ZENandTECH 6: De-cluttering
Do you own your stuff or does your stuff own you? This week on ZENandTECH, Georgia and Rene talk about the joys of de-cluttering your life, and how getting rid of the physical clutter can help you get rid of the mental clutter as well.
Read on for the show notes, and our t-shirt give away!
Bad cluttering habits
- Feeling guilty about throwing things away
- Emotional ties make you keep more than you need to
- The time and effort it takes to manage all your stuff is daunting
- You always plan on getting to it later
Dealing with bad habits
- The freedom, peace, and calm you get will overcome any guilt
- Take a digital photo, that keeps the emotion but not the stuff
- The time you spend stressing over things is typically more than dealing with them
- Get to it now. Do it simply and efficiently.
Tips on how to de-clutter
- Work backwards: Take everything out of a closet, or box, or drawer, etc. and start with a clean slate.
- Set up four boxes (or piles): Keep, throw away, give away, and not sure
- If you're not sure, tend towards getting rid of things
- Set a time limit: 15 min. or 1 hour, keep it short so you don't burn out
- Do something you enjoy while sorting: Watch TV, listen to music, chat
- Don't store other people's stuff. Give it back to them or get rid of it.
Questions to ask
- When did I last use it?
- When did I last need it?
- How good will I feel never having to deal with it again?
Homework
- Get rid of 50 things. Do 10 a day for 5 days if you have to, or do them all at once. Just get rid of 50 things that are cluttering your life and write down how you feel once you're done.
Wii Giveaway winner!
- Congratulations to Kevin Smith -- we'll be contacting you asap!
ZENandTECH T-Shirt giveaway
- Reply to this post with what you're getting rid of, how it makes you feel, and any tips you have for de-cluttering your life. We'll pick a few of you and send you awesome ZENandTECH "Superhero (In Training)" t-shirts.
Help us help you!
Please help us out by recommending ZENandTECH to your family, friends, and co-workers! They're just as stressed as you are, help them out!
And if you haven't already, please leave us a rating and review in iTunes!, it really helps us reach and help more people!
Sponsor
This episode of ZENandTECH is brought to you by the PreCentral.net Store, your one stop shop for everything Pre, Veer, and soon... TouchPad. Combine a TouchStone with a Palm Car Charger for the ultimate in on-the-go power. You spent a lot of money on your device, protect it, keep it charged, and keep yourself happy!
Hosts
- @GeorgiaTiPb (Georgia)
- @reneritchie (Rene)
Contact
You can reach all of us @ZENandTECH, via email at podcast@zenandtech.tv, or leave a comment below!
Thanks everyone, you're the best community on the web and we love having you with us!
Disclaimer
While Georgia is a therapist, she's not YOUR therapist. Everything said or implied on this show is for informational and entertainment purposes only. And shouldn't be taken in any way as a replacement for proper, professional care.
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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What is with the glamour shots in that photo of you guys!??!?
Check out the iTunes podcast section, it's a very common album art format. It's human.
the problem isn't only with the guilt feel of throwing things away; its the guilt of knowing that nobody will make use of them!
I have a MSX computer that i want to get rid of for an example, and i live in the middle east; no recycling facilities... :/
that goes for non tech stuff! things that should be disposed properly, recycled!
I have an Amiga 4000 carefully tucked away in my garage. (Don't tell Georgia!)
Didn't quite meet my stated goal of getting rid of 50 items in 5 minutes. I did 39 in 5 minutes, 50 in 6 minutes 11 seconds. (Would have easily done 50 in 5 if I had started in a different room...)
Beat that!
That's really awesome !!!!
Loved the podcast as usual. After listening I cleaned out the cabinet over our stove. Something I've been needing to do for months. Took everything out, threw most thing away, and organized what needed to stay which wasn't very much. Feel soooo much better! It's a great start, thanks guys so much!
What seems to work well for me is move (or make like you are) every few years. Looking at all the extra junk and the pain of moving and packing it all up keeps me from keeping the clutter around the house.
I just sit on things for a long time and procrastinate but I just kind of got spurred on a little so here goes;
Donation
1x Toshiba Laptop 1x Dell Laptop 1x Dell 64 bit PC with 24 inch screen 1x Laser Printer 1x Tivo Box never used 2x Desks 1x Full size never used folding guest bed Whole bookcase of science fiction books (have the same books on ibooks) 4 pairs of jeans (I live in the desert and it's rarely below 65 degrees and they didn't fit anyway) 2 Winter coats - same reason, never cold enough Blackberry Storm 5 dumb phones Blackberry Curve 2 HP Wireless printers 2 Brother Laser Printers
Throw away / recycle
1x Dell laptop 2x UPS outlets 2x coolers that were too small to be much use 3x desk lamps 4x Back up Hard Drives that I no longer use but hoarded A mountain of expired bank cards that I stored in a drawer because I was too lazy to destroy - finally got it done. A mountain of cabling that came with lots of equipment that I hid in drawers
Selling on
NOTHING. Too lazy.
I doubt I can include the 25 cats belonging to my catlady neighbour...
....nope Animal control took those away and they weren't mine anyway.
I can't say I accomplished too much, made more space but not enough to make a visible difference except for the office area which is almost empty and eventually there are more things that will go.
As for how I feel, well tomorrow I will know when I drop off the donation items and then take the recyclable items to the drop off for those.
The truck is filled.
My biggest doubt that is always in my mind is that I might need those things again after I get rid them. Never had except for once and by then it was too late and I won't lose sleep over it.
I did give entertainment to another neighbor (not the cat lady) who was insistent on trying to dig through everything while his wife was telling him that he should be cleaning up in their house instead of trying to bring things in.
But can I count the 3 hours I spent doing this as exercise? LOL
Yes I have been working hard getting rid of things I don't need. I am doing my bedroom tomorrow, just tossing away a ton of old books I dont use.
I can't wait