Jump Start January: Declutter Week: Day 1

This week is all about decluttering your home and possessions, and just as importantly it’s also about fitting new systems around your lifestyle to make life easier. Today I’m decluttering my work bag.

I have no idea why I put off doing this task for so long – I got nearly the whole thing done in around 12 minutes. It’s super easy. All I did was this: 

• Put the bin next to the table
• Empty all the contents of the bag out onto the table
• Shake the bag outside, wipe it down with a slightly dampened cloth and put to one side to air dry (if you have a leather bag, use a proprietary product to clean and feed the leather instead)
• WORKING QUICKLY – sort the bag contents out into ‘keep’, ‘put away somewhere else’, and ‘get rid’
• Sort out contents of purse and makeup bag in the same way at the same time, and wipe down purse and bag
• Make a list of things that would be useful in this bag that are currently missing
• Put ‘keep’ items back in the bag, then put away all items that belong somewhere else
• Throw away rubbish (and put the contents of the bin straight into the dustbin outside), put anything else in the recycling box/in the eBay crate

My bag now feels loads lighter, and I have receipts to add in to the business expense records that I started working on yesterday. I’ve been able to find everything I need in there so much faster too, which is ideal if you’re leaving the house in the dark and coming home in the dark, and don’t want to fumble around looking for keys and so on.

The bag was pretty clean to start off with, but I was a little surprised to realise how much I’d been lugging around every day that was unnecessary: far too many copper coins, used travelcards, receipts, flyers, a collection of lipsticks, and so on.

The ‘missing’ list was: a pack of tissues, a lip balm and some sugar-free mints. All very cheap and easy to sort out.

Go on, give it a go.