Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Works For Me Wednesday: Trash Bag Tango

* UPDATE: This post was featured at Clutter Control Freak Blog!

Ok, this is my 4th WFMW Post about my de-cluttering adventure. If you're interested, here's Part 1, 2 and 3. Well... I'm still pursuing this de-cluttering dream...and I must say I am seeing some success.

Last Saturday I dropped off six (6) trash bags full of stuff to Salvation Army. Mind you, these are "good stuff". I actually initially wanted to do a garage sale because I know some of the stuff would sell well but after thinking about it, I knew I don't have the time to do the garage sale and it's better for me to donate it to goodwill.

Now you'd think that with a total of 10 huge bags full of stuff (6 here and 4 on the other post) I got rid off that I am almost done de-cluttering..but the truth is I've only just begun...

It was a great feeling to get rid of those 6 bags and donate them to goodwill. So I am continuing this. Here's an excerpt from that book It's All Too Much that talks about the "trash bag tango":

"...Grab 2 trash bags. Everyday for a week take ten minutes to go around your home and fill one bag with trash - old papers, torn and unusable clothing, out-of-date magazines, anything that you would classify garbage. Fill the other with items you want out of your house. Maybe you want to give them to a friend or family member or charity. Just a consistent 10 minutes a day is all this technique asks of you. Commit to this and you will see significant changes.

Do this everyday for a week and you'll notice a huge difference.
Do this everyday for one month and everyone else will notice a huge difference.
Do it everyday for 3 months and you'll conquer the clutter in your home.

For more Works For Me Wednesday tips, go to Rocks In My Dryer :)

10 comments:

Marcia Francois said...

Good one - well done on all that decluttering. Doesn't it feel great.

I swear my mission is to get people decluttering!

http://organisingtips.blogspot.com/search/label/decluttering

Ang said...

I love to go Goodwill'n :) I actually have started this process of monster de-cluttering, so I'm going to really give your tip a go (ummm... can we say I have clothes stored away in my bedroom that can fit my 9 yr old niece.... lets just say I passed that size mark when I was, oh, 3)

Merci said...

Hmmmm ... I'm liking this idea! Just 10 minutes a day. I can do that. Great idea! I'm gonna give it a shot.

BlondeMomBlog (Jamie) said...

I love that idea! Since the beginning of the year I have probably donated about two big bags of stuff to Goodwill and then last week I had our local ARC organization pick up (yes they do scheduled pickups!) about two boxes of stuff. I've also sold our crib and changing table on Craigslist and I finally threw away a big collection of home decorating magazines that were just collecting dust. I took some nicer baby books and toys to our daycare to donate for the classrooms...the assistant director was thrilled!

It felt really good to declutter.

Kristen said...

Good tip!

Mari said...

Great idea - I've done this sort of thing before but haven't been consistent. I'm going to try again!

Anonymous said...

Nice work! I'm working on this too, so I appreciate the tip and encouragement!

Tamara said...

I am keeping this post up on my screen so that I actually do it at some point. Do you take big green garbage bags? Or little clear ones? I am sure I can get rid of things...I am afraid I would get rid of too much stuff I needed and keep stuff I don't need...any suggestions?

raqgold said...

liza, i love this post!!! hmm, i would love to have this as an article for the home and garden section - re: organizing!!! i hope you're ok with it! pls email me: die_erhards@yahoo.de thanks!

Liza on Maui said...

Hi Raq,
I just e-mailed you. Yes, please go ahead and use this. I am glad you like it.

To all who left a comment here and have some questions - I will get back to you next week- I promise. Sorry for the delay in response.