The ongoing magic of tidying up

Earlier this year I went through a momentary de-cluttering phase inspired by Marie Kondo’s ode to organisation, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It was a moment of beauty, but sadly very shortly lived. Since then, the only thing magical about my efforts to stay tidy is just how quickly they vanished. Come on, admit it you can relate to this, or is it just me? Recently I read an article by Audrey Goodson Kingo on Working Mother.com about an organisational expert Jill Pollack: she provided a list of the common articles which clutter up your lives. If you’re feeling a similar need to purge, here’s what Jill suggests we toss today. Right now. Get on it! 1. The box of phantom electrical cables that have no actual purpose. Make sure to dispose of them in a place that takes toxic recycled items, such as your local town hall dump. Those electronic items leak poison into the ground. 2. All the take-out menus, fliers and Makro catalogues jammed into weird places in the kitchen. They can all go in the paper recycling. 3. The fourth through 12th crusty travel mug. And the many heavy duty plastic kid’s cups which your kid doesn’t use anymore. Really. You aren’t ever going to use them again. 4. The obscure yet speciality kitchen gear your mother-in-law bought you but you’re never going to use: the melon baller, the curved grapefruit knife, the heart shaped cake tin. You all know what you have… Time to be honest about your culinary aspirations and how much spare time you have to ball melons. 5. Old, unfilled photo albums, half filled notebooks, old desk diaries. Do you really need them? Will you ever use them again? 6. Old sheets. I’ve heard that you should keep no more than two sets per bed. The local animal rescue centres are always after towels and blankets for the winter. 7. Shot glasses and coffee mugs that you have never used either for tequila or coffee. Enough said. Take those do the charity shop and let some other sucker buy them. 8. Hotel shampoos and moisturisers that you have jammed in the drawer of the bathroom vanity or the linen closet. Take them to a homeless shelter, and then next time you’re in a hotel resist the urge to pack them, it’s not some added bonus that’s included in your stay, it’s just one more item to clutter up your life with. There’s many more things you could be getting rid of, have a look around and see what you can do. If lack of time is your excuse then break down the job into 20 minute segments, or do a cupboard at a time. For me it will be a pile at a time, I wish I wasn’t joking. Time for the rubber gloves. P.S. Thank you for all your lovely messages for La Gidg, her knee operation went very well, and I can’t praise or thank the staff at Son Espases Hospital enough! www.mallorcamatters.com