The One Box Concept

I apologize for the lack of posting lately. I have been busy with other jobs, blogs and a small but growing freelance business. Eventually I hope to export this blog over to Wordpress and contribute to it more often. In the meantime, I will post to it when I can.


In the last few weeks, I have been further decluttering my home and have come up with a concept that seems to work for me. I attempt to declutter enough of a certain item so that what I have left fits into one box: all books should fit into one box, all clothes into one box or suitcase, all mementos into one box.

Now, you have to be able to carry the box once it is full, so it doesn't help to be putting your items into a box the size of a refrigerator. One office paper box or medium sized box from Uhaul should be sufficient.

This has been a bit of a challenge for me with kitchen supplies. Right now all my kitchen supplies fit into about four medium sized boxes. They used to fit into about ten of them, so I am getting better at purging.

Try it. It's freeing to know that you can carry each of your favorite items in just one box.

Decluttering the Home Office

Many people these days are escaping the cubicle to work from home, but while a lot of energy can go into running your own business, some of that energy has to be used to keep an organized and efficient home office. This article in the New York Times shows how a custom decluttering solution can work for individual work personalities. For more excellent before and after photos of work spaces, check out the Workspace of the Week on Unclutterer.

Play the Percentages

When you know you have to get rid of a large amount of stuff, but you can't quite make yourself get rid of the entire amount, choose a percentage that you know has to be gone. That gives you some leeway on what you can keep. It also forces you to go through the entire batch and figure out exactly what that percentage is.

Say you have 100 magazines that are taking up half a closet. You are allowed to keep 40 of them, but 60 have to go. Go through the entire 100 magazines and choose your 40 favorites. You are not completely out of your favorite magazines, but you have a more manageable load. Before you know it, you will eventually want to lose a percentage of the 40 you have decided to keep.

Is Technology Leading Us to a Simpler Life?

Have you noticed that the options for having a simpler, less cluttered life seem to be getting getting more varied? Ten years ago a healthy music collection could take up an entire wall. Now you can fit thousands of songs and albums on one pocket-size device. Televisions used to be heavy, obstinate objects that needed their own piece of furniture. Now they are slim enough to hang on the wall. Rachael Ray has shown us how to use less in the kitchen and spend less time in the kitchen.

Even though we seem to spend even more time keeping up with and learning about new technolgy, what we do learn we can utilize to declutter and simplify our lives. We have no need for loads of backup CDs and DVDs when we have Mozy, our library of books has been reduced down to the size of the Kindle even our home paperwork can be banished to cyberspace with EverNote or Pixily.

Organized Information on iTunes

I ran across these quick and dirty tips for organizing your life from the Savvy Organizer on iTunes. I especially like her tips on photographing your clutter and viewing it later in a different light. I have also been listening to other podcasts on decluttering and organization that are nice little tidbits of information which keep me motivated:

Taste and See: Organized Living
The Neat Organizer

"Don't Think It, Ink It"

Here is another tip from professional organizer and life coach Hellen Buttigieg that I wholly believe in. Going back to my One Book concept, she also recommends keeping a notebook to write down every thought, list, idea and plan that rattles around your head. Her idea was "Don't Think It, Ink It". Granted that not every person is a writer, but almost everyone jots down thoughts or things to remember on sticky notes, scraps of paper or the backs of envelopes. Some people find it easier and more efficient to use their PDA or cell phone for their lists, but actually taking the time to physically write it down seems to do wonders for clearing the mind.

I like to use the phrase, "The Brain Drain".

Time for the Smaller Car

The nation's gas situation is not going to change. We will be living the rest of our lives with high gas prices and that will need to be accepted. So, if you don't want to pay the price, or you can't ride a bike, motorcycle or scooter. Getting a smaller car might be in your future.

The best thing about a smaller car (besides better gas mileage) is there is not a lot of room for storage or clutter inside the minuscule trunk or the tight back seat. Keeping a clean and tidy car will not only save you personal space, but it will help your overall gas mileage by not adding extra weight to the vehicle. In a post from Unclutterer it might also be unsafe to you and your passengers to drive with junk in your car.