How to Make Money Cleaning Out Your Clutter: 3 Principles for a Less Stressful Life in 2004
- Do you like to make money?
- Is your home or office filled with things you never use?
- Are you wasting time looking for things?
- Would you like more space (physical and emotional!) in your life?
- Do people you care about complain about the messes you make?
Research shows that 80% of what we keep we never use. Off-site storage facilities and garage organizing systems business are hot business opportunities in the franchise world. The National Association of Professional Organizers membership has grown to over 2000 members! It’s not difficult to figure out why. We are a nation of “stuff!” Even the packaging for the things we buy is too enticing to throw away!
New! Audio Summary.
Click on the image for a 2 minute audio summary of the benefits of using The Paper Tiger software. Listen while America's favorite organizer, Barbara Hemphill, quickly outlines the main ideas that you need to know. This is a fun and entertaining way to get new ideas to increase your productivity.
Before you begin to put away all those new gifts from the past holiday season it is a great time to look at what you already have. One of the biggest fears people have about hiring a professional organizer is that we will make them throw things away! Fear not! Our philosophy is “If in doubt, keep it.” You can keep everything you want if you are willing to pay the price: time, space, money and energy. And the truth is that most of us are looking for some of all four!
My passion in life is helping people create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. Here are three principles which help make that possible:
Keep nothing which you do not know to be useful, think to be beautiful, or love.
A “productive environment” is “a setting in which everything around you supports who you are and who you want to be.” Look at everything in your life – from the expired prescriptions in your medicine cabinet, the clothes you haven’t worn in year, the boxes of tax info which are well past the 7-year statute of limitations, to the piles of journals you always intended to read. Ask yourself these questions:
- Does it work?
- Do I like it?
- Does it make me feel positive about myself and my life?
- Would someone else benefit from having it?
Or consider this question: “What’s the worst possible thing that would happen if I didn’t have this?” If you’re still not sure whether you need to keep something, go to the next principle.
A place for everything.
Notice I didn’t add “and everything in its place!” Frequently life gets messy – clutter happens. The problem is not the clutter – the problem is when you’d like to get rid of the clutter but don’t know what to do with it.
Research shows the average person spends 150 hours a year looking for information. In addition to the time wasted looking for that contract you need to get reimbursed for the repair expenses on your new printer, what about the time you spend looking for your car keys, your glasses, the sporting equipment you need for the vacation your are planning, or the gift you bought for your mom?
Remember Hemphill’s Principle: If you don’t know you have it, or you can’t find it, it’s of no value to you. If you’re wasting time looking for things and you’re out of time, space, money or energy, there’s no better time than now to simplify your life, which takes us to the next principle.
Over-responsibility becomes irresponsibility.
When all the suits are hung together, and you discover there are 34, ask yourself these questions: How many of these suits do I really wear? Do I want to use this much of my closet space for suits? How do they make me feel? If the answer is anything negative -- guilty, fat, uncomfortable, frustrated – give them away to someone else who will use and love them! If you are keeping them because someday they might be useful, while someone else within miles would use and love them today, you’re missing a great opportunity!
Here’s where this project becomes financially worthwhile. Research shows that people who donate to non-profit agencies generally take a much smaller deduction that is legally allowable. If you’re concerned that taking a tax deduction will trigger an audit, check out It’s Deductible (www.ProductiveEnvironment.com – click on “shopping”, then “software”) – this amazing program guarantees you a $300 tax deduction – or your money back. I had three boxes of donations that in the past I would have claimed $150 – with it’s Deductible, the deduction was $1038!
There is frequently one other problem after the holidays. What do you do with the avant-garde flower vase that looks totally out of place in your traditional decor? Or the expensive leather calendar that just doesn’t work for you? In the case of the vase from the relative, consider seriously whether they will know or care what do you with the gift, as long as you graciously acknowledge its receipt. If you are concerned they will, put it in a special place in your closet, so you can bring it out when you invite them to dinner. In the case of the expensive gift, does the value of an item come from its price tag or its value to the recipient? Is it any more extravagant to give it to someone who would rather have it, than to put it away in a closet forgotten?
A few words of caution: Please put those tattered in the trash -- no one else would want to wear them either! Finally, begin the elimination process with your own belongings first -- the best way to encourage cooperation from others members of the family is by setting a good example, not by nagging!
NOTE: To be sure you CAN find what you decide you really want to keep, remember The Paper Tiger software enables you to find anything you file or store in five seconds or less. If you’re looking for new ways to solve the “finding” problem in your life, join one of our free teleclasses!
