minimalism

Weekend minimalism: 10 quickies

Here are ten ways I moved closer to minimalism this past month. Perhaps these will kick off ideas you can use to become more minimal (or just plain declutter) in your home:

Photo credit: David Mao

One daily coffee cup

Think about your favorite coffee cup. Everyone usually has one, right? Consider making that your only cup. I packed away all but my favorite cup, a squat little black one with a handle that seems made to fit my hand. (I kept a generic set of six on the top shelf for company use.) I was surprised to find I missed none of my other cups so they are going in the donate bin. In fact, I loved the extra space around my favorite cup in the cupboard and my kitchen counters were clearer. Francine Jay, author of Joy of Less, calls this the joy of one.

Housekeeping of the mind

Remove all your ad preferences on your facebook page. Go under settings, the little icon in the far right corner and poke around looking for a section on preferences. It’s a visual reminder of how much information social media has on us all. This is a good activity to do while you are waiting in line somewhere and getting restless.

Family participation: set up a discard/keep station

Make cards that say “discard” and “keep”, set out the pile in a visible space and let everyone sort through it when it’s a good time for them. Accept the results without comment and get rid of the discards right away. Recently, I pulled all our teas out of cabinets and drawers, piled them onto our kitchen table; by the end of the day, everyone had sorted through what needed to go back into the cabinet.

Go bagless no matter what

Bring your own bags to the grocery store and, when you forget, find a way to still achieve the trip without accepting the plastic bags. (Cloth bags are strong and soooo quiet; now I can’t stand the plastic one-use bags.) One day this month, my husband and I swapped cars and it wasn’t until I was in Aldis on a major grocery haul that I realized I didn’t have my bags. My work-around meant putting my Aldis purchases directly into my car, then using a laundry basket when I got home to shuttle everything into my kitchen.

(Casually) Watch your word count

Minimizing words is a powerful bringer of peace. Over-communicating, then overthinking over-communication is tiring. Okay, maybe this is just me. A few weeks ago, I was overthinking the silence that followed a far-too-wordy reply I made to a friend. Rather than chase the situation with more words, I just released the matter and choose the reality that the silence was nothing more than the end of a conversation. Emotional energy is finite and realizing where to spend that energy is good mind housekeeping.

Photo credit: Giulia Bertelli

Release unemployed hobby supplies to find other jobs

Consider your hobby supplies to be your staff. If you are not putting them to work, give them their release papers and show them to another enriching employment opportunity.

I had two craft projects this past month: painting a few mirror frames white and making beeswax food wraps. Because I was not particular about what shades of white I needed, I easily found two used cans of gray primer and a few cans of white for free at my city’s environmental center. I finished the project within a week and, once the paints were idle, they went straight back to the  environmental center. When my beeswax project was done, I texted a crafty friend a photo of my remaining supplies and asked her if she would like what I had. She said sure and we made the handoff an excuse to have a coffee and chat. If both of us were pressed for time, I would have left the supplies on her porch.

Be a museum curator. Move your art.

If you have decor in your home, move it around as a museum curator does. By rearranging it, you’ll likely find pieces that no longer work. Replace them with nothing. Get used to wall and shelf spaces staying empty for a while and you just might love it.

I had art above our bedroom doors in our hallway. I had hung the decor almost a decade ago and I just stopped seeing it there. I pulled it all down, as well as the hooks on which it hung. Every piece was filthy with dust … remind me why I would want to make housekeeping a harder job? They are getting replaced with nothing.

Pretend you are moving away.

This is simply a thinking-ahead category rather than an action item. Pretend you are moving a great distance in a month. Evaluate the “travel-worthiness” of your biggest furniture pieces. Would you take those or would be cheaper to replace them in your new locale? This is the first step towards either saying goodbye to these things or keeping alert for more dual-purpose, transportable replacements. For me, I found that our table and six chairs were something I was just enduring rather than enjoying so it is getting replaced … someday. We have no indicators that we are moving but it’s good to keep light on our feet.

For smaller possessions, limit surfaces to three items or less when at resting position. This philosophy was borrowed from a minimalist on youtube whose home I admire. Simple and inspiring.

Fighting the paper tiger

I made a casual effort to chip away at incoming junk mail. Rather than mindlessly tossing junk mail in my recycling bin, I paper-clipped them to a note that told me to unsubscribe. For a few concentrated minutes each week, I requested removals from mailing lists, usually by online means but sometimes via a standardized snail-mail letter. This was completely worth the (small) effort. I’ll elaborate more in a future blog post.

My incredibly-shrinking book collection

I had 50 books at the beginning of the weekend. I gathered them together and held each one in my hands. After my joy-sparking session (one of a series), I ended the weekend with 35 books. Private book collections should only include already-read-it favorites and no more.

Organize your home like a grocery store

Photo credit: Marjan Blan

Recently, I was in a grocery store with an unfamiliar layout to me. I was looking for pickle relish. “Hmmmm, okay so it is likely to be with the condiments, olives, and salad dressings …”, I thought. Sure enough, I found it without asking for assistance when I caught sight of a long row of ketchups in one aisle.

Let’s take our cues from a grocery store’s efficiencies. Here are a handful of those that come to my mind:

Takeaway 1: Stores want you to find things without asking their staff.

Stores are smart that way. They want you to find things. By yourself. Because almost none of us is willing to hunt down an employee and ask. Stores are arranged so that shoppers can find things and the store scores a sale. They use what I call “intuitive storage”, storage so straightforward and simple that it needs no explanation.

Before konmari, when my family would ask me where something was, it meant me getting up and helping them look because I myself had no idea where the item might be. Or wait, I take that back. I had about 15 ideas where the item might be … and helping them look was easier than describing those 15 places.

Shall we even talk about how much I would harrumph and complain to have to help them find something? No. No, let’s not go there.

When we use intuitive storage like a retail store, we get to be smart that way. Our housemates get to find their things. We arrange our homes so that they can find things and we score some relaxation time.

Takeaway 2: Stores group similar items together.

This experience with the pickle relish reminded me of the wisdom of storing like items together that Marie Kondo recommends somewhere in her “Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”.

Before konmari, my storage was scattered. None of it was intuitive. None of it was “self-serve” like the stores’ arrangements are. My household set-up relied on my memory of where I last put it and frankly, I have better things to occupy my brain. Don’t we all?!?

Post-konmari, I am now training my family to find things in their new homes. Not extensive training, mind you. Just a bit of training. The week I started writing this blog post, my youngest asked for more notebook paper for school. Instead of helping her look for it, I had her think through what category notebook paper was in (office supplies) and then think through where ALL our office supplies were kept (in a repurposed five-drawer filing cabinet in the garage). She found the paper on her own and thereafter found other office supplies when she had another need for them. The same goes for cleaning supplies (lower shelves of the hall closet) and toiletries (upper shelves of the hall closet). My family can think of the category of the item, then its general storage location and usually have success finding it on their own. And I get to occupy my brain with something else.

Takeaway 3: The best stores keep a tight inventory.

Part of a retail store’s success is keeping a tight inventory based on what will practically fly off the shelves. They stock for today’s customers with today’s needs.

What if you took this mindset into your present inventory? Saving those baby toys for five years until the next child comes along would make little sense. Not devoting 10 minutes every season to cull out expired medicine and unused personal care items would be unwise. And that junk room? Oi vey, don’t get me started!

When we look at people who are successful at what they do, they often keep a tight and knowledgeable inventory of their possessions. Or, shall I say, they keep a tight inventory of the possessions needed for their success. A professional NFL player is likely to have an extremely effective home gym, even if the rest of the home needs to be maintained by a household staff.

In the same way, I have seen you-tuber with a ba-jillion subscribers detail their visual and audio equipment inventory and it is like a well-choreographed dance to see them present what is on the shelves they devote to professional equipment. I believe that the wisdom they show in their inventory is part of their success, a small part maybe but definitely a contributor.

Takeaway 4: Grocery stores use “choice architecture” in their displays.

When a grocery store wants you to purchase one item over another, they make the favored item a convenient reach. They place it on a end-cap. They position it in the middle shelves.

Blogger and skilled researcher James Clear of jamesclear.com calls this arrangement “choice architecture”. Why not employ the same choice architecture in your kitchen? I place all our non-refrigerated fruit and vegetables on our kitchen island. Right on the counter. The day or two after a grocery trip, the produce so fills the counter that it looks like it will start rolling off. It gets eaten.

I have done experiments in which I placed all that produce in big bowls on the island counter. The more I contained it, the less my family ate it. I often discarded half-bowls full of rotting fruit. I took away the bowls and the produce once again was consumed.

By contrast, I place our potato chips and junk-y snacks in the far reaches of the lowest corners of the pantry. It is out of sight and hard to reach. Really, you have to be a contortionist or crawl on hands and knees to get them. We sometimes even forget it is there until we have guests and realize “Oh yeah, we have something common to serve up here!” The produce on the counter is consumed faster than the chips because it is more conveniently placed.

I use the same technique in our fridge. I rotate the food in there every other day or every third day. I bring produce and the plain yogurt to the edge of the middle shelves. The milk with the soonest expiration date is at the front. The cheese that should be eaten soon practically leaps at you from the center of the middle shelf. And so on. This frequent rotation takes me about 30 seconds to do. And as home manager tasks go, I like doing it.

Takeaway 5: Caaaaaarrrrrrts! Grocery stores make life easier with their carts.

Bonus! I just thought of a fifth takeaway. Carts! Grocery stores make roundups of items easier with the carts they offer. When tidying up, make one lap around your community rooms with a basket or container in order to return any items to their proper places.

 

So … group similar items together, keep a tight inventory for today’s needs and use choice architecture. And get yourself a cart. Which one are you going to try first?

Tiny house, big drawbacks

Photo credit: Geran de Klerk

Do you have a tiny house parade that you don’t want to get rained on? Well, stop reading right now and pick another one of my posts. If you don’t mind a little sprinkle from a sky that is falling, read on.

Once upon a time, before konmari, this suburban house-dweller named me was fascinated with the tiny house trend/movement and wanted to be a part of it. I casually researched it for 18 months. My fascination came from a desire to escape my piles and bins and rooms of stuff. I imagined what I would do with my (newly abundant) free time if my household responsibilities were reduced to a couple hours a week. I really thought my situation needed a radical solution.

Wow, am I glad I konmaried instead.

Here are 5 things I found out about tiny house living:

#1 Tiny house living really only works in mild climates.

No surprises there. I would be spending a lot of time outside. Have you ever noticed how the tiny house photos are staged as if the resident is having coffee but doesn’t show many other activities going on?

#2 I couldn’t find substantial financial savings.

For me at least. I already live in a budget-friendly location. The savings only come with successfully finding borrowed land on which to park. If I couldn’t find free residential space on which to park, I would be stuck renting space at an RV park. Those rents rivaled my mortgage payments.

#3 It’s a revolving door.

Tiny houses for sale were usually used for less than 2 years, yet they averaged about $30k-$45k to purchase. To me, that was evidence that tiny house living is sort of a revolving door and no one stays with that lifestyle over the long term.

#4 I would have to find a certain trifecta of living …

Tiny house owners were constantly seeking the next free space on which to park. And most of them were dependent on their wifi and tech savvy to work from their tiny homes to pay expenses so the free space had to be semi-rural in a mild climate and yet have great wifi connection. That’s tough trifecta to find.

#5 I would not be as far off the grid as I originally intended.

Overall, tiny house living is promoted as being “off-the-grid” when it is more accurately “borrowing someone else’s grid” because tiny house dwellers use someone else’s wifi and city services like trash disposal, water resources and so on when they park on a host’s space for free or at a discount.

By contrast, my konmari-ing has given me that uncluttered living I thought tiny houses would bring. The solution was not so radical as I thought. Pare out the junk, leave the joy. That was all it took for living more simply.

6 life-simplifying phone changes

If my mobile was a person, she would be someone who delights in interrupting me … LOUDLY. INSISTENTLY.

My favorite konmari categories are the ones you can do while standing in line somewhere. You know … sort of a life declutter. I do these a lot and most of them involve cleaning out the contents of my cell phone.

This past week, I took stock of all the ways my phone did not spark my joy. I know that things are not people but Marie Kondo’s personification of objects in her best-selling “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” sometimes helps me make decisions.

If my mobile were a person, she would be someone who delights in interrupting me, both audibly and visually. LOUDLY. INSISTENTLY. All the time. Even when I am driving or having a conversation with someone face-to-face. Or the appetizer just arrived. Or the toddler just wants to keep playing peek-a-boo. Or.

Yes, I asked my phone-as-my-friend to remind me of things (and to keep reminding me of them) but here in the present moment, her enthusiasm for that task matched my insistence back then, a few days ago. Back then, I thought remembering that thing was the most important and vital thing that needed to get done. But … right now, I am BUSY doing something else on the phone. Or not on the phone. Couldn’t my phone-as-my-friend see that this present moment was more important?

So I changed my phone experience to spark more joy. These changes only take a few minutes and are the perfect way to feel productive while you wait for the next train, for the pharmacy to fill the RX or for that next bathroom stall to open up.

Here are the improvements I made to my iPhone, most of which are found in the Settings app:

1 – I took out all the pop-up banner notifications for all apps and texts. No more banners appear and block my view of what I am working on at that moment. (Check under Settings, then Notifications)

2 – I enlarged and boldfaced all the typefaces so that they are easy to read. (Settings, then Display & Brightness, then Text Size and Bold Text and View Zoomed)

3 – I took out all the custom ringtones and went with the “bamboo” sound and the vibrate function. I dialed down the volume too. Now my phone gives me a wiggle and a delicate sound to tell me something needs to be checked … when I have a moment. I do not need to know who is calling me or what is alerting me. I just need to know that I need to check my phone later. In a few minutes, I will know the whos&whats&wheres and reply when my attention is singularly focused. (Settings, then Sounds & Haptics)

4 – I FINALLY set the notifications to stop whenever I am driving. This was long overdue. (Settings, then Do Not Disturb – scroll to the end of the options)

5 – I selected the setting that turns the screen amber at sunset and back to blue at sunrise so that my digital life is more sleep-friendly. (Settings, then Display & Brightness, then Nightshift)

6 – I set a consistent bedtime and wakeup alarm schedules, one for weekdays and one for weekends. (Clock, then Bedtime)

My phone now works for me instead of the other way around.

My konmari by the numbers

When any of my friends contemplate konmari, there is a hesitation. I mean, it sounds like a lot of work, right? And a bit crazy. I mean, start by throwing all your clothes on your bed? Besides, we have been burned by promises of decluttering solutions before. They want to know if konmari is worth all that.

Well, in my experience, I would scream “YES”. So you can stop reading right there if you just wanted the answer to the headline. However, if you are further intrigued, read on. Here’s why:

My konmari journey: By the numbers

I know the world loves numbers and percentages so I am going to estimate some that apply to my konmari experience. Konmari means concentrating on the treasures that stay, although early in everyone’s konmari, they tend to concentrate on the volume of discards, just because their environment is now airy and expansive in a way it was not before.

Clothes category:

Before konmari, I wore about 10 percent of what was in my wardrobe. I reduced my clothes by 75 percent and I easily wear 95 percent of what I have now. I may be spit-balling the math here, but isn’t that as if I quadruple-and-then-some’d my wardrobe?

Books category:

Faithfully following the method means taking all your books out and spending just a few seconds with each one. At first, this is hard because we all have those status symbol books we want to have on our shelves so others might think we are well-read. But after a breakthrough in the books category, I discarded probably 300 books and have kept about 30 books. Almost none of the keepers are those literary classics that Masterpiece Theatre loves so much. I even store those 30 volumes on a high shelf in my master closet. But I assure you that every time I look at that shelf of books, I just want to pull down each compelling title and read it right then and there. And looking at the titles tells me a lot about who I really am.

Papers category:

I discarded probably 95 percent of all my papers and am much more on top of the crucial 5 percent I really needed. There is a cost to keeping so much paper “just in case”. One example among many is that, in my pre-konmari snowdrifts of paper, I could never find my family’s eyeglass prescriptions, making ordering glasses online difficult. Instead, I would wind up buying our glasses from my eye doctor’s optical shop at a far greater price.

Komono/miscellaneous category:

Who knew that my clutter was keeping me from doing what I really liked to do? But as soon as I started working on my komono category in konmari and got rid of my ‘flotsam’ in the house, my most important activities became easy to recognize. And this made them even easier to do. Go figure. What I learned in my book konmari – that I will never read/do all the things that would be fun to read/do – applied to my kitchen and every other room in my house. I had just let all these hobbies accumulate without mindfully weighing whether or not I still wanted to do them. And all my craft-y pursuits? Turns out they were my way of hiding from my messy house. If I had to guess at how much I discarded … well, it would be hard. Maybe 70 percent? But I can tell you that my house is edging towards minimalism, I spend my time on activities truly important to me and I love it.

Sentimental category:

I could easily identify which photos and mementos were keepers. I dreaded this last category throughout my km and it turned out to be a piece of cake … because I followed the konmari method and did it LAST, when I was the most prepared and trained to do it. I probably unloaded about 85 percent of the pile, because it did not represent who I am now nor did it represent what was important for me to remember.

Konmari is worth it, folks.

4 sample vision statements to kick off your minimalism

People skip their vision statements in konmari all the time. It’s easy to do … In her “Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up”, Marie Kondo spends very few words on this part of konmari. And she is intentionally vague about what a vision statement is.

In her manga book, Marie highlights the vision statement much more clearly. The manga-Marie-Kondo tells the sloppy protagonist to think about her dream space, to develop her WHY for tidying, as her first assignment. The protagonist sputters and asks to take action while the manga Marie assures her that this step is the most important first one to take.

That is really all a vision statement is, at its core: it is your why for taking on simpler living.

Having a compelling vision statement is absolutely the difference between finishing konmari and stalling out.

So how do we get to your why? Let me offer you a few approaches.

#1 Just pictures.

First, if my client is a visual person and is active on Pinterest, I encourage her to let loose on Pinterest with dream spaces. Drawn to Scottish castles? Sure. Love those opulent chandeliers? Pin ’em. Cat canals throughout the apartment? Why not. What emerges is, of course, their decor preferences and their dream activities to carry out in their current space.

#2 A few words. Like, maybe just three or four words.

My most successful konmari client began her konmari with her usual brand of personal decisiveness and direction. I watched in amazement as she developed her vision statement in a few minutes, using three words: “an open-house-ready home”.

She had just moved into a rental house with her family after their previous home sold. It sold quickly and her realtor attributed that to the home’s clean condition, a condition she told me was a rarity for her family. For a glorious month, she recalled, her family lived in a home stripped of all their clutter. They could be ready for a potential buyer in 15 minutes of putting-away and polishing. My friend said those four weeks showed them a glorious way to live and that her family loved it. When it came time to unpack the boxes at their rental, her kids were reluctant. They liked the space and didn’t remember what stuff had been packed away enough to miss any of it.

She craved that lifestyle again. “An open-house-ready home” became her mantra. As she discarded much of her clothes, books, papers, and kitchenware in those early coaching sessions, she repeatedly asked herself if the item she held in her hands brought her closer to that kind of home.

# 3 Reframe your most frustrating house moment.

My own vision statement was less of a picture or a few words and more of a feeling. I wanted inner peacefulness. I replayed my peak moment of frustration with my home (repeated each week): the moment when I would come in all hot and sweaty from mowing my lawn and realize what an absolute mess my home was. Then I reframed it. I envisioned that I would come in, sit at my empty kitchen table, and sip a glass of ice water. As I scanned my surroundings, I would not see a single task that needed to be done. Empty counters, no dirty dishes or laundry, no pantry or fridge or cabinets or closets needing organizing, nothing in need of repair. Nothing. I would be done with housework that day. It seemed impossible at the time but now that is standard operating procedure. When it comes to housework, I have very little to do on a daily basis.

Since then, I developed mini-vision statements as I went for each category, all of them based on my desire for that feeling of peacefulness. That helped keep me motivated. Fueled by my vision of peace, I finished my first round of konmari in four weeks.

# 4 Tell your house story.

Unleash all your complaints about your home while you take notes. This is often the first thing I do with new clients. They tick off their frustrations while giving the house tour and I scribble rapidly. Then I write a sample vision statement in story form. It is important to note this: I always, always, always get it wrong. Why? Because a vision statement is deeply felt and deeply personal. But my erroneous first attempt at their vision statement usually gets them started.

Here is one such vision statement story for a client, a recent empty-nester whose frustration is so high that her only house wish is to get to her next home. (Marie Kondo would tell her that preparing this home and becoming satisfied with it will bring her next home more quickly. Hard words to hear for someone who just wants to light a match and leave.)

Corey’s Vision Statement (Take Two)

It’s Friday afternoon. Corey pulls into the driveway, noting that their realtor’s car is out front so she waits until the realtor and the potential buyer come out. Corey feels no fear about the condition of her house. It is always “open house ready” without much effort from her or her husband Charles.

The realtor gives her a thumbs-up sign while the buyer is not looking and the two drive away. Corey pulls into the garage, which used to be an Olympic obstacle course even with one car gone. It has become a place of order and efficiency. Charles’ and Corey’s tools are attractively displayed and accessible. It should come as no surprise that they finished most of their home improvement projects within a year after she completed her konmari.

Corey enters the orderly, productive laundry room. No clothes are on the floor. Hangers on the rod are empty. She notes that hers and Charles’ laundry basket of “to be washed” clothes has reached the half-load mark so she puts down her (tidy) purse on the top of the dryer and pops dirty clothes into the washer. When the house is almost on auto-pilot, tasks like this seem invisible.

Corey goes down to the basement to check for workout clothes and towels to add to her half-load of wash. The basement now serves as Charles’ extensive workshop, which is part of the reason the garage has such a spacious feel. His car project supplies stayed in the garage and every one of his home projects moved down here. The set-up of this workspace meant he made rapid progress on home improvements and, as a result, there are few projects left to do. Corey surveys everything with satisfaction … this arrangement has meant the exercise stuff is used more too. Corey takes the workout towels and clothes from a cool and funky clothes hamper. After some trial-and-error during her konmari, Corey mindfully chose to place this hamper by the basement door. Since it is convenient, the hamper is now getting used just as she wanted it to be.

When Corey ascends the stairs, she scans the first floor, seeing it as her realtor and the potential buyer must have seen it. Every floor, counter, and surface in the kitchen and living room is clear. The kitchen counters are ready for dinner prep. With no tasks to impede her progress to her bedroom, Corey strolls through.

Corey looks up the stairs for just a moment. The second story is a place Corey goes often. The sunniest room is now her studio and her art supplies are arranged in pleasing and off-beat ways. She has plenty of workspace and she can retreat there and lose track of time on weekends … or she can just as easily spend 10 minutes before leaving for work on a weekday morning, just moving forward on the next step in whatever current art project delights her. The other two bedrooms are guest rooms for when the kids and their friends visit for a night. The floors are hardwood and the new baseboards look fabulous. The closets in both guest rooms are empty, as she made sure her grown children took all their possessions with them to their current apartments. The upstairs bathroom is no longer full of the kids’ half-used and abandoned personal care products; it is a spa-like set-up with folded towels, favorite soaps and a few toiletries for guests.

She moves into her bedroom. Ah, her bedroom is such a sanctuary now. The bed is made with her favorite sheets, pillows, and comforter. Her nightstand is bare except for a favorite lamp and the novel she is reading. Everything in the room points to rest and sleep. The bookshelves display art. No laundry or home project materials are in this room. The lighting is soft. The room breathes calm and serenity for both her and Charles.

Corey unpacks her purse at her bag station. She changes into comfortable clothes that play to her strengths. She could leave the house for a restaurant meal in what she is wearing if Charles suggested that. Otherwise, she has a bowl of chicken salad for the two of them to finish up for dinner at home, if they decide to stay in.

She gets a text from the realtor saying the potential buyer loved their home, finding every part of it to be spacious and clean. The buyer wants to return next week with her spouse for a second, more serious tour. A year ago, this second tour would have caused a flurry of household chores, packing up stuff and hiding it away. But now, none of this is required and Corey gets to enjoy the wonderful news without worry. If the house sells this fast, it’ll be a great development. It means she and Charles can move to that custom-built home in the country and really get the open outdoor space that they want.

She drifts into the kitchen, pours herself a half a glass of red and idly makes plans for her weekend, none of which involve housework.

Allow yourself some daydreaming. Conjure up your own vision statement, tailored just for you!