On day two of our March Micro-Minimizing challenge we’re clearing off the tops of our dressers to help improve our sleep. (If you prefer, you can watch the video at the bottom of this post.)

Can you see the top of your dresser? Most flat surfaces are places where “stuff” collects, and dressers offer a large flat surface for easy dumping. Clutter in the bedroom disrupts sleep. The bedroom should be a place of calm and peace and the visual noise needs to be eliminated. After you clear the top of your dresser, it’s like a shining light when you walk into your room. Your eyes will naturally gravitate to the clean stress-free surface. Sounds good right?

Let’s jump in. Have a bag for garbage, a box for donations, and an area for keep.

Take a few seconds to visualize the ideal top of your dresser. Close your eyes if you need to. Is it just a jewellery box? A place to charge your phone so it’s not beside your bed? Is it completely void of anything at all, just a flat clean surface? What would your dresser look like to help breathe life and peace into your sleeping space? Maybe it’s home to a special keepsake item that you treasure dearly.

We’re ready to begin. First, take a before picture!

Start wtih one item, any item. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I love this item?
• Does this item serve a purpose?

If the answers are no, there’s no reason to keep it. Add it to the donate or garbage piles, whichever is more appropriate. If the answer to either question is yes, add it to the keep pile. Continue the process, one item a time until the dresser top is completely cleaned off.  

Take a few seconds to dust or wipe down the dresser surface.

Revisit your keep pile and ask yourself for each item if this is the proper home for this item? Remember your original visualization.

Put each item in its proper home. If you’re not sure where that is, ask yourself “If I was looking for this item, where would I look for it?” The FIRST place that pops into your head is the proper home. Put the item in that home but come immediately back to your dresser. Be careful not to get distracted and start organizing the homes of other items at this time. Be sure to stay on this task until it is completed.

Consider your keep pile carefully. When you visualized your dresser at the beginning of this process, remind yourself of what you saw. Does the keep pile match your visualization? If yes, that’s fantastic, job well done! Place your items on the dresser and take a picture so you can compare it to the before picture.

If you still have more items in your keep pile than you intended, some decisions need to be made. Ask yourself again if you love the item? Does it serve a purpose? Is this the proper home for the item? And be very honest with yourself. Keep at it until your visualized dresser is attained. It’s okay to let items go. You can do this!

When you’re finished take a picture! Comparing before and after pictures side by side gives a great endorphin hit (the happy hormone) as you can see the results of your work. Job well done!

Flat surfaces invite clutter. So it’s important to create a maintenance plan for your bedroom dresser. Consider what type of clutter collected on your dresser.

Was it unfolded laundry that got pulled from the dryer to be folded “later.” Make a commitment to remove the laundry from your dryer either one piece at a time and fold it right then so it’s ready to be put away, or bring it to your bed so you have a larger surface to make folded piles and still fold it right away and put the items away.

Was it mail that collected on your dresser? Electronics? Dirty laundry? There are so many options here, it’s difficult in a blog post to address a multitude of possible maintenance plans. So, I suggest consider if there was a particular type of clutter that collected on this surface. Where is the better place for those items. Was it mostly garbage or paper recycling?

Make a commitment to clear this surface of anything that shouldn’t be there each day. In short order, you’ll stop putting items there because it’s a bother to clear it every day. But while you’re developing new habits, at least clearing the space daily will literally only take seconds.

You’ll find if your flat surfaces are cleared in your bedroom, you’ll sleep better as the space is more calming and relaxing for your body to make the adjustment to bed time. There’s no guilt associated with clear surfaces, no unfinished jobs calling to you when you’re trying to rest.

If you’re wanting some guidance for maintenance of your dresser or your stuck reducing your stuff down to match your visualization and need someone to talk it through with, reach out to me, I’m happy to chat with you.

I welcome your ideas, thoughts, and questions in the comments below.

Remember you can share your journey with me and others by using hashtag #MarchMicroMinimizing, and tag me on Facebook or Instagram using handle @suzannegouldenILC.

Here’s me, talking about clearing our dresser top!