10 February 2010

Trash Bag Tango

 
If you do one thing this week it should be the trash bag tango.  

It's fantastic.  It's a method used by Peter Walsh on the Oprah show, click here to see a video.  Basically - you take two bin bags and give yourself 10 minutes to clean up.  1 bag is for chartiy and 1 bag is for the dump.  It's amazing how much you get rid of and how tidy the place looks in such a short space of time!!  Trust me, just look at these.

I decided to move my bedroom around and Sunday afternoon this is what it looked like ..


Scary!!!  

So I got two bin bags, set my alarm for 10 minutes and did the trash bag tango.  I ended up with this ...

 

Still not looking so good but I was really into it so I set the alarm for another 10 mins and voila (ok with an extra 5 for getting the bed fully made) ....

  

Of course I couldn't leave it there, there was something missing.  A light ?

   

still not quite right though  ...

That's better.  Can't beat a few flower corsages to brighten things up. 

Not only is the trash bag tango good for your home it's also good if you want to lose weight - I was exhausted after all that !!  And, good for charity as I now have two bin bags of clothes, shoes & handbags to drop off.

Peter has another technique called "Quick to Go" where you make rapid decisions on what you really need.  He says he gets really annoyed with people who can't throw out something like a bag of their grandmother's because it means so much but yet they disrespect it by leaving it under the bed or up in the loft gathering dust.  I think this is true for us all.  I am a true hoarder so I need to start practising this technique.

Here's a few other tips I've found that are really good ....

Whenever you’re boiling the kettle for tea, tidy up the kitchen. If the kitchen is tidy, tidy up the next room – it’s only 3 minutes but it keeps you on top of everything.

Use the “one in, two out” rule.  whenever you bring in an item, you have to throw away two other items.

Have you any tips/suggestions for de-cluttering?  Let me know if you do or even better, if you fancy coming over and helping :o) :o)


8 comments:

  1. Oh what fun, I am definitely going to try this one. The playroom is going to be my target. I think I might need more than 2 bags though.
    Thanks for sharing. Your room looks lovely.
    Rachael XX

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  2. Loving your hints and tips on clutter busting! I need to put them into practice tomorrow - my workshop is a real mess and I need to de-stash my fabrics. Got the bin liners out already! Thanks for getting me motivated.

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  3. Sounds good and produced great results for you! I've picked up a second hand book following recommendations from other bloggers called 'Confessions of an Organised Homemaker' and she has a lot of ideas like this. I think I need to look at it again...

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  4. Great ideas to help keep the place organised, if I did the tea task of tidying up, Id have the cleanest house in the world, as I'm always drinking tea when I'm at home :) Sometimes when Im tidying up or reorganising I like to swap things around, maybe move some ornaments from one room to the next, it almost feels like you have something new then rather than buying new stuff.

    All things nice...

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  5. Well done Michelle...that's a great result!

    I've watched Peter Walsh on the Oprah show and he is truly amazing...so are some of the people he deals with.
    I'm going to try the tango because my spare room is a disgrace. I think it's going to take a lot longer than 10 minutes to get the job done, but it's a start.
    Lesley

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  6. Saw your blog post and it made me giggle.
    I think I might do this in my teenage daughters room while she is away this weekend. Have a nice weekend Emma x

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  7. Love the corsages on your lamp, so pretty! Happy Valentines day x

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  8. Have you checked out the Flylady?? Similiar methods, very motivating too!! House looks lovely after your 10min (+) splurge!

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♥ Thank you so much for your comment ♥ The fact that you have gone out of your way to leave a comment totally makes my day ♥ Have a truly fabulous day! Michelle x

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