I'm sure you are curious about this picture and the post title...just be patient and read on!

Well, as a good student, I just applied one of the lessons I learned in this class. I freed up a piece of furniture (a buffet type cabinet) for my husband's use. He has things he needs to store places, but needed an empty spot to move things to...you know, the "leap frog" process. You need an empty place to put the things you remove from a disorderly one. So, I took almost everything out of that cabinet, put it in a trunk to sort through later, and will surprise him with the extra space later.

This came from a principle we learned in class last week, from a book called The House that Cleans Itself. The idea is that you set up a system that is logical to how you use certain spaces in your home. Keith uses this buffet as a landing spot each day after work. So instead of fighting it, we are going to cooperate with it. By freeing up the drawer and cabinet in it, he will have even more space to neatly store what he needs in a place he logically goes to first anyway.

The trunk is in my office by my desk. I work at home several days a week, so having the trunk in my home office makes sense. I'm adding a task to my calendar called "Take 5" on three days a week. During that time, I hope to take five minutes or less to take five--no more--items out of the trunk and decide whether to discard or give away. To make it even easier, I have a trash can on one side and a "giveaway" container on the other. This too capitalizes on a space that I already regularly use.

This is only one of the many great insights from last week's class. There was so much that I'm not going to share it all. Someday I may teach the class myself! But here are three more key points:

1. By adapting the environment to compensate for and/or eliminate the clutter producing behavior, your house will stay clean longer and with less effort.

2. Identifying the actual causes of your cluttered condition is liberating. For example, is it simply technical errors, like not assigning items to a home or having too confusing of a system that you don't trust it enough to use it? (Example: complicated filing systems.)

3. Call the excuses what they are...excuses. Things like "I may need it someday." Really? You couldn't get it somewhere else if you really did? "My children may want it someday." Really? ALL of it? "I got a really good deal on it." Really? Is it a good deal if it stresses you out to store, sort and try to find it?

You may be wondering why I called this post "AdDentures." Well, one of the students admitted that she has hung onto her late mother's dentures for sentimental value. She's a good sport and let me take her picture (yes, with the dentures. After all, someone may want that someday, right?) Name withheld to protect the guilty. :) LOL

C'mon now, you have something you've hung onto too that your realize may not be necessary...

Tune in next time for more from Getting Organized at Home!

Many thanks to our teacher, Stephanie Baker, Christian Life Coach and to my anonymous, good-sport classmate. Print This