Have you seen our Five Minute Friday Challenges on Instagram? If not, it is time to start following us over on the gram! Here is a fun video we made talking about the power of just 5 minutes! Each Friday we share with our followers a Five Minute Challenge. There is so much you can do in just five minutes.
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FIVE MINUTE RULE
Our brains are wired to take the easiest route to preserve energy. So when we think about starting certain tasks our brains convince us it is just too much work right now, we can do it later. While breaks and self care are necessary, at some point you do have to do some work. If you tell yourself that you will just commit to five minutes of that task you've been postponing, you just might trick your brain into completing that task you've been avoiding. This rule can be applied to so many things. "Just 5 minutes of running if its too hard, then I can stop after 5 minutes", "Just 5 minutes on my taxes", "Just 5 minutes to put the dishes away", "Just 5 minutes to work on my paper." Before you know if you've walked a mile, you've finished your taxes, you've put all the dishes away and wiped the counters down even, and you've finished your paper. It's about getting the ball rolling. If, once its rolling, you decide you had enough, then that is fine, you've at least begun chipping away at the task or goal and tomorrow you can commit to another 5 minutes.
WHY DECLUTTERING IS SO HARD
Not everyone enjoys a good declutter or spring cleaning, and it is often the last thing on our list. It is the thing that gets postponed so often that the mountain of clutter continues to build and becomes even harder to tackle. However, as boring or hard as it may seem to some, it is a necessary task that always needs to be done. Clutter is just indecision. It is the task that gets postponed so often that the mountain of clutter continues to build and becomes even harder to tackle. Decluttering can be exhausting, so many decisions to be made about each item, causing you to reach decision fatigued, which leads you to quit because your brain is overloaded. But, hey, we can do hard things. It's all about the approach.
DO THE MATH
The 5 minute rule can really come in handing when dealing with decluttering our home and agreeing to tackle that mound, one five minute decluttering session at a time will help you achieve your goals without burning you out. There is no need to sit down and declutter your whole house top to bottom in one sitting. First off, its impossible and you are setting yourself up for failure from the start. Committing to five minutes is easy enough to get the momentum going and just long enough to make a big impact. With 52 Fridays you can complete 260 minutes of decluttering in year. Imagine what you can get done in 260 minutes.
THE MIND IS A POWERFUL THING
Right before you begin your declutter, it is important to put yourself in the right mindset. Know that you are going to make quick and fast decisions. Like ripping off a bandaid. Quick decisions will allow you to make more decisions before your brain decides it has had enough! If you spend too much time debating on an object, then you're setting yourself up for decision fatigued. Look at an object and ask yourself if it serves you in your current lifestyle - have you used in in the past six months or will you definitely need it again in the next six months? Your life is not static. Your needs and wants are always changing. One day you were an avid scrapbooker, and then you found yourself rarely doing it because you've now fallen in love with knitting. It's life. One day you rocked flannel shirts and jean skirts, and now you mostly wear yoga pants and oversized sweatshirts. That's okay! That is life. It is okay to let go of that thing that Aunt Dorthy gave to you that you never used. It is okay to let of go of that impulse buy you never touched once it got into your home. It served its purpose at the time, whether that was a five second smile or a lifetime of memories, and now it is time to let it go.Preparing your mindset before your declutter session is going to help you make those quick decisions and get the job done. State your goal out loud so you can hear it. "I will make fast decisions and keep only the things I love and need in my current life."
HOW DECLUTTERING HELPS BUSY FAMILIES
When we get our belongings down to the things that really matter in our current life, we are able to store it more easily and with purpose. When things are where they belong, then it is easy to access them, reducing the amount of time it takes to find something. When our things are in order, we gain more valuable time to do the things we really value, and that is time with our family. So as you begin to declutter, keep in the back of your mind your core value of time with family and this will help keep the momentum going.
WHERE TO START?
Starting is the hardest part of it all! Lucky for you every Friday we post on Instagram a quick 5 minute Friday Challenge. If you are struggling with what to start, use our ideas, or let our posts simply remind you to start that decluttering task you've been postponing. Our basic formula is this: 1. Take it all out. 2. Clean it all up. 3. Categorize It. 4. Discard or donate the unwanted, dated, old, expired, torn, dirty, etc. 5. Put it back organized (preferably in bins with dividers and labels of course!). Whether you take our challenge or choose an area on your own, either way we want to see those before and afters! So, be sure to post in your IG stories and tag us! Who knows, you may get a free coffee out of it one day. We do love giving away coffee!
PAST CHALLENGES: (Last updated March 16, 2021)
Make Up / Bathroom Drawer
Winter Accessories / Scarves, Hats, Gloves
Sweaters / Clothes Drawer