Rule #2 When something new comes in, something old goes out.

It's been established that we 

have a lot of stuff in our lives.

We are, after all, living in the age of affluence.

The amount of things that come into our lives on a daily basis is almost staggering.

If you're wondering what can possibly 

be done about it,

try this exercise.

Picture in your mind 

a large table like this, 

whose only job, for two weeks, is to hold

all of the things that are brought into 

your home during that time.

Everything that comes in from

a trip to the grocery store, 

a trip to Costco, 

a trip to the mall, 

a stop at a yard sale or thrift shop, 

a quick run to Wal-Mart or Target, 

 or an emergency trip to Walgreens.

Don't forget the things that show up at your doorstep from Amazon 

or Lands End 

or Overstock.com?

And what if there is a birthday at your house 

or a holiday associated with gifts coming in 

during those 2 weeks? 

Picture it all in your mind....

2 weeks worth of stuff piled 

on the big table.

Is it even big enough to hold it all?

Here is a ONE DAY shot from my house

This is from a trip to Costco,

a stop at the mall (new shirt/necklace :)), 

a stop at Goodwill for jeans for my kids,

a new cookbook from Amazon,

a new throw blanket from Marshall's,

and a few household supplies from Target.

One 4 hour period brought all of this IN.

For a total of 27 items.

And even though 3/4 of what I brought in 

(about 20 things)

is "use up-able," 

meaning it's going to be consumed 

in some way and not staying permanently, 

1/4 of it (on the left side of the table) 

or about 7 things

are staying for good.

So,

now back to your exercise.

Are your shopping trips and the influx of your stuff much different than mine?

Probably not.

If the picture above is ONE DAY's 

worth of incoming stuff,

go back to your imaginary table and picture how much is coming into your home in a 2 week period and mentally pile it on your table.

Think for a minute about a typical week 

at your house and where you go 

and what you buy. 

Picture what other things come in from other sources too like what your family members bring in or what things people just drop in your lap (or on your doorstep :) 

Put it all on the table in your mind.

NOW

consider how much is going OUT 

from your home

in a 2 week period. 

Think about how much you get rid of,

if anything?

And that's a good question....

does anything leave your home 

on a regular basis? 

Or does it all just come IN?

Just like in my home,

I am guessing in your home

probably 3/4ths of what is coming in 

is consumable 

and not staying permanently. 

But 1/4  is. 

And therein lies the problem.

Right?

It's simple math actually...

more items come in on a daily/weekly basis

then ever leave

so our spaces and homes fill up.

And pretty soon a 2100 square foot home 

isn't big enough. 

And we find ourselves saying 

"How is it that when we moved into this house, 

we had plenty of space and even some to spare? And now it's full to overflowing, we have to rent extra space (aka a storage unit) and we can't even fit any of our cars in our garage?"

It's simply because you let too much in

and didn't make enough leave.

You didn't follow

Rule #2

WHEN SOMETHING NEW COMES IN,

SOMETHING OLD GOES OUT.

As in,

when you get a new 

_______________

or

_______________

or

_______________

and yet you kept the old one too.

Why get a new one if you already have one?

Maybe you got it as a gift?

Maybe you found it on a super clearance sale

and couldn't pass it up?

Maybe your mom/sister/friend

passed it down to you?

The point is you already have one and are

getting another one??

So now you have TWO.

(remember the math?)

To reiterate my point,

let me share with you the story of 

THE 2nd BATHROBE

I was once teaching a Dejunking and Organizing class for our local community school and I shared the Stuff Management Rule #2 with them too. I told them that when something new comes in, something old goes out and on this particular day I used the example of a bathrobe. I shared a made up scenario that Mothers Day came and a nice big beautiful bathrobe was wrapped sweetly in a box and presented to you by your husband and children. It was sweet of them to think of you, buy a gift (in your size even!) and wrap it up. The problem is: you already have a bathrobe that you like just fine. What are you doing to do now?

When I suggested that one of them needs to go...
(when something new comes in, something old goes out)

one of the women in class piped up "But what if one of your bathrobes is dirty and in the laundry! Then what would you wear?"

She was serious.
My answer was this:

What did you do when all you had was your one and only bathrobe before Mothers Day and it was in the wash? Or what did you do when you went on a vacation to an exotic (or not so exotic) place and didn't want to bring your bulky bathrobe in your suitcase? 

You certainly didn't curl up and die, did you?
Maybe you wrapped a towel around your body instead? 
Maybe you ran naked to the underwear drawer?
Maybe you brought your clothes to the shower room and got dressed right away?

I don't know...but I know you survived.
And you will this time too...and all future times when you don't have the extra bathrobe because it's in the wash....
(or anything else that you got rid of so you could follow Rule #2.)

What if you get a new __________ or ____________ and you say"But Kim, I really like my old ___________  or _____________ better than the new ones I just received," (like in the Mothers Day bathrobe story)
I will refer you to my post about "Gifts" 

http://www.aplaceforeverykeeper.com/2016/04/then-why-do-we-do-it.html

and tell you....your Mothers Day gift did it's job--you felt loved and appreciated, right? so quietly ask your husband or kids for the receipt (or take it back for in store credit) and pick out something else!


Whatever you do, remember

 Rule #2 

When something new comes in, 
something old goes out.  

To help you see what I am talking about, besides bathrobes...
here are a few examples from my own life:

I received a really wonderful cookbook from my friend, Lori, for Christmas this year so I got rid of 2 smaller cookbooks when this new one came in so that there would be plenty of room in my recipe books cupboard.

See how my recipe books cupboard is full? That means that when a new recipe book comes in, one of them has to go? OR the new one has to go back to the store!

Here's another example:

My husband recently said to me

"My footie socks from Costco are all stretched out. Next time you go, can you please buy me some new ones?"

So I did.

And when the new socks came in, the old ones went OUT.

Here's an even more recent example:

I bought the juice pitcher on the left a while ago and it really STINKS--as in it makes us mad almost every time we use it. The pour spout hole in the lid isn't big enough so water comes out all over the place. And the lid comes off way too easy.
So, for Mother's Day, my two youngest kids went to the store and found me the gorgeous, heavy glass pitcher on the right. 
Isn't it great?
And you can bet, I'm not keeping the old one! 
Good riddance!!

Or someone gave my daughter, Carly, a hand-me-down jacket (the Abercrombie one on the left). It was perfect timing as the jacket on the left is getting just a little too small.
So, in with the NEW and OUT WITH THE OLD! 

And last but certainly not least

My well-worn black pumps on the left have been a favorite but, as you can see, it was time to replace them. (I'm not even showing you the worn out heels.) I've had a lot of great years and outfits with those pumps so when a new pair of shoes like this comes in, it's important to not let any sentimental attachment talk you into keeping the old. Let it go! Marie Kondo would tell you to say "thank you for your service wonderful black pumps" and then let them go. I don't take it quite as far as talking to my stuff but I do love the part about letting it go.  

So,

WHEN SOMETHING NEW COMES IN,
it's such a good idea to remember
SOMETHING OLD GOES OUT.

That way, you keep your home from filling up!
It's simple mathematics.

Next Post:  Rule #3   Too much of a good thing is still a bad thing

Rule #1 Learn to Love Empty!

I don't know what happened, in this society of ours, but somewhere someone said that every wall, drawer, counter top, and space had to have something in or on it?

And I ask....

WHO SAYS???

and exactly WHY is that the case??

Yet, it really does seem like most people think it's a law.

Does any of this look familiar?

Is your brain screaming TOO MUCH and TOO FULL?

Mine is.

A lot of what causes too much and too full is the mindset that 
"If I have the space, I should put something in it."

But how about a new idea?
Empty.

Empty, or nearly empty, looks so much better...don't you think?

Empty makes your spaces seem more attractive and easy to manage. It is so much more pleasing to the eye and mind. It makes you WANT to be in that space. It makes you happy and feel peaceful. 

ahhhhhh.....that's so much better.

Did you see notice the empty tables? and walls?

and countertops?

It feels like you can breathe, and move, and enjoy when you are in more empty spaces.

Empty is amazing that way.

When we choose empty, 

it makes us feel like we are in control of our stuff instead of it controlling us.

So, rule #1 in the STUFF MANAGEMENT world is

LEARN TO LOVE EMPTY

Empty table tops, windowsills, counters, drawers, shelves and floors.

Get rid of extra lamps, plants, pillows, picture frames, toys and knick knacks. 

Let the coffee table be empty (or close to it).

Let the wall have nothing on it.

Let those window sills be completely "stuff free."

It might feel like craziness at first...

but remember how much you like the living rooms and bedrooms and kitchens in the Pottery Barn catalog or in the Parade of Homes homes? 

I promise, it's partially because they have empty everywhere.

Rule #1

LEARN TO LOVE EMPTY

and LESS!

And...as a BONUS...

while you are clearing off your spaces and making them more empty, consider this challenge:

TRY TO HAVE AT LEAST ONE EMPTY DRAWER OR CUPBOARD SHELF IN EVERY ROOM OF YOUR HOUSE.

Crazy, you say?

Try it.

Here are some empty spaces in my home.

master bedroom

guest bathroom

kitchen cupboard

laundry room

master bathroom

Do you know what I say to myself?

I say, "I could put something in that drawer if I wanted to...but I choose not to. I am in control of my spaces and my stuff. It doesn't control me."

A lot of people don't realize that by not having empty spaces, what you are feeling subconsciously is

"I HAVE NO CONTROL AROUND HERE!"

when, really....you do.

You just need to take it back.

Your challenge this week:

After you dejunk your spaces and you are only putting keepers away...try to keep at least once empty space in every room of your house. One drawer, one shelf, one tabletop, one space.

I dare you.

My 10 Top "Stuff Management" Rules

Going back to my college days for a second, I absolutely loved watching "The Late Show with David Letterman."  

I didn't always stay up to watch the interviews but faithfully, every night at 10:35 Mountain Time, I was watching his show to hear his Top Ten lists. Weren't they great??

If you don't know what I'm talking about (like you're from another planet or something), check a few of these out:

Top Ten Least Popular Broadway Shows

10. Oprah-homa!
 9. Sunday in the Park with George Steinbrenner
 8. Twelve Angry Men and a Baby
 7. Sharptonmania
 6. Roy Rogers' Incontinent Dog and Monkey Rodeo
 5. I'm Not Gonna Pay a Lot for This Muffler: A Dramatic Reading by
    James Earl Jones
 4. David Brinkley's Enchanted World of Magic and Illusion
 3. Meese!
 2. Death of an Amway Salesman
 1. Oh! Velveeta!

Top Ten Summer Jobs in Hell

10. Intestine adjuster
 9. Professional bowler chaperone
 8. Pit bull tickler
 7. Rex Reed's living chair
 6. Cleveland Indians ticket scalper
 5. Personal scratcher to Mr. Ed Asner
 4. Understudy to big Kool-Aid pitcher
 3. Hornet groomer
 2. Staff psychologist, Islamic Jihad
 1. Human axle, Raymond Burr's town car

Bigfoot's Top Ten Peeves

10. Fat guys who lounge around the campground shirtless
 9. Nobody ever goes after Alf with tranquilizer darts
 8. Chicks who have a hangup about lice-infested body hair
 7. This Dan Quayle Joke
 6. Kids would rather see the San Diego Chicken
 5. Lead role in "The Ed Asner Story" never materialized
 4. The way squirrels smell when they're damp
 3. Elvis always drops by right before dinner
 2. Honking Winnebagos while you're trying to enjoy road kill
 1. Drivers license photo makes him look like Gregg Allman

Top 10 Dog Excuses for Losing the Dog Show 

10. Mistaken in assumption there would be a chance to show off talent for
    drinking from toilet.
 9. Thought I saw that little chuck wagon.
 8. Bad idea going to Don King's barber.
 7. Caught in a lie claiming to be Cycle Two dog when I'm really Cycle Three.
 6. Shouldn't have picked Quayle as running mate.
 5. My life-long losing battle with problem drool.
 4. Spelled "ubiquitous" with two B's.
 3. Didn't know that was the judge's leg.
 2. Money goes to trainer anyway.  So let him stand naked in Madison Square
    Garden and get touched by a stranger in a bad suit.
 1. Like me, the whole thing was fixed.

(I don't know....they just make me laugh!)

So, anytime I can, I try to make 

my own Top Ten Lists. 

And what better thing to make a top ten list for than one of the topics I'm most passionate about?

And so....I present to you

Kim's Top 10 Stuff Management Rules

1. Learn to love EMPTY and LESS.
2. When something new comes in, something old goes out.
3. Too much of a good thing is still a bad thing.
4. Borrow instead of own.
5. Be careful when you shop!
6. Set limits for yourself and others.
7. Have a place for "Extras" and "Errands."
8. Organize into categories and then use clear, labeled containers to hold smaller things.
9. People are more important than things.
10. Have a specific place for things that need to go.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to be talking about each of these "rules" in detail with lots of examples and pictures. So stay tuned!


Next Post:  Rule #1:  LEARN TO LOVE EMPTY

Organizing after a Junk Raid

No one said going on a Junk Raid would be EASY....
but come on!  

That had to have felt

GREAT!!

Am I right or am I right??

When you go on a 
well-planned out and 
well-executed JUNK RAID, 
the satisfaction is enormous! 
I hope you felt it too.  
If not, please keep going. I promise that as you practice you will get better and better. And please feel free to send me questions or comments on how it went for you and where you might be stumbling.

Now it's time to talk about ORGANIZING! (There's that word again--overused but important!) 

Basically, in this blog, when we talk about organizing, we are talking about:

how to find the 

BEST PLACE FOR YOUR KEEPERS 

(the things that you have determined are useful, wonderful, and working parts of your life that add something positive to your and your family's existence.) 

and how to store them so they are easy to find and use.

How do you organize effectively?

The answer to that question is 3 basic steps. 
Yes! 
Three! 
That's it!  

Here they are....
1 is identifying and then using your prime spaces effectively

2 is putting like items together in reasonably sized containers.  

3 is labeling the containers and spaces so you and others know and remember the plan.

Let me show you what I mean by showing you 
Emily's Finished Linen Closet:

There a couple of things I want to point out here when talking about our first step....
" identifying and then using your prime spaces effectively."  

First, I could NOT get an adequate picture of the entire closet so the very top shelf is not in the picture. That shelf would be considered a C space since it is very tall and hard to reach. You would only want to keep the things that you use just every so often in that space. 

Second, it is important to point out that the prime spaces in Emily's closet are primarily the two middle shelves and possibly the shelves right above and below those, depending on how much space she has in her home.  

So, if I were to identify the space priorities here, it would look something like this:

Top Shelf          C

2nd Shelf          B

3rd Shelf          A

4th Shelf          A

5th Shelf          B

Floor                B

So, in Emily's closet, the top shelf (that you can't see) is where she is going to keep things that she does want to keep but aren't used very often. In her case, it was a humidifier, a heating pad, light bulbs and a shoe shine kit. 

On her 2nd shelf, that you can see here that Emily has put a container with sun protection products, nail care products and "crazy hair day" products for fun school spirit days (that she knows will be happening again, every year, for several years to come. (Way to be prepared!)  She also has a container with miscellaneous chemicals like rubbing alcohol, Aloe Vera gel, hand sanitizer, and hydrogen peroxide.

On the 3rd shelf down, Emily has her "medicine cabinet" or basically two clear boxes, one labeled "Internal Medicines" and one labeled "Bandages and Creams."  This is an excellent example of how one could group like things together in a reasonably sized group. Grouping things together is good but be careful not to make things too specific. You wouldn't want a separate box, for example, for pain relievers, and a box for anti acids, and another for allergy medications. It's fine to just group all of the medicines that go INTO your body together and then another to hold everything that stays on the OUTSIDE of your body.

On the 4th shelf, she is going to house extra toiletries that don't belong in the prime spaces in her house (there will be whole different blog post on the importance of keeping "extras" of all kinds away from prime spaces and how to do it) as well as her extra bathroom hand towels and wash cloths.

On the 5th shelf she decided to keep extra soap, toothpaste, mouthwash, lotion and hair products for when the bars, tubes and bottles currently in use run out and are thrown away.

And on the floor are their family's travel supplies (can you see the small box that holds small travel supplies?) including small overnight bags for when they travel and a little overflow from the kitchen in the way of "special occasion fancy glasses" (yes, that's the technical term for them).

So there you go..... there is a rundown on Emily's linen closet and how she used her prime spaces to organize her keepers. 

The other aspect of organizing your spaces that is really important is the use of medium sized clear containers that help keep small to medium sized things together and your spaces easy to use.  

Let me show you what I mean....

This is a picture of my kitchen pantry. The important part I want to show you is how useful the really tall, out of the way spaces become when you use the clear white containers to house smaller things.  
Over here, to the left, you can see that one of those containers up top holds all of our batteries. If I tried to put that collection of batteries just up on that top shelf alone, without the container, they would be a mess, right?  But because I have the container, it makes it so that very top shelf is totally usable, even to hold small things.

Here is a picture of the closet in our den. Here again you can see that the top shelf is totally usable to hold small things because of the use of clear boxes. It makes it so easy to reach up and grab a box, get the item I need out and put the box back away. It makes it so even the farthest back corner of the closet or space is completely usable.

And, in some cases, I don't use clear boxes if I have something else that fits better that I can also label.  Here is a kitchen cupboard...

See how I used the yellow baskets to hold smaller items that otherwise, if they were just tossed on the shelf would be a big mess, not to mention hard to get at. But because of the use of containers, the tall spaces/shelves are just as usable as the lower shelves. I love how I can just reach up and pull the basket down, reach in and get what I want so easily and then put it all back where it goes. 
I hope that makes sense?




The last thing we need to discuss is the importance of labeling your containers. Sometimes people think this step is a bit of an overkill but in my opinion---we're at WAR and whatever it takes to try and keep control of your STUFF should happen! Are you with me?

If you have labels, it identifies what your plan is. It can serve as a reminder to you but also a "map" for your family members to follow in their efforts to help you put things away. If you have identified specific places things go, your chances of having others put them in their proper place go WAY UP!

Labels don't have to be made by a fancy label maker. Save your money and make them the easy way. Using a word processing program on the computer, print out your labels using the largest font you can put on the container and still have it fit.  Then cut them into strips and tape them on with a strip of clear packing tape. It's as simple as that.

So, after you have gone on a JUNK RAID and determined which things are keepers in your life that deserve to be in some of your space, take the time to organize them

using your space priorities and
clear containers that house reasonably sized like items
and
label them...so you and others can follow your plan!

Don't be afraid to make this a little bit of a trial and error type thing. It's OK to rip off a label or two and change things around until you get it just right. 



Next Post:  Kim's TOP TEN stuff management rules