Did you know that you can declutter your time? There are so many articles can be written about decluttering and the numerous ways we can declutter our home from the wardrobes to kitchen drawers, handbags to garages?
If it was that easy we would all have perfect homes.
Most of us are thinking when do we have the time to even start doing all that? We know what our home looks like and can guess at the amount of work we need to do. Procrastination sets in and we have lost.
We all have 24 hours a day and have the same number of minutes and seconds and we cannot create it. Although the idea that if we could create extra hours in our day what would we do with it? Probably procrastinate further and that may be our own worst enemy – even more time to waste.
The first thing we should be doing is decluttering our time and learning how to become more productive with the 24 hour days we do have.
How can we do this and stay sane? Decluttering is stressful
Keep it simple and basic.
We live in a world of amazing time saving devices that should be empowering us to live more fulfilled lives but they seem to be draining us of our time and energy. There are so many different ways to start and each of us live our lives in different ways.
These are my tips on how to declutter your time and take back ownership of your 24 hours in your day. See if any of them could work for you.
Your phone should be working for you not against you
The smartphone is wonderful, amazing and life changing, however it is also draining, negative and frustrating. People think you are reachable 24/7 no matter where you are and what you are doing.
What? They didn’t pick up the phone. What? They didn’t reply to my message right away.
The demands that are applied to you makes you more of a slave to your phone. Start looking at your phone as your device and make it work for you. Even when you have to use your phone for work there are limits to its ownership of your time. You are not 24/7 tied to work
If you can’t leave the phone down and silent when you are working then there are other steps you can take.
- Uninstall any apps you don’t use and don’t need anymore. This will free up space on your phone and limit notifications you get and the constant demand to update apps.
Check your email inbox
Your email inbox is too full to even find any of the important ones. Are you subscribed to too many things you seem overwhelmed
- Unsubscribe from all the sites that you signed up for but no longer need.
- Delete unwanted emails from your inbox straight away.
- Check your folders to see if they still apply to your needs of filing emails away.
- You could add a new folder “*Pending” and move any emails you need to reply to or waiting for another message from them to this folder. This means all open tasks are still in one folder for you to scan through and find the relevant ones immediately.
- You could even create a new email address that you use just for those sites that require an email address to get something and you don’t want to be inundated with spam mail.
If you find that you are subscribed or a member of things you no longer use or need, unsubscribe from them too. Do you use Amazon Prime anymore?
Do you go to the gym? Free yourself up from all of them you don’t need. You can always re-join at a later date. (huge tip here: most places offer reduced rates to new members signing up so you could be saving money by doing this too.)
Assess your social media accounts
Radical thought or suggestion here where you may need to have a paper bag ready. Not everyone can do this one.
- Check out your social media accounts from you tube to instagram etc. Unsubscribe/unfollow people and accounts.
Yes, take a breath while you are doing it, the world won’t end. Grab the paper bag if you need to and breathe in and out. Don’t hyperventilate!
It is not removing you from everything in life, it is just decluttering.
When you clear out your wardrobe you don’t throw everything away. You are just removing everything from the closet and assessing what you still wear, what fits you or suits you and what can go. You are choosing to donate or throw out the items you no longer love, need or want.
Unsubscribing/unfollowing from all just means you are clearing your time and headspace.
Don’t forget to keep breathing .
Slowly.
The best thing is to sleep on it and the following day or even two, that is your choice, you will realise that you are only thinking about the ones that you actually are interested in and there is nothing stopping you from following or subscribing to them again.
You may find yourself totally forgetting about more than half of the people you had subbed.
If you have not even thought of them and your life continues forward, you’re saving time for yourself and focusing on the here and now and your life. They will be fine and they are living their life.
It may even help them find out who is still subbing and who is watching their content. They can streamline to their real customer base and adapt accordingly.
It is in no way harming anyone. Just focusing your time and energy on things that are important to you. Winning back time in your day. Your time is your time to spend.
Do you need to get notifications of every little update or news or fall for clickbait?
When you have time to check in you still can if you want to.
Learn to say no and save your time
This does not mean you have to say no to everything and everyone. It just means don’t say yes immediately. If you find your life just too busy and you can’t fulfil all your commitments, then it is time to stop and think about what fits your life right now.
Focus on the season of your life and prioritise that. Take the time to reflect and consider if that request fits into your life situation right now or not.
This can also apply to people asking you to join group chats or groups.
Channel your time and your energy to the important things in your life right now.
Do little things today that will help you tomorrow
- When you prepare things for dinner today, do you have moments in between the stirring and cooking to maybe cut the vegetables for tomorrow’s dinner? It helps you tomorrow maybe when you have to be out or home late.
- Can you make more today and just heat up leftovers tomorrow?
- Have you thought about meal planning to reduce stress and save time? Knowing what is planned for dinner simplifies your day and frees up time.
- Add to your grocery list during the week to ensure you have everything you need when shopping.
- Do you need to head into town for one errand? Can you get more than one task done?
Doing a few things today can make the difference in how productive you are tomorrow. These could be the very small things that add up to so much more. It can free up your time.
The benefits of decluttering your time
Find out where you are losing time and see if you can streamline things. Learn how to declutter your time.
Your time is your time and you should have a say in how it is spent, it cannot be reclaimed.
By decluttering your time you free up your life.
Start new routines, new habits and healthy hobbies. Who can’t use more free time to spend with family and friends or even some quality alone time. Self care is important as well.
It takes practice and commitment to form new habits and not slip back into old routines however it is worth aiming for.
Where are you losing time in your day?
