Episode #1| It's the little things that count...Keep it to one box.
My biggest weakness...organizing and staying organized..and laziness.
I've watched the Marie Kondo Netflix series on organizing and the book on Magic of Tidying up and i see there's a reason less is more. The more you have, the more you have to clean it when it gets messy.
My concept of cleanliness is out of sight, out of mind...and forget where i put everything. Since I was a kid, I like to keep little things in boxes and thought it was clean if it wasn't seen. Now that I'm older, I have shoeboxes and store bought storage boxes everywhere and not sure what to do.
Tip 1: Find ONE good size box or even luggage that fits only the most important items and reorganize every year to see what should be kept and thrown.
I had to do this over the weekend and finally threw away two of my boxes I keep memorable items and one of them was a pink and blue caboodle that my mom gave me before she passed. The latch is now broke and served it's purpose for more than 30 years.
The blue clear one I found in the garage but the latch also broke so that needs to be thrown out. Now my sister bought me this huge toolbox on amazon and thought it was smaller but it was huge! I like smaller ones but it's a sign that I have too much to have a small sized box.
Tip 2: Audit and Categorize! If possible, Digitize!
1. Small items (keychains or jewelry in smaller boxes)
2. Letters/papers/tickets (put in envelopes and/or digitize them and save on hard drive)
3. Photos (envelope or photo book) and digitize them by scanning and saving it in a hard drive because you might lose them and almost thrown out which happened too many times.
4. Notebooks/Diary (also digitize and keep only what's necessary...it gets heavy)
-- If you have too many, cut out the paper of the important one's and put in one book!
5. Random items (make sure it fits in the box)
6. Buy a Harddrive and keep it in the box
7. Extra Credit | If you want, you can have list in the box of items you have and/or have a time capsule letter to yourself on why you kept certain items. If you can't come up with a good reason to keep the item in the box, it's a sign to let it go.
Tip 3: Items not for the box
Clothes : Now this is this where the Marie Kondo method comes in handy but i wouldn't put it in the box. You should keep what you use and if you don't, maybe in storage but only in one box for each season.
Shoes : Also up to you but not in the box
Food : Yeah, you should eat it, don't save it and take a photo.
Books: Books are great but unless it is autographed and signed by a famous author, it can be placed in another storage.
Artwork: depending on the size and what it is (if paper, ok, if fragile sculpture, maybe it should be in a display box or somewhere in the house)
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