Regina Leeds - Rightsize . . . Right Now!: The 8-Week Plan to Organize, Declutter, and Make Any Move Stress-Free

PRAISE FOR REGINA LEEDS

Making your New Years resolutions? If your goal is to finally clear the clutter, One Year to an Organized Life will break the task down week by week.

Parade

The perfect book for anyone wanting to find important papers instantly or have a navigable closet. Full of useful information for everyone, from the person who needs simply to clean a messy desk to the person requiring a whole new approach to life; highly recommended.

Library Journal on One Year to an Organized Life

[Leedss] advice is simple, practical, and essential.... Calm and empowering, this handy guide is so well thought-out that just leafing through the pages might make you feel more in control.

Boston Globe on One Year to an Organized Financial Life

Readers should find plenty of smart, straightforward and rewarding ways to eliminate chaos from their work lives.

Publishers Weekly on One Year to an Organized Work Life

Leeds covers it all. Week-by-week tasks provide clear, realistic goals for the determined mother-to-be, and some weeks involve simply thinking about organizing or creating routines. The emphasis here is on the difficult choices that have to be made, and the logistics behind making them. Leeds will likely change the thinking of many a would-be parent: being organized is actually far easier than the alternative.

Publishers Weekly on One Year to an Organized Life with Baby

Leeds gets right to the point and offers simple, attainable advice.

Library Journal on The 8 Minute Organizer

Also by Regina Leeds

The 8 Minute Organizer

One Year to an Organized Life with Baby (with Meagan Francis)

One Year to an Organized Financial Life (with Russell Wild)

One Year to an Organized Work Life

One Year to an Organized Life

The Complete Idiots Guide to Decluttering

Sharing a Place Without Losing Your Space

The Zen of Organizing

Copyright 2015 by Regina Leeds

The Zen of Organizing and Zen Organizer are registered trademarks of Regina Leeds.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address Da Capo Press, 44 Farnsworth Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02210

Designed by Linda Mark

Set in 10.5 point Guardi LT Std by the Perseus Books Group

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Leeds, Regina.

Rightsize... right now! : the eight-week plan to organize, declutter, and make any move stress-free / Regina Leeds.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-7382-1802-1 (e-book) 1. Moving, Household. 2. Orderliness. I. Title. II. Title: Right size... right now!

TX307.L434 2015

648.9dc23

2014039459

First Da Capo Press edition 2015

Published by Da Capo Press

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

www.dacapopress.com

Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail .

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Charlie and all the companion animals who have so generously graced my life.

I am humbled by your ability to love, forgive, and inspire.

Until one has loved an animal a part of ones soul remains unawakened.

ANATOLE FRANCE

CONTENTS

Whatever you can do,

or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius

power and magic in it.

GOETHE

TAKE A MINUTE TO SEARCH THE INTERNET FOR THE MOST stressful life experiences you can have, and youll discover moving on that list, along with death, divorce, major illness, and job loss. I presume you have a move on the horizon and may be dealing with sleepless nights, eating binges, and temper tantrums. Moving causes physical, emotional, and mental upheaval. One minute youre fine and dandy, living in a house or apartment, and the next, for any number of reasons, you need to change residences. Even a move for positive reasons, such as recent nuptials or a promotion, can strain nerves. Moves that are foisted on us cause off-the-charts stress. As the calendar days fly by, you find yourself feeling exhausted and practicing the fine art of procrastination. Im here to help. Lets start with a look at my style of organizing, and then Ill explain how I structured this book for maximum payoff.

Long before I became a professional organizer, I made two moves in one year. The experience of packing, moving, and unpackingonly to do it all again a few months laterwas so traumatic that I decided I would forever keep only what I treasured and loved. Neatly tucking things away in closets, the basement, or the back of the garage simply because I had the space and could delay a decision no longer made sense to me. This philosophy requires me to stop every three to five years and have a nothing is sacred weekend during which I donate or toss older items that no longer serve me to make room for the things I currently need. I also want to open space for things I might need in the future. Life is always changing and so should our environments. Everything I own is the right size for the home I currently occupy. Is there one right size fits all? Absolutely not! Rightsizing takes into consideration what you literally need for the size of your home, your family, and the obligations you have at your current stage of life. The head of a large corporation and your ninety-year-old aunt have different life demands. They should have different amounts of stuff to meet those demands elegantly and efficiently.

Even if your next move is far in the future, you can use this book to rightsize your home. Every few years its great to reassess what we own and see if its time to tweak the environment. For example, a few years ago I visited an elderly relative. I noticed that all of my late uncles things were still in his room, even though he had been gone for more than a decade. He left no wife or children, just his brothers and sisters. I asked if I could sort through his possessions and see what could be donated to charity or tossed. In the process, I was surprised to find usable items still taking up valuable space. For example another sister, recently deceased, had placed a large stash of disposable razors in a plastic bag labeled with the contents and the date. They were in my uncles dresser along with a myriad collection of other bagged and labeled personal itemsas if he were on a long trip and would need everything upon his return. It is amazing how loyal we are to stuff that will never again be used. Today when guests come to visit my aunt, they can make themselves comfortable in my late uncles old room with closet space, empty drawers, and even a disposable razor for their use. A little organization can go a long way to giving you the livable space you needso take a step back and consider the things in your home.

Can I stress that point enough, I wonder? You can understand the words and are hopefully touched by my examples, but can you apply them to your situation? It can be tough to look on your possessions with an impartial eye, but you dont ever want your home to feel stale or staid, do you? You want it to be vibrant and alive, just like you are. You loved your college dorm or first apartment, but it would look odd to have the exact same decor when youre fifty. You set up your nursery with great love, but your teenager doesnt even want to see photos of how adorable it was. Time and life march on. We need to keep in step.