Mind Management Angela May

How To Optimize your Home

If a quick look at the homewares store is any indication, it would seem that "decluttering" is a New Year's resolution for a LOT of people. Even though I quit resolutions, I've definitely got decluttering on the brain!

WHY BOTHER?

Feng Shui is the Chinese art of organizing the objects and furniture in your physical surroundings to optimize the flow of chi. It seems like superstition, or hocus pocus, but if you study it you'll see it's really mostly psychology. (It's "bad fung shui" to have broken mirros, dead flowers, piles of clutter and furniture in your way!)

Think about this:
When you walk in the door, it makes an annoying screeching noise because it's not oiled properly. You trip over the scrunched-up carpet and then bang your knee on the table, because it's at an odd angle. Because your couch is the first thing in your path as you enter the space, you inevitably flop down on it after work and get sucked into a few hours of television. You can never find what you're looking for, which leads you to give up on whatever it is you were doing. Then, after a long and trying night, that leaky faucet can make you really go ballistic.

The point is: clutter, disrepair, and a poorly laid out living or working space DOES affect our mental state. It affects our motivation and our speed of productivity... and isn't that what mind management is all about?

I don't hold delusions of a minimalist existence, but I came back from Thailand with the very sober realization that I. have. too. much. God. Damned. Stuff!!! Since I've moved so many times, it's not a complete disaster, but things aren't as organized as they could be.

The PROJECT

I'm tackling rooms one at a time, start to finish. I'm focusing ALL my effort on one room until it's done, and then the lovely rooms will motivate me to keep going fixing the ugly ones. (Like a visible progress bar!)  For this project, I'm starting with the EASIEST rooms first - in my case these are the bathrooms, because they're teeny tiny and almost done anyway. (Quick wins!)

Each room will go through the following actions:

FIX - If it's broken... FIX IT or REPLACE IT! Fixed objects don't make us happy, necessarily, but broken ones make us SO ANNOYED! Replace burnt out lightbulbs, repair busted appliances, or improve a layout that's always pissed you off.

DECLUTTER - my "stretch goal" in this regard is to downsize by 50%.  Tackle each cupboard, each shelf, each little collection of stuff one group at a time. Just one drawer per night if that's what it takes. Take everything out of that small section, and try to get rid of HALF of it.

Pick up items one by one and ask yourself: "When is the last time I used this? Do I really need this? Does this even work (or has it expired, in the case of medication or makeup)?" Then decide: Keep it, trash it, donate it.

ORGANIZE

If you have lots of useful small things - like hair elastics - that are constantly being found all over the house - build a PLACE for them and collect them all together. You know you'll use it if only you could FIND it when you need it!

Buy storage boxes and group things together by purpose - for example I used to keep my swim suit in with my socks, but instead I made a box that collects everything for "swimming" together - my different swimsuits, my goggles and other specialty "beach" things like snorkels. Same for camping and other specialty gear for sports! That way when I decide to "go swimming" everything's already collected.

UPGRADE

Last on the list is figuring out which things are overdue for an upgrade. I just upgraded the hideous shower curtain we inherited in the move and bought a few towels that match the decor. Be careful - nice homewares are ridiculously exensive and it's easy to go overboard. It's a total drag spending your pocket money on something lame like a shower curtain (seriously, I spent all my pocket money for THE MONTH on these few bathroom things!!) but if you HAVE the money right now it's better spent on nice things you will use every day, rather than MORE CLUTTER STUFF!!

I'm compiling a list of things I want to upgrade (sorted by the type of store I would buy it at) and going after them only when I have the pockey money to do so. If what you have now works, there's no rush to fix it. The upgrading process will probably take the longest of everything - hopefully long after everything is organized and decluttered! - but if I get it all over with I won't have to worry anymore. (For awhile, at least)

At the end of everything I'm going to have a place where everything is fixed! The drawers aren't overflowing with stuff! And I can actually use some of the wonderful things that I shelled out to own! Here's hoping!

I hope you'll excuse this horribly domestic post