17

A Quick Review—
Your Plan for Progress

The Heart of the Book

The heart of this book consists of ten powerful ideas that will transform your house and life. The first three ideas get the house under control; the last seven keep it that way. You are encouraged to latch onto the ten concepts for order and do whatever it takes to incorporate them into your life.

3 Steps to Organize the House

1. Consolidate—Group everything together with like items.
2. Containerize—Store them in an appropriate place in containers with labels.
3. Condense—Get rid of duplicates and unused, unwanted, or unneeded items.

2 Routines That Maintain the House

1. Do four things in the morning.
2. Do four things at night.

5 Habits to Keep Clutter on the Run

1. If you get it out, put it away.
2. Apply the thirty-second rule consistently—if it takes thirty seconds or less to do something, do it immediately.
3. Follow the camping rule—leave a room the way you found it.
4. Look, really look at your surroundings.
5. Use little minutes to clean.

Decision Time—What Will You Do First?

There are many organizing suggestions in this book. Ignore 80 percent of them for now. Choose to implement only those few that will impact your life as it is now.

Of the topics we have covered, where are your hot spots, the ones that, if changed, would make a significant impact in your life? Choose a few, perhaps five, maybe fewer, from the Decision Time sections at the end of each chapter. Write them down and post them with a time plan so you will remember to work on them consistently.

There are other improvements that you may choose to make later. But in true Bare Bones fashion, focus on the most important now and let the others take care of themselves.