Unsubscribe to get your email inbox organized

If you are annoyed by never-ending spam emails, subscriptions and constant dings from your notifications, consider unsubscribing to declutter your mailbox and take your peace back. To manage your inbox and organize it, means to divide it into categories and start tidying, just like physical stuff. You want to say goodbye to clutter and only keep things that are important or spark joy. Ideally, your email inbox is empty and only has new emails that have not been read and/or emails that need to be answered. Here are some tips to get your email inbox organized:

Unsubscribe from subscriptions. Remember that one time you signed up at a store or inline to receive a discount? Well, the company has automatically subscribed you to their email list and is not authorized to send you advertisements daily. You can manage your subscription preferences either in your customer account by the company or unsubscribe through your email provider.

Spam emails. Mark as spam and delete them right away. If there is not an unsubscribe button and the sender keeps sending you unsolicited offers, you can block the email and/or flag them, so they won’t show up in your inbox anymore.

Archive Important emails. Emails that are important, such as order confirmations, client correspondences or anything else that you need to get back to in the future . The Archive action removes the message from view in the inbox and puts it in the All Mail area, in case you ever need it again. When you archive an email, you file it away for future reference. And if someone responds to an email that was archived, it will reappear in your Inbox. Archiving is the best solution for emails that you want out of the inbox but for which there's a good chance you might need them later.

Maintaining your inbox. Be cautious about revealing your email address. It is a piece of personal information that scammers like to get a hold of, some even sell it to third parties that keep the spam coming. Alternatively, you can create a “throwaway” email account to sign up for offers and discounts or use a temp email service to keep your personal information safe. Schedule some time (15-30min) each month to edit and organize your inbox to keep it neat and tidy.

Copyright © 2021 by Janine Morales, Professional Home and Business Organizer and Certified KonMari™ Consultant in San Diego and surrounding areas

How to organize your clothes

Before you start organizing you must ask yourself why. What is the goal of organization? Do you want to minimize your distractions, have more time for playing with the kids or maybe you just want to be able to find your keys in the morning. I got you! But I invite you to look further down the road and imagine your ideal life! If you want to stay organized for the long run you need a long term goal to be able to create everyday tidy habits. Some of my clients envision their ideal lifestyles such as traveling more, working less (or changing careers), going back to school or spending more time (really being present) with loved ones. Once you have figured out your long term goals and ideal lifestyle then you are ready to get started.

We start by organizing our clothes because we want to learn to make easy decisions before we make hard ones (It is easier to decide about a stained shirt than it is about grandmas old china). Making good decisions about your belongings will train your brain to make good decisions about your life.

Step 1: Gather all your clothes in one place (the bed or bedroom floor are great)

The reason we want to do this is to see how much we really own. For many of my clients surprise it’s often much more than they anticipated.

Step 2: Touch every single Item and ask if it sparks joy!

Yes I know it sounds cheesy, but we have been trained to make decisions based on other peoples opinion all the time. We have to re-learn to make decisions based on our own well being and happiness. So, if you touch your favorite shirt you will feel happy and warm and you will have an emotional reaction to it. Make your decisions based on how your clothes make you feel and if these items are something you would want to wear in your ideal life.

Related: Minimalist Closet: Practice Minimalism with Your Wardrobe

Step 3: Sort you items into a keep, donate or discard pile

If the answer to the question “does it spark joy” is yes, keep it. If the answer is no, make sure you thank the item (yes gratitude is important to let go and to appreciate what the item has done for and meant to you in the past). Then either donate it if it is in good shape or discard it if it is stained or ripped or too old to be reused.

Step 4: File fold your clothes to save space

When you are finished sorting, my advice is to fold as much as you can. Most modern fabrics don’t wrinkle anymore and folding will safe you tons of space. The neat thing with file folding is, that you can see every single item and are able to pull them out from the dresser, without making a mess. Here is a tutorial on how to fold your clothes vertically:

Step 5: Store items back in the closet

Folded Items should be stored in a dresser, from light to heavy. Lighter items such as bras, panties or socks should be stored in the top drawer and heavier items like jeans should be stored on the bottom. When hanging up items make sure o hang them up in an angle from long to short or sort them by color.

Step 6: Discard your trash and drop off your clothes donations at your favorite non-profit or second hand store

I recommend to make a donations drop of the same day you finished organizing your clothes, or the bags might be laying around in your home and becoming a nuisance for weeks. Also do not leave them in the garage or they might be forgotten forever. The sooner you can take the responsibility to donate/ discard them is when you have finished the clothes category of organization.

Copyright © 2020 by Janine Morales, Professional Home and Business Organizer and Certified KonMari™ Consultant in San Diego and surrounding areas.

3 Ideas on how to make de-cluttering fun

Getting organized when you feel overwhelmed can be hard. Finding time to start, when you are busy is challenging. An organizing marathon is not for everybody. If you are like me, challenges make it fun. Get together with a friend or join an online community like the KonMari+Dave Ramsey Facebook Group to find motivation, inspiration and accountability. Here are some ideas and fun challenges to help you enjoy the process.

1. Make a vision Board of your perfect lifestyle and hang it up in your closet to remind you of the why.

   When you have a visual of the things that you value and desire, you are more likely to think about them. Make sure you create your vision board around how you want to feel in all areas of your life such as home, career, relationships, money, travel or personal growth. Once you know what’s important to you, you can delegate your time into achieving your goals. Visualization can be one of the most powerful exercises you can do and there is research to prove t too. Psychology Today reported that a study looking at brain patterns in weightlifters found that the patterns activated when a weightlifter lifted hundreds of pounds were similarly activated when they only imagined lifting.  In some cases, research has revealed that mental practices are almost effective as true physical practice, and that doing both is more effective than either alone.

2. Play the Min-Game Challenge!

   The rules are easy. You have 30 days to de-clutter and it starts with one item on day 1, then two items on day 2, three items on day 3 and so on. The further you get into the moth the more challenging it gets. At the end of the Month you have gotten rid of about 465 items! The great thing about this challenge is that it does not take a lot of time and once you get into it, it is hard to stop. There is also a whole community playing this game online and sharing their progress, you can find them on Instagram with the hashtag #minsgame to join.

3. Make Money!

   It does not matter if you are moving, just moved in or have lived in your home for a couple of decades, making money is always helpful. Many of my clients plan to hold a yard sale at the end of their organizing journey. Make sure you set yourself a date and advertise it to hold yourself accountable. Through the process of de-cluttering your home you might even come across some unused gift cards, gift certificates or even checks that have not been deposited. The thing to remember is to price your items that they will sell. The money is already gone and you have decided that all these items are going, so remembering that all of it is going to donations afterward anyways, should give you a realistic outlook on money goals. Any money you make is going to be a profit.

Copyright © 2020 by Janine Morales, Professional Home and Business Organizer and Certified KonMari™ Consultant in San Diego and surrounding areas.