Principle #3 -- K.I.S.S.
(Keep It Simple, Sweetie)
By Claire Josefine
Copyright © 2004. All Rights Reserved.
Excerpted from the new book, The Spiritual Art of Being Organized, by Claire Josefine (Winter's Daughter Press, 2004). Reprinted with permission.
Being organized is about making our lives easier. The simpler we make our lives, the easier it is to stay organized.
One trick to keeping our lives simple is to put things where we use them. Like water, we tend to take the path of least resistance. In other words, we're lazy. If we have to cross the room to put away a CD after playing it, chances are we won't make the effort. Instead, the CD will wind up in a pile -- with other CDs we haven't put away -- by the CD player. To avoid a jumbled pile of CDs, put the CD rack next to the player. This same concept applies to anything we can think of: reading glasses go by our reading chair; phone books by the telephone; cat litter by the cat box; fish food by the fish tank; spatulas by the stove.
If we have to work to reach an item or put it away, often we won't bother trying. Given our innate laziness, we need to assure that any tools or systems we implement are easy to access and use. This includes putting things we use most often in the easiest places to reach -- what some organizers call "prime real estate." The far dark corner of the bottom kitchen cabinet where you've stacked your pots and pans is not a good home for your favorite pasta pot that you use every week. Instead, put it, along with other pots and pans that you cook with regularly, in front of the ones you use less often.
Prime use of "prime real estate" also entails putting those things we rarely need into the spaces that are harder to reach. Take, for example, those pesky cupboards above the refrigerator. While they are a good use of otherwise empty vertical space, they are not easy to reach. This makes them ideal storage for items that are used on rare occasions, perhaps the roasting pan for the once-a-year turkey, or large serving platters and bowls that are pulled out only for the occasional party.
Appropriately locating items is one aspect of K.I.S.S. Another aspect is ensuring that our tools are easy to use. In general, the more effort a tool requires, the less likely it will be used. Picture a laundry hamper. If we have to lift the top to put our dirty clothes inside, we're more likely to start a pile on top of the hamper, not in it. An easier, and therefore more effective, laundry hamper would be one that's open, so that we can toss our clothes in from across the room, if we so desire.
I've found photo albums to be another tool that just don't work for me. While I like the idea of scrapbooking, the effort required to pull out my supplies, lay out the page, trim the decorations and photos, tape everything to the page, then wiggle on the protective sleeve takes more energy and time than I'm willing to expend on pictures. For me, a better tool is an acid-free photo box with dividers. I can quickly pop a picture into its section, and can just as quickly find any picture I want.
Little Bits Of Time
My friend Robert tells a story about clearing the blackberries from his back yard. He would periodically muster his determination and tackle the prickly invaders, spending all day hacking away, ripping them out, until he was spent. He'd make significant progress, but would so wear himself out in the process that he was unable to re-muster his determination until much later, by which time the blackberries had returned. This futile battle continued, man against berry, until he remembered K.I.S.S. and changed tactics. He began to remove the berries one square yard at a time, slowly and methodically, until the entire patch had been eliminated.
Except for the lack of thorns, our cluttered homes resemble that yard of overgrown blackberry bushes. If I thought that I had to organize a client's entire house in one fell swoop, I'd probably crumple up and cry from anticipated exhaustion. Most organizing tasks are too big to tackle all at once; we shouldn't even try.
I limit my organizing sessions with clients to two-hour blocks because I've found anything more to be too tiring -- for them as well as for me. If you are working on your own, or are just beginning, I recommend that you work in even smaller chunks -- anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes. Decide in advance how long you will spend, then set a timer to let yourself know when to stop. By setting a limit, you are making a promise to yourself that you have to work for only so long; by setting the timer, you are helping yourself keep that promise. When you are first starting out, it is important that you learn to trust yourself, and that you build in experiences of success. You are learning a new set of skills, and need to extend the same compassion, patience, and encouragement to yourself that you extend to your children when they learn something new.
In order to facilitate a sense of accomplishment in a short amount of time, begin with a small area to organize, like a drawer. One drawer or cupboard at a time, eventually your entire home can become organized.
Take Breaks
Taking breaks functions on two fronts. When combined with working in small chunks, it prevents any job from becoming too big and too hard. Breaks help make a task more enjoyable and create feelings of success.
Taking a breather is especially important when we are working under tremendous pressure. It can feel counter-intuitive to pause. ("I can't stop now! I need to finish this report by 4:30!") And yet, this is exactly when a break is most helpful. When we step away from our work, we gain a fresh perspective on it, and return with renewed energy. The quality of our work actually improves when we take a break.
Give It A Name
While we're at it, let's give our memory a break, too. Instead of having to remember which shelf holds twin sheets and which holds queen, instead of having to remember which file drawer holds household finances and which has personal correspondence, we can use labels.
Many objects in our homes already have labels. Imagine the difficulty we'd have if there were no identifying labels -- or titles -- on books, records, tapes, CDs, videos, DVDs, or boxes of food. What a nuisance that would be, having to open every item to identify its contents!
Sometimes clients object to the aesthetics of labels, thinking them unsightly. There are so many ways to create labels that this need not be a problem. Adhesive labels can be bought at any office supply store, including labels with decorative borders. Simple, attractive labels can be made with hand-held label-making machines. If you feel so inspired, you can embroider, appliqué, paint, draw, carve, or use calligraphy to make labels. You can even hide labels by putting them inside cupboards and drawers.
Labels are especially important for children who are learning to read. If you have children who are pre-literate, work with them to label the containers and shelves in their room. Make sure the categories make sense to your children (remember, children enjoy sorting and creating order), and come up with a simple name for each area. Then make a label that has both a picture of the category and the word, printed clearly. Do this together with your children. These labels will enable your children to put away their toys more easily, and will build literacy skills at the same time. Of course, labels are good for children -- and adults -- who already know how to read, too. Whenever an area is clearly marked, it is easier for us to use. The less we have to remember, the more likely we are to successfully employ the systems we've put into place.
Clear Your Clutter
Clutter holds us back, depresses us, weighs us down, and blocks new experiences from flowing in. It also creates more work for us; the more stuff we have, the more we have to clean and take care of, and the more distracted we are by our environment. The less cluttered we make our surroundings, the simpler our lives become.
This doesn't mean we must get rid of everything and live a Spartan existence. We thrive with beauty and happy memories around us. It does mean we focus on finding balance by examining each item (and person, and commitment) and deciding whether or not it continues to be important to us.
Often, clearing space in our homes creates welcoming space in our lives. One story immediately comes to mind. Years ago, I knew a couple whom I'll call Keith and Carla. They had been dating for a while, were wonderfully compatible, and were in love. But Carla found herself unable to commit to the relationship so, to both their sorrow, she called for a trial separation. During this separation, Carla began to work on sorting and purging the contents of numerous boxes that had been cluttering her garage. As she let go of the accumulation of years of physical baggage, her psyche felt lighter, too. By the time she'd cleared out all those boxes, Carla was not only ready to start seeing Keith again, she was ready to marry him. (I had the honor of coordinating the food for their wedding.)
Voluntary Simplicity
Simplicity has become the latest commercial fad. Even AOL-Time-Warner jumped on the bandwagon with its glossy publication, Real Simple, a magazine that exploits our longing for simplicity with advertising for a life that is anything but. In one issue, I counted 15 pages of ads before reaching the table of contents, 96 pages altogether in a 200-page magazine, including ads for diamonds, SUVs, and brand-name sunglasses. Real simple? Not in my book.
So what does it mean to live simply? According to Duane Elgin, it means "choosing our path through life consciously, deliberately, and of our own accord. It's not so much about living with less as it is about living with purpose and balance.... The simple life is about freeing up time for what matters most to us."
A simple life is an examined life, where each aspect is a result of a concrete decision. When we choose a simple life, we choose to resist the pressures for materialistic consumerism. We choose to take back control of our lives, deciding how we live and what we buy. And our decisions are based in our values: simplicity, family, community, equality, beauty, honesty, justice, kindness, caring for the earth and all living creatures.
Small Is Beautiful
Choosing simplicity often results in scaling down our lives. We start to question each of our assumptions, examining whether they still apply to our lifestyle and values. We get to ask ourselves how many pairs of jeans and white blouses we really need, whether we use all those kitchen gadgets and power tools, whether we need the boat, RV, three cars, and two houses. We get to decide if our house fits us, if it is being used fully, or if we would be better off with a smaller, simpler home. We get to decide that keeping up with the Joneses is not what we want after all, and that a life lived true to our own values matters far more than what others may think of us.
Allow me to share my own life as an example of applied Voluntary Simplicity. My home is small, only 24 by 28 feet. While it lacks the impressive appearance of affluence that some of my clients' homes project, it is all I need. An unassuming clapboard cottage on the outside, inside my home is open and decorated with art and tchotchkes that I love. It is simple and welcoming, and fits me. Similarly, my car is not new or fancy, but it is comfortable, easy to drive, reliable, and gets respectable gas mileage. My wardrobe requires only three feet of closet space (compared to many women's wardrobes that fill multiple closets). I make frequent use of my public library, instead of owning every book I read. I attend plays on their opening discount night, movies during bargain matinées. My rider mower was originally on its way to the landfill because it had a broken steering pin and my neighbors had bought a new mower rather than fix this one. They offered it to me, my sweetie fixed it for $17.00, and it's been running since. Cable does not run out to my home, but I prefer not to watch television rather than spend money on a satellite service. Similarly, I do not purchase most of the extra services offered by my phone company. I eat very little prepared food, opting to buy organic products in bulk and do my own cooking. My cleaning supplies are simple -- Bon Ami cleanser, baking soda, vinegar -- and I don't bother buying plastic garbage bags; plastic and paper grocery bags work fine for garbage. When I travel, I camp, stay in hostels, or with friends.
In other words, I'm a lousy consumer. But I do not feel deprived. Rather, I find pleasure in living simply. Because I live small, I have more time, more energy, and need less money to live a life personalized to me. It is easier to keep my life organized, because I keep it simple. In fact, I'd argue that Voluntary Simplicity is the ultimate manifestation of "Keep It Simple, Sweetie."
About The Author
Claire Josefine is a Golden Circle member of the National Association of Professional Organizers. She offers lectures and works privately with clients to eliminate clutter and create systems that make their lives simpler. Ms. Josefine lives with her cats in Northern California, surrounded by dairy pastures, redwoods, and sounds of the nearby ocean.
E-Mail: organized@humboldt1.com
Web Site: www.clairejosefine.com
