I apologize in advance for this post. It’s inevitable that after reading it you’re going to want to clean out and reorganize your jewelry.


Before.

So forgive me for messing up your weekend plans. But I do promise that you’re going to absolutely love the fact that you did it afterwards.

I know I did.

I lived with this mess (see right) for way too long.

Always having to fish for what I needed, and never able to grab anything and run out the door I can’t see why I kept putting that off!

But like most things you put off and off and…off some more, it only took me about 45 minutes, and left me so happy with myself (flowers were bought, chocolates picked out) that I don’t know why it took me an ice-y day this past winter to get me to do it.



After! Ding!

As you can see, I had a mess on my hands. Hoops where they shouldn’t belong, necklaces tangled with rings, earrings not matched up together.

Looking at it, at first it seemed daunting. But by breaking it down into a few simple steps it was a task easily conquered.

One: Start with putting everything in it’s proper place.
I know this sounds counter productive because not everything’s going to make it through the “approval process” that is step two. It is, however, easier to see what you need and what you can throw away when you’ve got, for example, all of your hoops together in one place. So at least put everything in some kind of category for the time being.

Two: Get rid of things.
If I looked at it and wouldn’t wear it out the next day, it was trash. If I looked at it and couldn’t determine it’s original color, it was DEFINITELY trash. Never hold on to tarnished things, it doesn’t look good. It may in the low light of your closet, but definitely won’t out in public.

And don’t forget to make a pile of things you could give away!

Three: Put what you access most in the most accessible place.
Duh, right?! Yeah, tell that to past me. The me that was storing “fancy jewelry” there at the top. It revolutionized my world when I realized the best use of those top compartments was to house my everyday jewelry: little hoops, all my rings, stud earrings. Everything that I need to “grab and go” was now in a place that I could grad it and…surprise, surprise…go!

There’s a close up picture of everything at the top. See the little hoops all in one compartment? Those would get so lost in my sea of hoops in the lower drawer. Now, I can pick out what I want faster than I can decide what I want!

Ah. So nice.

Don’t wait like I did to get to this happy place. Organize now! I’m talking right now. Don’t put it off one more second!!

Every writer has their own process.
But what’s funny is I’m sure if you ask any writer, most will tell you the moment they start having to put word to screen-everything in the WORLD becomes more interesting than their subject.

“Oo…let’s watch the flame flicker on that candle-it’s so fascinating” (something I’ve actually thought to myself). Or, “yes, I do want to watch re-runs of Judge Judy, those people just need a break!” Those are just some of the dangerous thoughts that pass through your mind when it comes down to crunch time.

If you can’t relate to this when it comes to writing, maybe you can when it comes to say…orgainizing? Cleaning?

Yes, now I’ve got you.

Even what initially may seem like the smallest of cleaning tasks becomes huge when you allow yourself to sit back for a second and not dive right in.

Here on The Spiff, we’re getting about a weeks head start on spring cleaning, with some great tips that will helpfully launch you past the procrastination, “everything is so pretty” stage, and straight into the, “why did I wait so long to do this?!” attitude.

Beginning with your goals.
I’ve got a goal this year and that’s to organize and clean certain areas of my house. I have mapped out those areas and I am steadily chipping away at them, and it’s feeling good. It’s feeling real good, my friends. So I want to help you do the same.

First, figure out what you want to look better and write those places down.

Then when you start your first area, like say under the bathroom sink, pull everything out and decide what you want to keep and what needs to go. My candle collection, I came to realize, was slowly growing to hoarder status so I threw a lot of used ones out.

Finally, (and this is the fun part and really the purpose of the whole post, think about what kind of containers you’re going to need to put things back neatly and go buy some. But not just any kind of container-cute ones!! I went to Target after getting things out and ready to go back in under my sink, and I found these really great storage bins that got me so jazzed up about being clean and organized. It was so much fun, I wanted to keep going!

Motivate yourself with some cheap cuteness, and before you know it you’ll be living so neat and tidy!

Tune in tomorrow for The Spiff live on FOX to see how to organize the little things in your space like accessories, makeup brushes and more!