179 | 4 Organizing Projects to Tackle Before Summer is Over

[00:00:00] A little extra time here and there over the summer months, we’ll allow you to tackle four projects to get your home organized and to remove some of that clutter before the summer comes to an end. You could actually do some of the purging right now, so that you feel the benefits in the upcoming months.

 Summer is in full swing for everyone right about now some of us are just beginning. Some of us are wrapping up and some of us are right in the middle.

 What I’m hearing consistently is that you want to use your time wisely and use some of these minutes, this summer to organize and declutter as efficiently as possible. You are trying to get the most out of your time and you are ready to declutter because that is the first step that has to happen before the organization goes into effect.

If you’ve been listening for a sound [00:02:00] time, you know, that there are three things that I talk about in terms of getting your home organized. And if you want the benefits of long-term organization, then you have to start with the first thing, which is the purging, the decluttering, the removing the things from your home that you no longer are using the things that you don’t want to have anymore.

The things that don’t make sense for this season of life, that your family is currently in. We have to get those out of there and that. That starts with a thorough purge or a ruthless declutter as I like to call it. you may have noticed a last week that there were not any intentional edit podcasts episodes. And that is because I wanted you to fully enjoy the 4th of July celebrate independence day and all of that. And I took the week off from the podcast for a little summer vacation.

Today I am back. And for the month of July, we’re going to do. One episode per week so that you can fully embrace the summer month with your families, if you’re traveling, whatever it is. So we’re going to have one episode a week going forward through July, and then we will get back to the regular.

Schedule of the two episodes per week for this show. So today I want to get right in to what you can do. And I have four thing is that our projects that you can accomplish and not that much time, they don’t take a lot of time. You can do all four of these the summer. And the great thing about this is when you get these done.

They will carry over into the future and you will see the benefits for many, many months to come. The first thing that I like to tackle in the summer. Is the backyard toys, the outdoors toys. When you are outside, this is a great time to tackle these things. If you have a buckets and containers and maybe a basket or a wire bin, or one [00:04:00] of those plastic things that has a big lid that lifts up and all kinds of stuff falls to the bottom, you don’t even know what’s in there when your kids are playing outside and you are outside with them.

I pull the stuff out. You can even give a little bit of older kids, the task of getting everything out of these boxes so that you can see what is in a side of them. And then you will spend the time sorting, or you can have your kids put the different things in different piles. Depending on what is there? Sand toys in one pile, water toys in another pile, but bubble stuff in another pile sidewalk, chalk in another pile, larger toys, sports balls.

Oh equipment like that, those things all get separated so that they’re sorted into piles. And then you see what is broken, what you have duplicates of what doesn’t work anymore. What does it make sense for your family? Because they’re not interested in it. They maybe have not been interested in it for some time, all of these things, and you’re going to make the decisions about what you’re keeping.

What is good enough to go back in the container? And what is it time to get rid of? There might be a couple things you can donate. You can give them away. And there’s probably going to be a lot of things that are broken or not in. Good enough condition to pass on to those things you are going to toss.

Going right along with the backyard toys and the outdoors ways we’re going to move into the sports equipment. So what equipment do you have toys for sports? Anything along those lines. Gather it from your yard, your garage. You’re her basement or whoever it may be. Don’t forget to look in your car. And of course, don’t forget the bags and the backpacks, the sporting equipment bags to carry these things to and from practices to and from tournaments.

Gather all that stuff and use the same process that we just used in the previous example where you will get everything in one spot and then you will soar it like [00:06:00] items. And then you go through them. That step is so important because once you have sorted, you have the piles. Where everything is in a pile and you can see how many basketballs do you really have? How many hell bins do you have? How many things are missing? Do you have shoes, but you only have one set, one pair of the shoes. So you don’t have to have them. They can not be used if you don’t have to. Do you need it to go look for that?

Or is it really lost? Go through these things. Once you have gathered them and sorted them and make decisions about what to keep, what to toss and what to donate, you can quickly do this once everything is in one place and you can see it all in front of you. The other thing that I like to tackle over the summer is the clothes kids’ clothes.

They grow so quickly and they grow out of things. Often we have things in the closet. We have things in the drawers that do not fit that they don’t like that doesn’t. Doesn’t feel good when they have it on, so they never wear it. So take time this summer to pull the things out. And again, you will use that process where you sort, you may think there’s only two or three pairs of pants for one child. And when you gather everything and you look at the sizes, all of a sudden there’s 15, 17, even 20 pairs of pants. And most of them are not being used.

So go through those, pull out the ones that don’t fit, pass along, what you needed to, to the next child or whoever you give hand-me-downs. Down’s to donate the things that are still in good condition. And the thing is that can not be salvaged and that you cannot use anymore toss those, or find another use for them. But don’t hang onto things. Don’t keep things around in the home, just adding to the clutter, free up the space for things they can actually use and that they can actually wear.

There are plenty of episodes on the intentional edit podcast with details. And a lot of examples and explanation for how to [00:08:00] organize a closet, how to organize closets for younger children. How to get them involved in the process. What that looks like, great ways to organize? you kind of find those go to the international audit podcast, wherever you’re listening to this search for the closet organizing episodes so that you can listen to all of those and really dial in the closet organization. If you’re going to take it that far and move beyond the decluttering aspects of these things.

the final thing, the fourth thing I want to talk about for getting organized and decluttering this summer would be the kitchen containers, the Tupperware, the things that you pack lunches with the ice packs, all of that kind of thing. If it has a lid, if it’s two pieces and has a base and a lid gather all of those things, if you have lids that do not have a container to go on, those lids are now trash toss, those lids, there’s nothing.

Nothing that you can do with them. go through these things, really the Tupperwares, the containers, anything that you would use to pack a lunch or hold those lunch items. And once you have sorted these things out, gotten rid of the thing is that you don’t use that you don’t like anymore that are really trashed because they have missing pieces or they’re broken and you are left with the thing, is that.

You actually use that you find useful for your family. Then you can put those away in an organized fashion. And you could also take the time to make a list for what you might need going forward and what will be helpful to have as the school year starts And you’re packing lunches again

 One thing that will be helpful for you to get things done in terms of organizing and decluttering and upgrading your home. So it has a less clutter. It is to follow a proven plan. You’ve heard me say it before, and you will hear me say it again. A plan is crucial to get yourself into the groove with the decluttering and all of the aspects that go into that.

I will put a link [00:10:00] in the podcast description for something called the simple home habits. Five week challenge. That’s something you can sign up for. It’s a program that is in place. You can do it right now. And each week for five weeks, there’s a different small project. It’s a decluttering project that gives you the guidance and it helps you to do the decluttering and actually get this stuff out of the house.

But then it gives you instruction on how to set up a new routine. These things are small. Small projects. it’s really just minutes at a time. And you will set up a system that will help to prevent the clutter from creeping back into the place that you just spent time removing it from. Now you can do these projects weekly and a couple of minutes each time, and then follow through with the checklist that are provided to help you keep track and keep that newly decluttered space clutter-free and clean the way that you want.

It. It’s a great way to kickstart the whole house organizing and purging. This is a simple, simple thing that you can participate in because it’s only five weeks. It’s like a five week jumpstart to help you. I do the purging and then set up the routines that become habits because they will just become part of your daily routine. And that is the goal. We want them to become these healthy habits that help you have this home, that functions for your family that makes it so that it stays clean. And it is a less stressful place for you to be in.

We want it to function ideally for your family’s needs. So you have to remove the clutter. And create the habits and routines that make it possible to keep it that way. With everything that you have done without any additional work or effort on your part. And that’s the whole reason why after you do the decluttering and organizing, you have to set up these routines that we want.

To become habits. So the link for that. So [00:12:00] bill home habits, five week challenge, it’s in the description. You can sign up for it there. All you have to do is click on that link and it is easy for you to follow. And it’s only a five week commitment. To get things done and see how you can really benefit from this kind of purging and decluttering and routines. Long-term.

Go ahead and start small, start with a little project. And if you have more time to declutter and organize, organize. Utilize that time. Go ahead and complete. The fourth thing is that I mentioned today, the sports equipment, the backyard and outdoor toys, the kids are close and of course the kitchen containers and Tupperware, all those lunch items.

Get those things done that would be starting small. The more you get done now, the less you have to deal with later, you are checking things off the list so that you don’t have to do them in the future they’ll projects. From this episode, they’re simple ones. They should not take you that much time to complete, and they will have you feeling good and you can check the task off the list and move on For more guidance and more specific decluttering projects. And to make sure that you get in the groove with easy routines to maintain the decluttering work that you do. Go to that link and sign up for the simple home habits. Five week challenge. All you have to do is click that link sign up and we can work together on that. And all of your future decluttering projects, I’m excited for you to tackle these things and get these things done.

And get going and moving towards your goals of a clutter-free orderly home. That functions for your family so you can stress less because you have reduced that mess