Do you buy a real pumpkin at Halloween or do you put out the same ceramic or plastic one on your front porch each year? There are advantages to both kinds. But the ceramic/plastic ones will require storage where the real ones don’t. …
Real Pumpkins vs. Ceramic/Plastic Pumpkins Read More »
I was talking to a friend today and she mentioned about all the tulip and daffodil bulbs she was planting. I haven’t even thought that far ahead. Now is the time to plan, buy, and plant the spring flowering bulbs. It’s not too late to plant yet, because they say you can plant the bulbs up until the ground freezes. But who wants to be out digging in the soil when it gets cold out?
Looking at the pictures I took at a local park this past spring help motivate me to go out and buy some bulbs. I will put it on my shopping list. First I have to decide where and what I want to plant. Then it is important to know when I will be able to plant the bulbs.
Without a plan it is easy to buy or order lots of bulbs because the pictures on the package or in the catalog look so wonderful. Buying 100 plus bulbs will give the look above but do you have the time to plant them?
It’s probably best to buy a few and get them planted. Then if you have time you can dig up another area of the garden, buy some more bulbs, and plant them. If you start now by doing it in stages you should be able to plant lots of bulbs before the ground freezes.
If you buy too many bulbs at one time and feel overwhelmed because you can’t find a whole weekend to plant them, you could end up with unplanted bulbs that rot over the winter. Been there, done that.
Let me know about some of your bulb planting stories.
Janice
Fall Bulb Planting Read More »
We all have more to do than we have time to do it. The reality is we will never get it all done so we have to choose what is most important. This is what creative procrastination is all about. Choosing what to procrastinate on and what to make a priority. We do this everyday, most of the time unconsciously. The problem arises when we choose low-value tasks over high-value tasks.
Creative procrastination applies to all areas of our lives. The book I’m reading right now “Eat That Frog!” by Brian Tracy is mainly geared towards business but the principles can be applied to home management. His definition of creative procrastination is “…to deliberately procrastinate on tasks that are of low-value so that you have more time for tasks that can make a big difference in you life and work.”
If you go through the whole day and wonder what you accomplished, chances are you are procrastinating on the important long term activities. Sometimes we get so caught up in doing short term low-value things that the long term ones get unconsciously procrastinated.
For example, you decide today that you are going to tackle the clutter in your bedroom. But first you have to plan for dinner. You realize don’t have all the ingredients and have to run to the store. While you are out you might as well stop to get gas because you’re almost on empty. Once you’re back home you put the groceries away and remember the the load in the dryer from yesterday. It’s all wrinkled so you put a damp towel in it and set the dryer for a short time. Then you remember you have to bake cookies for your child’s party at school tomorrow. This goes on and on all day.
When you go to your bedroom exhausted and ready to collapse in bed you realize you didn’t spend one minute on tackling the clutter. Now you go to bed feeling frustrated and like a failure because you didn’t tackle a task that can have a long term positive effect on your life. Decluttering your bedroom will give you a place to get quality rest and peacefulness at the end of a hectic day.
So how do you change this routine? By using creative procrastination. Something has to be procrastinated for you to have the time to tackle the important jobs. The best way to “procrastinate on purpose” is by choosing what you are not going to do today. Don’t run errands today. Make a dinner with what you have on hand. Bake the cookies in the evening with your child spending quality time together. Or plan ahead and purchase cookies while on your weekly shopping trip.
Write on your “to do list” each day what you want to do and what you plan to procrastinating on. This will help remind you not to waste time on those low-value tasks until you have completed the high-value ones.
As I read this book I will let you know of other ways to stop procrastinating. If you would like to find out more about the book here is a link to it on Amazon.
Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
If you have little tricks to help stop procrastinating I would love to hear about them. Please leave a comment.
Janice
Creative Procrastination Read More »
I purchased the book “Clutter’s Last Stand” by Don Aslet in the mid 1980’s when I was trying to get control of my bad habits of disorganization and clutter collecting. I still have my original copy and read it when I need some motivation to jump start a decluttering session. To me it’s the gold standard of books on decluttering.
Don Aslett’s humor and writing makes you question why you’ve kept the junk to begin with. When you realize how silly some reasons for keeping things are it becomes easier to let go of them.
When I need motivation on dealing with paper clutter I’ll read the chapter on “Taming the Paper Tiger…”. Or if I’m having trouble letting go of items that I never liked but were gifts, I’ll read the chapter on “Those Personal Treasures”. I don’t want to hurt the giver’s feelings if they find out I gave their gift away but at the same time why is the giver’s feelings more important than mine? Don helps me see that it’s the thought that counts.
If you have a particular clutter problem this book probably has touched base on it. You can read it over and over again to help you declutter your home no matter what is going on in your life at the moment. Life is always changing and so are we. There’s things such as moving, traveling, lifestyle changes, and children growing up.
Check this book out to see if it can help motivate you to clear out the clutter.
(Disclosure: Amazon Affiliate link)
To a lighter load along the way.
Janice Scissors
“Clutter’s Last Stand” Book Recommendation Read More »
You have a lot to do everyday. Many times you feel overwhelmed. So when your are finished using something, does it go back in it’s home? Or do you put it on the counter or table to put it away later?
The biggest clutter maker isn’t an item, it’s the habit of “putting it here for now”. You’re too busy to put it away immediately or you’re not sure where it should go so you establish a convenient area to put it until you have more time or can figure out where it’s home should be. You have good intentions to take care of it later but that doesn’t usually happen, at least not until it’s become a mountain of clutter.
The “putting it here for now” habit is partly caused by the misguided notion that it takes too long to put the items in their home. Our concept of time gets distorted when we always feel rushed and overwhelmed. To break this habit you have to catch yourself doing the “for now” thing and stop it in it’s track. Take the 30 seconds to put the purchases from the discount store away. Take the 10 seconds to put the tape, scissors, markers, etc. that you needed to cut out coupons and make your grocery list. Take the 15 seconds to put the groceries in the pantry instead of leaving them on the counter. Take the 5 seconds to put the dog brush away or the hats in the closet. 
Sometimes they pile up anyway, but before a mountain of clutter builds too large set a timer for 5 minutes and clean it up.
Most of the time we overestimate the time it takes to put something away. Of course it is vital that the item has a place to go. The other reason the habit “putting it here for now” gets established is because we bring items into the house without having a place to store them. We put them in the pile for later (decisions postponed) because it takes too much time (at least in our minds) to figure out where to store the items.
The best way to break this cause of the habit is to think about where you are going to store that item before you purchase it. If you don’t know where you’re going to put it then you probably should not purchase it yet.
If we become more conscious of why we are doing something then it becomes easier to break the bad habits and create new and better habits.
Janice
The Biggest Clutter Maker Read More »
