What’s keeping us from de-cluttering?

Most of us would like for our homes to be a little neater—or a lot neater. What’s keeping us from getting organized?

“Dawdling, prolonging, postponing, slacking and dilly-dallying,” says Laura Leist in her book Eliminate Chaos—The 10-Step Process to Organize Your Home and Life.  Most likely, we’re procrastinating.

Laura Liest suggests eight excuses for putting things off and eight ways to overcome them.

• You’re easily distracted. The solution? Keep a to-do list that outlines the steps for completing your project.
• Decisions seem overwhelming. You might try writing down a list of pros and cons.
• You don’t like the task you’re doing. Would rewarding yourself for completing the task motivate you?
• You’re scared. You may be a perfectionist who fears that the results won’t be up to your standards. If that’s the case, try to focus on the process and not the final product.
• The project is too involved. You need to divide a big project into small, manageable tasks.
• The project is boring. Ask yourself why the project is important. If it’s not important, don’t do it.
• You resent someone telling you what to do. Focus on the task and what you’ll gain from getting it done.
• The project can wait. What’s the cost of delaying? Decide when you are going to do the project, and then do it.

Procrastination can be an important issue. We’ll write more about it in future blogs.

Laura Liest’s book is divided into chapters with practical suggestions for different areas of your home—from a child’s room to a home office, from the kitchen to the garage. If you’ve been procrastinating, it might motivate you to get started.