Let’ do a quick 10 minute clean out of the office. It’s not Marie Condo – if we asked “does this spark joy” there would be little left in this room. For this cleanout you need a bin bag, a washing basket and a sturdy cardboard or plastic box. Start your timer.
- Rubbish goes in the bin bag – don’t go too deep into sorting or filing, just remove the obvious rubbish, things you will never fix and out of date newspapers and uncompleted homework etc.
- The washing basket is used to dump the things that belong elsewhere in the house like kids toys, ironing, cups and saucers and pegs. When the whole job is done, then they can be put back in their own places. Later on walk from room to room with the basket on your hip.
- The box gets labelled “Shed Stuff” and in it we put the items that drift in from the ute and paddock like flotsam in the wind. In our office it is things like tech screws, ear tags, small bottles of chemical, parts due to be returned to shops in town.
- Place your “Shed Stuff” on a bench in the garage/shed. It minimises the number of spots that you or anyone else will need to go looking later for these items later and can be topped up with more shed stuff from other problem areas like the bathroom window sill, the mantlepiece and the laundry when you are ready.
If you are on top of this already, or when the timer goes off you are done. Fill the kettle and give yourself a pat on the back. Have your cuppa somewhere different than normal. Perhaps for you that’s in the garden, bedroom or in the dining room. Perhaps it’s the front veranda rather than the back. Somehow it feels like more of a treat in a different location.
Don’t have a dedicated office space? You get a cuppa and a biscuit love!
