Starting the New Year off right by
dumping clutter
By Angie Lippard
I was thinking, "What
would be a good Midweek Motivation to send for the New Year?" I
looked through several websites for articles on how to organize or
manage our homes but as I looked through them they all seemed
so complex and required a lot of time. So, I decided that
maybe you would like a personal testimony instead. My writing is in
blue. Website article is in black. Here goes:
During the holiday
break, I became inspired by the information on this website listed below
and in two days "dejunked" my home. My motto was "If I can't keep
it up; I can't keep it!" With all the things I have going on in my
life right now the house had to be able to take care of itself
so I knew it was time for a change. I set the goal for two days.
I would devote the entire two days to the project and I would not
overwhelm myself on any one area of my home. I didn't have an
elaborate plan (unusual for me) but I knew my closet had to be
first and then the laundry room/storage closet next. Everything else
would fall into place after those two things were taken care of. I
also made a promise to myself that I would not juggle stuff around
from room to room. It went amazingly well. I was not overwhelmed
because I wasn't trying to organize my stuff but getting rid of my
stuff. I filled up the entire blue trashcan on Monday. The garbage
man emptied it and I had it full again on Tuesday. (I'm
going to ask my neighbor I can use hers for the rest of it)
"Take the
attitude that you will live in the world, rather than accumulate parts
of it. You might not be a spiritual leader like Mohandas Gandhi who
avoided material things, but you can learn from Gandhi's example:
It is possible to own only a few possessions and live a rich and meaningful
life." Live Simple Website
I asked myself these three questions:
1.
Have I used this item recently?
2. Does this item help me in my life's
goals?
3. Do I need to own this item? Or is there a way that I can
rent, borrow, or improvise the function of this item when I need it?
You'll have to use your judgement in answering the first question,
"Have I used this item recently?" How much time is "recently"? Every
item has its own use pattern. Seasonal items don't get used for months,
but think back to last winter--did you wear the gloves? Did you wear
the coat? Other items, like dishes, might be hard to track when you
use them. You can place such items in a box and put them away and
see how much time it takes before you need to use them again.
The
second question goes to the heart of why you have anything--to support
your life's goals. You have to know what those goals are (see "Live
Your Dream"), but a way to think about this is to imagine yourself
having achieved a major life goal. Do you see this item in that picture?
Is this item instrumental in that goal? Do you see yourself carrying
this item on that journey to your goal?
The third question is what
I call the "anti-warehouse attitude." By this attitude, you acknowledge
that you are not trying to packrat every item you could conceivably
need in your life. You can always improvise, borrow, rent, or buy
used when you need some specific item.
That was it! See how easy.
No time deciding how to better store something but time spent on whether
it was even necessary to own it in the first place.
Take an inventory
of everything you own. Does taking an inventory of all your stuff
sound like a daunting task? If yes, then you have too much stuff!
After all, what you have after the purging process is what is important
to you. If it is important to you, it is worth documenting. If you
don't feel it is worth documenting, then take another look at it.
This was good advice. At first glance you might say "What?!" But there
are very few things I own that I would want to take the time to inventory
or take a picture of and put in my photo album. Which is exactly
the point! This gives perspective. If I didn't want to take the
time to inventory this item, how important was it?
So, on Monday I
hit my closet, under the bed, and the laundry room/storage area. That
was all I had time for that day because they were the worst off. I
love looking at my laundry room closet now. There isn't a whole lot
on the shelves. You can see the bottom of the shelves and there is
space between the items. I love it! My closet is done in a simple
enough way that the kids can actually get the clean clothes in
the right location after the laundry is done. This is a big help on
laundry day!
On Tuesday I attacked the kitchen cabinets, bathrooms,
and living room. Now I only have a small drawer of
makeup items, (I used to have tons and tons) the bathroom cabinet
is sparse and everything is easier to clean. One example of "If I
can't keep it up; I can't keep it!" is the living room. I have a large
glass table that houses my teapot collection. I used to have lightsaround the teapots. While this was pretty, it made dusting a nightmare
so I looked at it and said - If I can't keep it up - wait! - I wanted
to keep it so I knew I had to change the situation. I taped the lightsunder the glass instead of them lying on top of the glass and now
dusting is a snap. Just an example of something that was going to
have to change if I wanted to keep it.
Often, we say "I'm going to
do it! I'm going to buy (the latest storage gadgets) and
I am going to get this place organized for the last time!" Well, I
don't mind cleaning and I love organizing but sometimes life gets
too busy to do a good job of either. That's why I had to make a
change - tossing what wasn't essential and making everything
else work better in the space that was left. I have to tell you
- It feels great! I felt so good when I woke up this morning
and there wasn't anything to clean or clothes in the chair to put
up or boxes on the washing machine or well, you get the picture.
Instead
of sending you a lengthy list of how to store things better, I thought
I'd just share what worked for me - not storing things at all. Now
if I could just do the same thing with all my scrapbook supplies.
hmmmm.
See you in 2004! Angie Lippard
