Jessica Moe

So, here I am…sitting in a pile of paperwork and junk…and I thought that in the spirit of organization I will share some of my favorite cleaning tips with you.  Now, these are things that I learned while watching cleaning shows like Clean Sweep and reading magazines like Real Simple…

I thought to post this as I found myself at the tail end of sorting through my papers, with a box of miscellaneous stuff like keepsake cards, unopened bills that I pay online, some CD’s and various membership cards among other things….Sometimes, you reach a point in organizing things that no matter what you do, you still have piles of stuff…they are just smaller. 

This is where one of my favorite most helpful rules comes in.  It is called the “One Touch” rule, and it is pretty straight forward.  Let’s say you are cleaning a room…the “One Touch” rule means that you will only touch an item one time. When you pick it up, you must send it to its proper place….otherwise, you will end up with pretty much the same mess you started with, just divided into piles all over your house or all over the room.  When it comes to doing something like sorting out your junk drawer, this is pretty difficult because you might not have a place to send your junk, which is why it ended up in the junk drawer in the first place.

There is an exception to this, and it is the “Keep, Sell, Toss” method. This could also be the “Keep, Donate, Toss” or “File, Shred, Toss” method.  About once every three months, I go through my paper box.  I bring out my bin of papers, along with two other bins and a trashcan. I put a post-it on one of the bins and label it “File” the other one is “Shred” and the trashcan is for non-confidential papers and envelopes. 

Another good rule is “The Task-it Basket”. I made up the name, but the principle is quite common.  The idea is that everyone in the house has a basket. When necessary–once a day, or once a week–you pull out your task-it basket and go around the house to find things that belong to you that need to be put away.  This is especially helpful in my house since we have three levels and often times things will make it from the first to the second floor…but not from the second to the third…or the reverse they will make it from the third floor to the second, but not to the first.  Sometimes, I will place specific tasks in a basket for Issa or myself…for example, I sorted through all of the paperwork and made a basket of his paperwork that he needs to sort through. That way, the mess is contained and the task can be tucked away if we can’t get to it just then.

Ok, that’s enough! I am tired and going to bed.