The Three Month Slump....

.....needs to come to an end.

In a nutshell, life has kind of run away with me lately.  Between work being just tooooo busy (local elections) and not being very well (appendicitis), decluttering and diary keeping went somewhat on the back burner.

And I have to admit, the house is a bomb site.

It is generally superficial, but really does need a good clean and tidy before any serious decluttering can recommence.  Husband has done a sterling job keeping things ticking over, but I really need to get back in gear if I am going to conquer House Mountain any time soon.

But there does always seem to be something getting in the way.

This week I had a good turf out at work due to us all moving offices, I actually discovered a box I had packed from the last time I moved offices 3 years ago.  I binned it all.  When I get in my new office tomorrow I am going to be very strict with what paper I keep.  If it is available electronically, I won't keep the paper.

I also need to get back on top of my emails.  Although I did do this right up until the last few weeks of the election when quality desk time just wasn't an option.  This should take no more than an afternoon if I knuckle down.

I am hoping to make it home for about 4pm tomorrow and my aim is to get a couple of loads of washing on and clear the surfaces of general debris.  I am hopeful that the systems and decluttering I put in place before the Three Month Slump mean that I should see a big difference quite quickly.  I will let you know.

Time to get back on the horse!

The Declutter Diarist.

Progress to Date

Realise that I have been a bit quiet the past couple of days.  My friend was married over the weekend and I was working on Sunday.  I was a bit worried about whether or not I would still be able to keep the momentum going when I went back to work properly after Christmas, but it has been OK!

In my post about organising my desk, (remember the photo?), I said that I would have everything sorted by Friday and I did! Also, I am on Day 7 of finishing work and having an empty inbox! I literally glide out of work knowing that I haven't missed anything and that I am ready to get stuck in when I get back in the next day.  The empty inbox is a technique recommending in Bit Literacy which I talked about here.

I have also maintained the sitting room, it really is a sanctuary when we are both home after a long day.  Husband also make a conscious effort to straighten it all out before we go to bed at night as well.

In new decluttering news, I have mainly been concentrating on my brain.  Sounds weird?  Well, I have basically been getting in some new habits to avoid me carrying round lots of info and 'to-dos' in my head.  This 'Brain Clutter' was making me anxious and stressed and I didn't even realise!

Now what I am about to tell you is neither revolutionary or outstanding.  It is common sense. Amongst sensible people, it is common.

I put all my addresses in one place. An address book.

Now, I know that seems bizarre, but I actually send a lot of mail.  I am good at remembering addresses, but not postcodes.  I am forever on the Royal Mail postcode finder website trying to piece together addresses.  And I say I am good at addresses but Mother rang the other day to say that she actually lives at 11 not 13....

When it came to cards for Husband's Canadian cousins this Christmas, I searched through old emails for an hour until I found a message my sister-in-law sent me three years ago.  This is not organised.  My brain clutter consisted of bits of addresses and numerous places where I keep other addresses and who I need to send cards to and who has sent me a card or a letter and .....

Anyway, you get the point.

This also led me to applying my empty inbox to Facebook messages and my private email.  Between the two, 2675 messages.  Not any more! Majority deleted, some kept, tasks lined up for completion.  The brain is decluttered, but I didn't find any money!

So, next project is sorting out my hallway.  Coats from the dark ages, impractical shoes I've worn once, random man junk from Husband.  Look out I am coming to get you.

Oh, and various items removed from the sitting room when I decluttered...ahem....

This mission will be completed by 10pm GMT tomorrow, or my name's not

The Declutter Diarist

Decluttering Home and Away

Today was my first day back at work, and I have to say that there was a certain amount of dread as I parked the car up this morning.

Was this because I don't like my job?  Or maybe I have to work with awful people?  Nope.  I love my job and my colleagues are great.  It was because I was going back to a disorganised mess.

Now this is bad times.  Home is a mess, office is a mess.  This equals, head is a mess.  But I knew that today I could start to make a positive change.  I didn't have many meetings so had about 5 hours where I could just knuckle down and start getting organised.

So what did I go back to I hear you ask?  Well, 314 emails - about half of which I had before my two week break and hadn't dealt with, a pigeon hole full of post and this pile of paperwork....

Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!  And I haven't even looked in the two sets of drawers I have yet...

Anyway, there is absolutely no point sorting out home when work is still in chaos so I made a good in road into the backlog today.  With my email I decided to employ a technique that I read about in 'Bit Literacy' by Mark Hurst.  This is available as an e-Book from Amazon available here and if you don't have a Kindle you can download it for your PC here.

The technique basically is about achieving an empty inbox every day.  Sounds impossible? That's what I thought.  But I have to tell you, I did it - no emails in my inbox!! I either actioned, deleted or filed all 314.  Some have been converted to tasks as they did not need doing today, but I did make sure I set deadlines and reminders.  The feeling of that achievement is amazing and I will definitely keep it up.

With the in-tray disaster zone, I am still going through it.  Basically, I have done the Look and Chuck to get rid of junk quickly.  I then pulled out any papers I need to read or for meetings in the next seven days and made a new pile (!?) that needs me to take action.  My next step with the action pile is to turn them into tasks, like I did with my email and file in priority order.  I will have done this by Friday.

I also made the decision to get rid of everything in my 'To Read' tray.  Some documents have been there for months, and quite frankly I have coped without their enlightenment so far.  Most of it is available online, so it all went in the recycling.  If I need it in the future, I can find it again.  To stop this accumulation in the future I have booked three, one hour slots in my diary every week to read what is in the tray.  If I haven't read it, I will bin it sooner.

So hopefully by Friday, the top of my desk will be sorted, next stop will be the drawers and the 'Pile of Stuff' in the corner.

Onwards and upwards! The Declutter Diarist