Put Your House On A Diet: Six Easy Hints To Cut Clutter Calories

Is your house bursting at the seams? Do you need to reduce clutter? Then it must go on a diet!

My scale has bumped up ten pounds this winter! I don’t know how it happened …. well, I guess I do. Less activity and eating too much, right? As my husband, Ken says, “Do the math, if you put 2000 calories in and only burn 1000 calories, you will store 1000 calories.” Ya ya ya, I know! So I decided I would bump up my activity, so I started exercising last October. But I don’t believe in diets, so I didn’t change my eating habits. We already eat healthy and balanced food, with only an occasional cinnamon bun! But after six months I haven’t lost a single pound.

So I now know there is no way around it. To get where I want to be with my weight, I need to purge fat, sugar, and white flour from my life, or as an old friend calls it ~ White Death!

Weight gain parallels clutter. It slowly adds up until you feel uncomfortable, nothing fits, it slows you down, you can’t fit in your house anymore, and you are ashamed of how your home looks.

Just exercising alone is like shuffling things around. But do the math, if you have more stuff than you have storage for, it is clutter! You need to purge before you can get organized!

The definition of purge is: To rid of whatever is undesirable; cleanse, purify.

So how do you do it? Purging has some similarities with dieting. Both make us uncomfortable, so let’s take this parallel all the way through. That will paint word pictures to help you to see the problem areas that are causing the weight gain/clutter, how to purge/diet, and how to maintain/burn that fat/clutter.

1. Set A goal – Be Specific:

Mark you goal weight down, and even mark on your calendar a date to aim for. Some things to help you reach your goal, put a “before” picture of yourself on the fridge, and even an inspirational picture of someone slim to inspire you of what you want to look like.

Make a goal for yourself of what you want to organize. Put up some pictures of rooms that you absolutely love and wish were yours. They will inspire and motivate you to reach your goal. Write down on your calendar a date to aim for. Even make a schedule blocking off specific times or days just for purging and organizing each week. Make a mental picture and some plans of what you want your space to look like. Think of the fun stuff like the decorating and finishing touches. Now see yourself sitting there enjoying it.

2. Purge White Death From Your Life:

Purge fat, sugar, and the foods that are causing weight-gain from your diet. Some even go so far as to purge those items from their house so as not to be tempted and give in on some late night binge.

You need to purge the fat from your closets and drawers. Think of them as white death – they are suffocating you from being who you really are!

3. Be Prepared For Craving And Hunger Pains:

When you cut out sugar and fat, your body will miss it and send you uncomfortable signals. Your stomach will growl, you will have headaches, and your cravings will get strong. This is not going to be easy. So, get prepared for those moments of weakness. Have healthy snacks made up in grab bags and ready in the fridge or cupboard.

Purging is just as uncomfortable, especially at the beginning. So be ready for your weakness with some pro-active planning. Some suggestions to help:

• Have a friend come help you purge.
  
• Make yourself accountable, tell the Charity you will be dropping off a bag on Friday.
  
• Write out your criteria to follow and stick to it. For example:

• It goes if it is damaged, broken, ripped or torn.

• It goes if I didn’t wear it, use it, read it, or play with it.

• It goes if it doesn’t fit or it doesn’t match.
• It goes if it is a duplicate.

4. Reward Yourself, Not Punish Yourself:

When you reach your first goal, perhaps that first five or ten pounds, treat yourself to a day where you can have your favorite dessert, or lunch at your favorite restaurant with friends. Then get back on track the next day.

When you purge a space, say a closet-full of clothes, and everything fits neat and tidy, reward yourself for getting through that first step. Give yourself something you love, something you want to do or to purchase. You can keep this in mind as you are purging to keep you motivated. But, one word of caution, it cannot add to the clutter.

5. Be Reasonable Or Balanced:

You want this to be your way of life, not a temporary fad that is impossible to stick to. Otherwise, when you are done, the weight will come back. So you may need to take it slower, not being too drastic at cutting all your calories. Perhaps just by cutting 20%, then your weight will come off and stay off.

Be reasonable and balanced with getting organized. You are on this road for life, so don’t expect too-much too-fast. Reduce clutter one room at a time, one drawer at a time. You don’t have to be a minimalist, just be balanced. It doesn’t all have to be perfect on the first go-round. Each circuit you do will get easier and more organized.

6. Exercise And Build Muscle:

You need to build muscle, which burns fat and helps keep your body lean. Your diet will be successful when combined with regular exercise.

Establish some systems and habits to keep clutter/that weight off:

• The one-in-one-out rule.
  
• Make the best use of your time/steps. For example, when opening the mail – either do it, file it, trash it, recycle it, but don’t leave it!
  
• Blitz daily clutter. For example, before you go to bed, blitz through to pick up any garbage or clothes, put away magazines, clear counters, etc. A routine of just fifteen minutes a day will keep your clutter at bay!
  

What do you think? Are you ready for the new you? Go to my Facebook Wall and share your experience. We can motivate one another! I’ll share my diet journey and you share your purging journey!

Elvie Look: Your Professional Organizing Coach who is helping people get organized with her easy tips and suggestions. These systems help the busy mom, businessman or woman,  entrepreneur or student learn the keys to organizing in simple, actionable and manageable steps. She teaches how to get organized and maintain your organized space while carrying on your normal busy life. She is the author of "21 Steps From Chaos To Calm.

Tagged as: clutter, getting organized, organizational skills, organize, organizing tips, purging