge office space just by giving your office essentials their own separate space. In other words office is a place where you need to have everything and everything need to be kept only in their respective place. Does your desk have enough space to have your personal computer, if not shifting to a laptop or a flat screen monitor can get more space on your desk.
Most common mistake which everyone does is keeping their printer on the desktop. Investing in a printer stand with a multifunctional copier is a smart idea and it should be kept little away from your desk which will free more space. This will also get you relived from having print accessories like paper and cartridge which you would have kept around you. Next you need to check for your files and books. If you do not have adequate space for your books and files, you definitely need to invest in a book shelf. Ensure it is kept near our desk to make it easily available. Your work may be as such you need to keep moving near your filing cabinet often. It is a good idea to have the filing cabinet just behind your desk.
Observe your desk now; it is a place which can easily attract clutter. What are the essentials which you want to be kept on a desk? Organizing your papers is one of the key elements to create an un-cluttered desk top. Make sure that you label all your project folders, files which are kept on your desk. One more good idea is usage of stacking trays for your “inbox” and “outbox”. It is also one way to show your visitors that you have kept your office desktop neat and clean. Things get hidden inside the drawers of the desk as well. Shops have an assortment of plastic trays which can be customized to fit perfectly into your desk drawer and can hold your pens, pencils, clips, staplers etc. Once again check your desk floor to ensure files and other items are not kept their due to shortage of space you have on your desk.
Do it only once and have determination to continue, and it is really simple to keep and continue that way. Do it once, do it right and do it now will guard you against things getting out-of-control ever again.
office declutter
Get help to De-clutter a Closet
Do you remember how you picked up your clothes for dry cleaning from your closet last time? Are there too many clothes disorganized or cluttered? If so then for sure, one of the two things must have changed. Either the clothes styles and fashion has changed or the person wearing the clothes must have changed which has resulted in the closets getting cramped and cluttered.
The delay in the arrival of spring is a good time to declutter your closet. This is because by this time the weather will become a little more constant. The worst thing which can ever happen is you pack away all your summer clothes in the beginning of October, and all of a sudden you get a week of perfect for short sleeves weather. You also start this exercise or project only when you have full day and energetic to do or during weekends. The reason for this is after you start de-cluttering and you put your clothes on your bed, suddenly you realize it is late to go to bed or you are extremely tired, and just put back everything into the closet. Remember that cluttering of your closet did not happen in a day. It actually is happening over a past few days but help is in your hand. Open your closet and have a close look of what you actually need to do to make it organized. Do you need a better way to keep your shoes? Have you kept your accessories all over because you do not have a proper place to keep them?
Take every single piece of cloth and start remembering when you wore it last time. Is it still in good wearable condition? If you have not worn it any time during the last 12 months, then it is most likely you may never wear it. Go through your accessories and shoes and see if they are in good condition or do they require to be thrown. Remove all the items from the closet and clean it thoroughly. Vacuum the floor and wipe everything including the shelves, racks and clothes bar etc. Once this is done, neatly fold your clothes, and keep it back in an organized manner. Group common things together like it is a good idea to keep your under garments together, your ties together etc.
See if you have some space in the closet, and if you find that there is no adequate space, then you definitely need to buy more shelves or racks. Once you have narrowed down your purchase plan, you can buy the product immediately, to set to go on your de-cluttering the closet day.
If you are cleaning a small closet, you need to manage the space more wisely; the backside of the closet door is a good place to put few hooks, an accessories rack. Purchase a bin with wheel which can slide under the bed. Purchase bed lifts if you do not have sufficient space under your bed. Some smart tip to save time is, store your out of season cloth elsewhere, as they don’t need to be hung up. They can be stored elsewhere neatly with hanger intact.
If you want a professional help and permanent organizational solution you can approach companies like EasyClosets.Com who offer specialized solutions in space management.
De-cluttering your closet can be easily done. You only need to take time and utilize your space and consider the best organizational solution.
De-clutter Your Bedroom in One Day
Entering into your bedroom full of clutter is just like committing suicide from the relaxation mood and comfort which an organized room need to offer. Do not worry, decluttering your bedroom is a simple task and can be completed in just one day time. Hence, do not accept clutters anymore and do not defer your de-cluttering exercise. Do only these easy things to find a perfect room for relaxation and peace.
To start with your de-cluttering exercise first take a piece of paper and pen and start making notes. Look through the room in the clockwise direction and see where is the clutter mostly congregating? Check if it is near the night lamp? What are the required things which you very frequently use and want to keep near your bed? All the other things are simply nothing but they are cluttering your space there. Are you a person who love to read at night? There may be a pile of books or magazines near the bed which is not in their right place. The simple solution is to put few shelves by the bedside. It may be some little piece of garbage that is scattered over the top of the night stand. Make a note on the piece of paper. Think of the solution for this, like buying a small trash bin which can be kept near the bed side. Did you notice a heap of cloth lying in the corner? Make a note to buy another hamper to be placed in the spot which can collect most of the dirty cloths.
Check to see if you have adequate space in your wardrobe for your clothes. Many a time laundry dresses ends up on top of the table or dresser. The reason is quite straight forward; you simply do not have enough space in your wardrobe to hold your clothes. Just bend down to check under your bed. Do you remember when you cleaned it last? How good is it right now? Check if you need to buy a couple of moving bins which has wheels on them which can be easily slid in and out from under your bed. Go through your notes and look again at your room again to see if you have missed anything else? You have to buy the items listed in your notes, and to organize your bedroom.
The next thing which you need to work is creating an organized space. Remove items which are not supposed to be kept in a bedroom. Second remove items which are cluttered and keep it in the place in which they are supposed to be. There may be many newspapers which can be trashed, just remove them from the bedroom. Remove magazines which you though you will read when you are relatively free, but were never read. Is there space available in the shelf? If not do you require these books, or can you gift or donate them to some charitable trust. See if there are cloths which are old and which cannot fit. Organize your cloths in a neat way like keeping your socks, under garments, bathing suits etc separately rather than clumping them all in one single drawer.
It is possible that major problem is your storage which is kept under your bed. Do you have any other space in your home where you can keep these things? Placing shoes under the bed in a moving bin is an excellent storage solution. You need to also remember that when you store things under the bed, and if you are not able to see them individually then it means there are too many things already, and the space need to be de-cluttered.
Making a peaceful and relaxing space is quite easy. With regular organization and a clear picture in your mind as to what you want can make your bedroom the best room in your home and your dream space.
Where to Find Help to De-clutter Your Home and Organise
Are you looking out for a systematic life? Have you ever tried to get organized in life, but you are not able to become one and later do not think that you can ever become one. Now you should not worry about it as there is help available out there. The solution is quite simple and you can find help quite easily in this digital world. You can easily find a company which can organize your closet; however, if you are looking for something bigger, you have to turn to someone who is more personal and can help you.
You need to hire a professional organizer to declutter and organize your home. There may be many organizers available in the market, but identifying the right person is quite difficult. So where can you start this process. Do you remember when you saw an advertisement on the television for a professional organizer? You may remember seeing an advertisement in your local news paper or Yellow pages for a professional organizer.
One more brilliant place is checking on the automated referral system on the internet called the National Association of Professional Organizers. National Association of Professional Organizers will guide you to find the right person for you by allowing you to search by location, city and even category and specialty. You can find complete details like list of names in the city, their complete contact information of professional organizers who will match your requirement.
Before you proceed forward, you need to do your home work. Before you take your next step and decide on any person, you need to speak to many professional organizers. It is advisable that you meet them one to one. You can give the specifications and your requirements and can ask them to give a quotation. You should also check if they are a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers. Being a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers is alone not enough and do not guarantee that the quality of the work will be good. It also does not show that they have strong commitments to their work and industry code of ethics. You also need to know what their professional experience in the field is. If they are specialist in any specific area, knowing that will help you to decide things better.
One more important thing you need to do is obtain and follow up on their references. You should remember that you are going to invite this professional organizer home and going to invest time, effort and money into it. You will be asked set of questions and you have to answer about your organizational requirements. You have to be sincere and honest when you answer this. You have to be open with them in accepting truly what you do as a routine, if you are a person who just pile your cloths without washing, or just keep all your mails and couriers aside without opening for weeks or months. You have to confess that in plain and simple language and they will guide you as to how you can come out of that practice.
The pricing for this kind of service will be roughly around 50 dollars to 200 dollars per hour or it may even change depending upon the type of service. If you are an unorganized person, the price what you pay will be definitely be worth the service what you will get and you can live in a declutter an organized home and redefine yourself.
how to reduce and manage clutter at home – tips ideas and guide
It is extremely difficult situation to have many things cluttered on our desks, shelves and in our homes. We always think that we could have been little more organized in our life. How do you come to a conclusion as to what is cluttered and what is not cluttered, and even more difficult is how to remove what is cluttered?
how to manage the mess tips and ideas
Reducing mess is a simple and easy thing; you only need to realize that you have clutter to reorganize. The first place where you can attack is in your closet. This is a peculiar storage area where things start getting accumulated just like a magnet draws iron pieces towards it. Many items like coats, winter cloths all start to pile up in this area but because of the convenient space, things get over loaded there and you need to go through lot of things to identify and pickup what you require. Realizing and identifying a solution which can work best for you is the key to manage the mess in a closet.
There are closets which are available in the market that has a shelf at the top of them. It is best to have one if you don’t already have. Go ahead and purchase stackable bins which you can name and put on the shelves. In short have a place for everything and everything should be only kept in that place. Keep a place for your watches, second one might be your magazines which you would have brought and promised that one day you shall read. Always remember that reducing clutter is not organizing things but also getting rid of things which you do not require or you will probably never use.
There are smart ways in de-cluttering the piled up magazines. Cut out the articles which you feel you will be reading at some point and keep it in a file or a binder. You may be a person who wants to do things yourself, and you have purchased a magazine on how to design something. Now you need to keep it yourself organized but always remember your motto is to remain clutter free.
The next place where you need to target is the place under your bed which is another nightmare. Innumerable number of items like shoes, empty boxes, toys and many many more items, would have got cluttered as if there is no other place to keep in your home. If you have done everything in your closet, you must have gained some space, where you can keep them and of course after removing those which are not required. There are many other simple solutions for your storage problem. You can purchase bed lifts to optimize your space which you have under your bed for storage. Space bags are other smart say to hold your seasonal beddings, which allows you to suck the air out so that the bedding and bag become compatible to be stored. Moving object are best for clutter management like bins with wheels on them can easily slide under your bed, and is best to store but always keep it close to you.
All these depend upon you, the way how you assess things and decide as to which one is required to be kept. One simple way to decide if you are too much confused is check if you have used the items in the last 1 year. Do you possess another one which is better than the first item? Is there one more item like this item which is broken and you are keeping this purely because you are guilty? Is it out of the market and out of style and therefore do you want to possess it? There can be questions which are very hard to answer but your primary objective and focus should be to reduce clutter and have a nice, clean and organized environment. I am confident that you will be able to honestly get rid of things which you really need to get rid of and lead a satisfactory life.
