Tidying Rules regarding the Location of Stuff:
In the tidying process, the location of the items can be of as much importance as de-cluttering itself. This post is the second part of the Konmari rules. My last post covered what Konamri is and few rules pertaining to de-cluttering. I recommend that you read that post first, then start reading this post. Click here to access the previous post: KONMARI- Tidying Rules That are a Game-Changer (Part 1- Decluttering)
3. Place for everything
A no brainer but easily overlooked rule.
Error:
I realized that the homeless things were a major culprit in disrupting the tidiness and were spreading chaos. Outgrown clothes, handbags, coats, rubber bands, pens, receipts, business cards, sewing machine, new clothes, the books I was reading, scraps of papers; these homeless guys were adjusted wherever convenient as per the need.
In addition to that, I had some designated dump areas to keep the mess out of my organized stuff.
A tray to dump my jewellery after I take it off. Another crystal tray for keeping keys, wallets, loose change, receipts etc. A couple shelves for clothes which had to be ironed before going into the wardrobe (excuses for being lazy).
What would usually happen was that the couple weeks into clearing these dump areas, it starts overflowing with stuff that appears out of nowhere. Gradually I would start using the accessories from these dump areas without the hassle of pulling out the jewelry box. The crystal tray becomes a magnet for random toy parts, screws, scraps of papers, rubber bands, pens and misc stuff. This misc stuff continues multiplying, and invades all the other neatly organized areas as well. This process kept repeating itself. Tidying things again meant another bunch of hours.
Fix:
The dump trays had to go all together.
Setting easy to reach spaces for the homeless stuff helped big time. Special containers for rubber bands and paper clips, holder for pens, a specific place for handbags in my wardrobe, a place for sewing machine, a place for keeping important receipts. I also discovered it takes a mere few seconds to put that necklace back into its place rather than dumping it.
Months into clearing my stuff and it still looks all magically and surprisingly neat.
Clutter has only two possible causes: too much effort is required to put things away or it is unclear where things belong. – Marie Kondo
4. Space for everyone
Error:
My father had been always very big on this one. He always made sure that every person in the family had their own space for everything, whether clothes or books or stationery. But I still somehow missed on it in some areas.
My stuff seemed to over take the entire dressing table contents. Some areas were mingled with my daughters’ and husband’s belongings. My daughters had moved on from co-sleeping to their own room, and grew out of baby hair into ponytails. Somehow, I still happened to have our accessories in the same place.
Fix:
Now having moved girls stuff to their room, it is the most blissful feeling to have my dresser drawer all to myself. No more fishing into tons of hair ties and little bow clips to find one piece for my own head.
Just designating separate portions of storage even if you are sharing rooms and same piece of furniture (separate drawers, shelves) can work wonders in tidying up the space.
I emptied three rows of shelves in the dresser for my husband out of guilt and wondering at the same time what he could possibly keep over there. It didn’t take long for the shelves to fill up with stuff which was usually hiding elsewhere: perfumes, body sprays, watches, cuff links etc (myth: men own less stuff than women).
Post KonMary-ing:
I learnt a few things post tidying an decluttering.
- I learnt the importance of prioritizing joy over guilt.
- The items you don’t need and still keep gets in your way of enjoying the other things you love.
- Passage of time turns relevant into irrelevant and urgent into history. You have to keep up with the pace. Discard what needs to go, and adapt what needs to be acquired.
- I learnt the power of living mess-free. As you get rid of all the things you do not need, you feel like you have moved on from past to embrace better things in future. Those little things have no control over you anymore.
- Cherishing past memories is wonderful, but cherishing today is a lot more important as it is currently of importance.
- I learnt the power of ‘now’ the hard way. Today is a new day, to be cherished to be loved to be enjoyed, not just to collect stuff from. Yesterday is already past and tomorrow will become past as well.
- Living everyday to the fullest leads to clinging less on to mere memories of past.
- Keeping some keepsakes doesn’t hurt, but keeping tons of them does. They do bring you joy, but at the price of holding you back.
- Keepsakes can’t bring the same excitement and thrill and make me feel adventurous today, as it did in that particular moment. They can’t turn the time for me.
- It finally sunk in how procrastination is a killer of time and productivity. When I tossed away the projects left incomplete due to laziness, I also tossed with it the extra hours of effort I put in it. (incomplete letters, craft projects, paintings, business ideas etc) An incomplete task becomes a meaningless phenomenon with the passage of time. An incomplete task further inspires another incomplete task.
Do add your thoughts on the matter in the comment area below.
