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

Going on a Junk Raid!

OK!  The time has come! 

Are you ready????
If that's a YES

I'm going to assume that you've: 

1- Talked to your spouse and family
2- Set your space priorities with a written plan
3- Scheduled small jobs in on your calendar
4- Gathered and labeled 5 containers (like this?)

And now we're off!

And to help you with this, I have my wonderful friend Emily who let me come over and take pictures of her and I dejunking and then organizing her linen closet...just to help you SEE how it is done.

Here is Emily's Linen Closet before we started.

You might say "That doesn't look bad!" 
And you're right.
I've seen a lot worse and I'm sure you have as well.

But I think this is an even better example of how 
you can take good and make it great.

And besides...the same principles apply no matter 
how messy your space might be to start with.

JUNK RAID Step 1 
TOUCH EVERY SINGLE ITEM

and when I say TOUCH, I mean you need to physically handle each item, one at a time and hold it in your hand.

I have just recently read Marie Kondo's book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and while I did not necessarily agree with everything she had to say (more on that in another post), one thing she and I agree completely on is the need to touch every item. She says

"...the trick is to handle each item. Don't just open your closet and decide after a cursory glance that everything in it gives you a thrill. You must take each outfit in your hand. When you touch a piece of clothing (I would add when you touch any item...clothing or not) your body reacts. Its response to each item is different. Trust me and try it."

I have found it to be a completely true statement...when you touch an item and hold it in your hand and feel it on your skin and think for just a minute about that item, it makes it so much more easy to make decisions about it's worth and usefulness. I don't know why it works, but I know it does.

One mistake people make in dejunking is, like Marie says, they just open their closet or cupboard and glance in to see if there are things that can be gotten rid of. Sure, they find a few things. But it really doesn't do the same thing has handling each item individually. I don't know how to say it any more emphatically. Just trust me on this...TOUCH every single item, no matter how silly that sounds. And when I say touch, don't just glance a finger over it. It needs to be held in your hands and evaluated, even if just for a few seconds.

Here's a picture of Emily touching an item in her linen closet.

See how the blanket was in a plastic bag? I had her unzip the bag and touch the blanket. And when you touch an item, what are you supposed to do next?

JUNK RAID Step 2 ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS

1. Do I like this item and use it often?
Marie Kondo would say "Does this item bring me joy?"

One of the reasons I really liked Marie's book is the simpleness of this question and the concept behind it. We all know, when we think about it, exactly what she is talking about.  We all own things that really do bring us joy. We purchased a really cute top and every time we wear it we get compliments and feel pretty! Or we received a really great cheese knife for a wedding gift and it works so wonderfully that we tell all our friends about it! In fact, every time we cut cheese with it we are practically bursting with happiness at how well it works and how much we enjoy using it. Do you know what I mean? Or maybe we ordered a book on Amazon, not really sure if we wouldd like it, and it's ended up being one of our most favorite books of all time. We reread it often and enjoy it each time.  That's what Marie means by "Does this item bring me joy?" and that's what I mean by "Do I like this item and use it often?"  If you evaluate your possessions with these questions, it will help a lot on your journey to know whether you should keep it or discard it.

2. Do I need this item or could I use something else instead?

A need is different than a want, right? 
Basic needs:  food, water, shelter, clothes, love?

Because we are living in the middle of the Affluence Curse, it's beyond difficult to determine exactly what a need is. I'm pretty sure we could all look around our homes and say "most of this isn't a NEED." So let's adjust our thinking on this question....

Do I need 4 years worth of Martha Stewart magazines or could I just throw them all out and start over with next month's edition, recognizing that 80% of magazines are advertisements anyway and subject matters in magazines frequently repeat themselves?

Do I need 23 cardigans stacked neatly on the closet shelf (even if they all fit well) OR could I just pick my 5-6 absolute most favorites and let the others go?

Do I need a special kitchen gadget to peel an orange or core a pepper (even if they work fine?) or can I just use a good sharp knife instead?

Ask yourself honestly....do I NEED this?



3. Does it work like it should (is it missing parts/pieces, doesn't fit right, etc.)?

Nothing's worse than putting together a puzzle, only to find 1 or 2 pieces missing from the box. Ugh!

Or how frustrating is it when you pull out the Monopoly Game and the Park Place property card is missing? and there are only 9 $100 bills instead of 20?

What about that sweater you bought at the hip and chic Colorado ski resort a few years back that ended up being so itchy you can't even wear it for an hour without going crazy!?

What about the old boom box that won't play CD's anymore, no matter how much you beg and bribe it to but you are sure someday, somehow you'll be able to fix it? (Never mind that we all have ipods and iphones and NO ONE uses CD's anymore!)

When things don't fit or work properly, they are adding negatively to your life. It's time to let them go and be free of all the hassle and frustration!


4. If my house was destroyed, would I replace this item with money out of my own pocket? 

Even though some joke occasionally about how liberating it would be if someone were to just set their home on fire and let them start over in the "acquiring of possessions" department, the sad truth is that that does happen sometimes. And it is devastating.  The only reason I bring this up here is to talk about what happens when someones house burns to the ground (and they were wise enough to have home owners insurance?) 

The cost of rebuilding their home is covered (called the "Dwelling" in official insurance terms)
and so are the contents of your your home ("Personal Property" in the official language) along with any liability you might have to neighbors' property and your loss of use (hotel costs, etc. for while your house is being rebuilt).

After the fire, what will happen is a family's insurance agent will contact them and ask for a general itemized list of furniture, appliances, clothing, and household items (the contents of your home! how hard would that be?) and then will reimburse for those items up to a specific dollar amount (somewhere in the $200,000-$400,000 range.)

So, to make it really simplified, at some point All-State or State Farm or Geiko or whomever you are insured with, would write you a check for, let's say, $300,000. And that money would be yours to decide how you would spend it and what you would buy again.

Obviously you'd buy beds, couches, pots and pans, sheets and towels, etc. 

BUT would you replace ALL 18 of your pots and pans....or would you buy one nice 6 piece set and a medium-sized teflon frying pan?  

Would you buy 5 extra sets of queen size bed sheets? or would you just buy 2? one for your bed and one to spare?

Would you buy 5 wire whisks and 7 rubber spatulas or just a couple each if you really cook a lot?

Would you buy 32 pairs of socks or just enough for 10 days plus a laundry day?

These are the kinds of questions you have to ask yourself when you are dejunking! 

Ultimately you are asking:

WOULD I BUY THIS AGAIN IF I HAD TO 

START OVER?

The reality is, when you think of it in terms of money going straight out of your pocket to purchase an item, there are a LOT of things most of us would not replace.

And if that's the case with you and your specific possessions, don't keep them! Let it go and be free!


5. Is there someone else out there who could use this item and appreciate it more than I do?

I love working with all sorts of different people in the process of helping them dejunk and geting control of their spaces. And if there's one thing I know, everyone has different personalities, history, experiences and desires. We all have different things that "speak to us" in different ways than they might touch others.

For some people that are dejunking, one of the things that helps them let things go is knowing that, even though a particular item in their home is still working and useful, there are people out there who could use it and enjoy it even more than they do. And sometimes that thought really helps them in the process of saying good-bye to something they deem valuable.

For example:

Let's say you are a big Nike fan and have lots of running shoes that have plenty of wear left. 

Nike shoes are expensive and comfortable, no doubt about either of those things. You paid good money for them and even though you realize no one really needs 16 pairs of shoes, you have figured out a way to store them in your closet without too much problem.

But what if I told you that there was a person out there who didn't have a single pair of running shoes and could really use them? Could you give a pair or two up to them?  Yes! most of us would in a heartbeat.

So, let's just assume when we are dejunking that there are a LOT of people out there who don't have and can't afford to buy the things that we have.  

If we are dejunking and can see that we have an abundance and that in getting rid of some of our things we could really help someone else, let's do it right?

Let's ask ourselves 
Is there someone else out there who could use this or appreciate it more than I do?

and then let's let it go and make someone else's day brighter and more enjoyable!

It feels oh so good to bless other people AND help ourselves at the same time! That's called a WIN-WIN, ladies and gentlemen!

Oh! and remember!  We talked before that you cannot and SHOULD NOT take on the job of FINDING this "someone else" person that could really use your stuff! That's silly and ridiculous, remember??  SO, hand your beautiful frames, books, games, George Foreman grill or running shoes over to the Womens Shelter or Salvation Army and let them help you find the person that needs it more than you!





SO
to review...
since that was a lot of information

While on a Junk Raid you are going to:

1-Touch every single item and...
2-Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I like this item and use it often? Does it bring me JOY?!
2. Do I need this item or could I use something else instead?
3. Does this item work like it should? Is it missing any parts or pieces, doesn’t fit right, etc.?
4. If my house was destroyed, would I replace this item with money out of my own pocket?
5. Is there someone else out there who could use this item and appreciate it more than I do? 

And then place the items in the appropriate, 

labeled bags or boxes 

Here are Emily's bags as we were working:

Can you see here that she didn't have any papers in her linen closet but she did have a LOT of expired prescription medications that needed to be discarded properly? SO early on in our work that day, we decided the papers box was going to be the place for those medications that would need special attention at the end of the day.  Later Emily was able to take them to a local pharmacy that collects and disposes of expired medications.

And after all that,
the last JUNK RAID RULE IS?

3- DON'T STOP FOR ANYTHING!
For your 2 or 2-1/2 hours that day, you have to stay focused! Turn off your phones! Put a "Do not Disturb" sign on the front door! Take care of any and all distractions before you get started and then stick with the job for the whole time! You'll be amazed and how much you can get done when you stay right there and attack it!

Good luck!! YOU CAN DO IT!

I KNOW YOU CAN!

Next Post:  Organizing (there's THAT word!) After a Junk Raid