How to set up your own 5 day Organizing Retreat

The nice thing about an organizing retreat is that it creates in you a sense of urgency. I know many people like working with a deadline or shall I say working up to the deadline!

You can even share this with a friend and both of you work on this. It’s easier to have someone hold you accountable and celebrate with. Don’t you agree? 

An organizing retreat is a nice way to get 5 simpler projects done in a concentrated amount of time. For this retreat I recommend picking projects that would take you no longer than 15 minutes. If you’ve never organized your space before you definitely need to start here! For the more advanced, I still recommend 15 minute projects because we all need some maintenance from time to time.

Notify the people you live with so they don’t think you’ve lost your mind! One of the things my family liked was coming home to find what I had done that day. I never told them, I just let them figure it out.

How to pick the projects? Go through your house and find the areas that really annoy you. For myself, the spice cabinet had been a thorn in my side for far too long. It was the daily practice of opening the cupboard to have one of the glass spice jars fall! I had lived in my house for 13 years and knew this area existed in this state. It seriously took me that long to get around to it. I had more important areas to get under control first!!

You can make this as fun as you want. I like to turn up the music and get to work.

Please set a timer for 15 minutes and take a before picture. I don’t want you to spend your whole day on this.

1.     Go through the area to weed out the unwanted ( too big, too old, too nasty, too broken, too small,etc)

2.     Decide what really belongs in this space

3.     Figure out how you will put it back in there( accessories may help)**Don’t purchase an organizing accessory unless you have already measured the space and have a  specific purpose in mind to make the space more functional.

4.     Get rid of all that didn’t belong: trash or donate

5.     Take an after picture

For more ideas on 15-minute projects please go to www.organizeyouinsideandout.com

Happy organizing…..