Ever empty out a cabinet to clean and organize and then....

This happens to me more than I'd like to admit. I, too, take a short break then set a timer for 15 minutes to keep me motivated

This is me too, and I have an unholy amount of purging and organising to do so I can't afford to mess about. It's 3.15 Sunday afternoon here, and I have achieved NOTHING today *blush*

I paid out to get the Alejandra Costello Power productivity programme a couple of years ago and initially it was great, but I think I am basically lazy so I give up. I know the advice is to only get out what you can achieve in 15 minutes, but if I did that I would never do anything - no job in my house is that small!

I have also realised that I am a deadline driven person. So that I only really go full pelt when there is a deadline I must adhere to. Fake deadlines don't work for me

This is so me today - in fact right now. I emptied out a cabinet and found a Target gift card. I immediately went online to check the balance (yay - there is still some $ left on it) and then instead of going back to finish my task, I opened up 2peas. Lol. Birds of a feather, I guess.

Yes, I have been known to do just the same as you. But I also have a habit of sitting and visualizing my doing the job and then being very disappointed when I realize I still have the job to do.

Hahahahahahaha! Yep, all the time. Sometimes it sits there for a day or two before I finish it. But I'm retired so there is no pressure to give a crap.

Maybe this will help you feel better:

In January, I purchased a plastic storage cabinet from HD. Hubby put it together. The idea was to take the pile of crap just inside the basement door that is the horse related stuff I don't want or can't leave in the tack room.

Today? It still stand empty because the pile is too intimidating. So the cabinet stand right next to the pile and taunts me every time I go down to do laundry or walk out that door to the barn.

Maybe this week will be the week

Yup. This is why my porch is a disaster. All winter we have been purging and organizing in the house, but all the unwanted stuff is piled on the porch together with all the boxes of stuff from when we had to quickly pack up most of the house during our addition. I need to reclaim the porch but it is such an overwhelming job. It would be easier if I could just drop old clothes off at a charity, but DH wants it all itemized, photographed etc and that takes a ton of time. So it sits. I'm too tired after working all day to want to work on it.

I take breaks often while I'm emptying and organizing, that's basically the same thing right?  

Yesterday I was just going to clear out the old pots and pans from the 2 drawers they're kept in and organize the new pots and pans after they were washed. I didn't think they'd all fit in the space of the old ones, so I also cleared out the cabinet beneath the stove, the cabinet next to it and a couple of drawers next to that. All at the same time I was taking pictures of baby things, listing them on Craig's List and cleaning the shoe/accessories closet in our bedroom. Which was mostly dusting because it had already been organized, but I also purged one whole pair of shoes and a few purses.   

So, like you, I had piles of stuff everywhere. Something kicked in with me at the beginning of the year and I've been organizing every square inch of this house, including the basement. Since the results have been so good, my husband has been happily ignoring the piles and chaos when they happen. On the other thread I mentioned cleaning and redoing my husband's office a few weeks ago and every now and then he still stops and says what a good looking office before going in.