BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Organization 55 min/day lost to clutter

Bob and I have been tracking any time we look for something that we know we have. It's become a game to us, if we start looking for it, we merrily announce that we have been caught by it. Even though we're actively paying attention to those times, it only seems to happen at most once or twice a day. Usually I'm looking for my camera to take a photo of a bird or bug in my back yard and I forget where I last put it. I need to come up with a "camera home location". For example I used to lose track of my schoolbooks in the general house clutter. Now I *always* put them back on top of a specific shelf as soon as I'm done with them, and it's so much easier. I always know where to find them.

I have a hanging spot for my keys so I always know where the keys are. Really those are the prime things I look for.

The last thing we hunted for, which took about 10 minutes, was a second micro-USB cable. I have one on my desk I use for my phone and mouse, but Bob wanted a second one for him, and we knew it was in the house somewhere but not where. So that was something we had to track down.

Lisa, you are a brave soul to track how much time is lost to clutter. That would be a frightening number around here!

Dear Connie -

Ah but it's a great way to make progress on not losing that time in the future!

If you lose your keys every day, then you know to address it - and POOF! That's like an hour a week you have to do what you want with! It's like finding free money

It is like free money. Excellent way to think about it.

Once I stop moving i bet i will finally have a home for everything in my life.

My most dreaded frequent questions always start with, "do you know where the _____ is?" Even Dan is getting sick of not knowing where anything is!

Bob and I still make a point to note and joke about any time we're looking for something we know we have. So we are very aware of when it happens and we actively seek ways to prevent that occurrence from happening again.

Today I was looking for my sheet protectors - the things you slide paper into so you can put the paper into a binder without punching holes in it. I am preparing to make my car and person binders. I couldn't find them! I was frustrated that I was wasting time looking for something I knew I had.

I finally found them under another pile.

Yet another example of how organization saves us stress and time and money, by giving us those precious minutes back!

To me, the worst thing is when I spend money to buy something I already own because I can't find it or I've forgotten I had it in the first place because I am unorganized. I read an article in a magazine once that said people try to save money by keeping things but we actually loose more money having clutter and re-buying things than we would by not keeping a bunch of extra things we aren't sure we will need. I seems accurate to me. Once I started getting organized, I found several double things that I didn't even remember I had.

I hate clutter. There just never seem to be enough hours in the day to get a handle on it. I am slowly, but surely making headway. Unfortunately it is very slowly.

Now, if only I could convince my husband it is important to go through our clutter and get rid of things we don't need... Just an example -- He won't let me give away a bottle of soap for a carpet shampooer in case we ever get one again. We've had this bottle sitting around for about 5 years. I don't see us purchasing a shampooer any time soon. But, no, I can't give the soap to a thrift store. ???

I'd try freecycling the soap. a thrift store will probably chuck it.

Susan -

Try finding another purpose for it. Use it as a a counter cleaner. That way you work through it and "use it" and get rid of it!

My sister just moved out of state and we took anything she didn't want to take with her, so we could recycle / use it. We didn't want her throwing things away. So we got old vinegar, oil, etc. We're not going to eat it, but I'll use it for cleaning!

Excellent, Lisa. That's smart.

BTW i love sheet protectors. I keep them where I can grab them at a moment's notice.