4 Things My $35,000 Turkey Taught Me On Clearing Clutter

My $35,000 turkey started out as a bargain. My daughter was shopping and she called to tell me the store had turkeys for 40 cents a pound. Wow! What a savings. Last year I paid 89 cents a pound so this sale would save me big bucks. Now, we only have a fridge with a freezer on top and I thought I could squeeze in one turkey. (What was I thinking?) I must have forgotten how a turkey is shaped. Instead of being flat it is roundish. But that isn’t the best part—she bought two turkeys. (One for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas) If the weather had stayed cold we could have kept them in the garage for a few days until I could find a freezer, but no the weather wasn’t cooperating. And after I had saved 49 cents a pound I didn’t want rotten turkeys.

I really thought it would be easy to find someone to keep my two turkeys in their freezer—wrong again. I called all my friends within a mile radius of our home and no one had a freezer or they didn’t have any space. Finally a friend called back and said she did have room for my turkeys. She used to have a turkey that lived in her back yard and it was a mean turkey. It would attack her daughter when she was riding her bike so now it lives in their freezer and she was sure he would like some other turkey company. This is great; I have a short term solution to my problem.

I realized we would have to buy a freezer of our own so off to the store we went. We bought a shiny new white little beauty which we had been talking about buying for over two years. Before we knew that the store had free delivery we thought we would need to buy a truck to haul the freezer home that we were buying for our two turkeys. $35,000 is a small price to pay for saving 49 cents a pound don’tchathink?

When clearing clutter in your home isn’t this just how it happens sometimes? One small project (or so we think) leads from one thing to another. Let’s say your closet needs to be organized so you go out and buy containers, a shoe rack and other organizing supplies. By now your exhausted and not only is the closet a mess but you have all these containers taking up space in your bedroom.

Clearing the clutter in our homes can be accomplished with a plan.

1. Before starting any project and going out and buying containers or other organizing supplies first evaluate what you have in your home.

·If you do need containers measure the space where you will be using them so you get the right size.

·Save your receipt in case you don’t use them you can return them with no hassle.

· Use containers that work for you. If under the bed containers work better than those that fit on the closet shelf then purchase those. If over the door containers work but containers that hang on the closet rod aren’t the best for your space then plan accordingly.

2. As you are evaluating write down what is working for you and what isn’t working for you. You can refer back to your goals which will keep you focused and you can check off what you have accomplished so you can see the progress you are making.

3. Start in just one place; don’t tear apart several rooms all at the same time.

4. Set a timer and work for a set amount of time and then allow yourself to take a break. Reset your timer for 5 minutes so you’ll remember to get back to what you were doing.

When clearing the clutter and one thing leads to another, good things will happen just like it did with my $35,000 turkey.

·I got my garage organized even better.

·I got rid of clutter.

·I now have a freezer.

·Sadly I didn’t have to buy a vehicle, maybe with the next “great buy” that will happen.

Marilyn is a published author and professional organizer. She invites you to visit her awesome website www. marilynbohn.com for easy organizing. She is a sought after public speaker who is passionate about teaching women and seniors how to organize their life and reduce clutter in their homes and office. You can buy her new book 'Go Organize! Conquer clutter in three simple steps' in major bookstores, Amazon and her website December 2009.