Hasta La Ideas

On Unclutterer, we write a great deal about the benefits of clearing clutter from our lives. Getting rid of these distractions makes it possible to lead a remarkable life.

We also write about how to organize and create routines once the clutter is gone. One aspect of the how-to process that I particularly like to focus on is the motivation, because if you’re not motivated to be organized you’re not going to be. Why become organized? If you don’t own so much stuff that you’re overwhelmed by it, why does what you have need to have a dedicated “home?”

Plain and simple — it doesn’t. If you truly are living or working in a minimalist space, you probably don’t have a big need to organize what few things you have. However, the level most of us are comfortable living in and working in still contains stuff. We’re not ascetics and we enjoy the conveniences of modern living. As a result, being organized is just as important as being uncluttered.

Michelle Bates Deo at [ real neat ] had an inspiring quote on her site yesterday that sparked my thoughts on the “why organize” question:

He who does not get fun and enjoyment out of every day … needs to reorganize his life. — George Matthew Adams

I think this quote summarizes exactly why I have chosen an organized life. I want each day to be filled with fun and enjoyment. Searching for my keys isn’t fun. Missing a out on a great opportunity isn’t enjoyable. And having a head full of to-dos that should be on paper instead of in my thoughts is neither fun nor enjoyable.

Sure, not every experience in my life qualifies as fun and enjoyable — loading the dishwasher, deleting spam off the server, paying a parking ticket — but the processes I have in place make certain that these chores don’t weigh on me and cause me unnecessary stress and/or anxiety. Which, leaves room for having as much fun and enjoyment as possible.

This is why I work to be organized — Why do you?

Smart consumerism is based on the principle of buying the best quality of good to meet your needs and budget. Saving up your money and buying a beautifully crafted piece of furniture out of durable materials will ultimately keep you from wasting money and time in the future. Plus, if you research and buy only quality goods, you won’t make impulse purchases.

An unclutterer is a smart consumer.

In September, Karawynn Long (a guest author on the website Get Rich Slowly), posted the informative article “Furniture Shopping Secrets: How To Tell Superior from Shoddy.” This article helps anyone shopping for furniture to be an informed consumer. And, when it comes to being a smart consumer, knowledge is essential.

A brief selection of the text:

Wood furniture — composition
I used to think hardwoods were hard and softwoods were soft. Silly me! Actually, hardwood just means ‘from a deciduous tree’ and softwood means ‘from a coniferous tree’, and some hardwoods (like aspen) are softer than some softwoods. What you want on exposed surfaces is a wood that’s reasonably scratch-resistant. You can test this easily enough by attempting to draw a thin line with your fingernail across the wood; if it makes a visible dent (use a flashlight here if necessary) you know it won’t stand up to much use.

Structurally, any kind of solid wood or sturdy plywood will do the trick. If plywood, look for at least nine layers. Check the wood for knots, even on unexposed pieces; all knots are susceptible to cracks. Some woods, like pine, are ‘knottier’ than others, and therefore less desirable. Avoid particleboard, pressed wood, or fiberboard.

Veneers — a thin piece of premium wood covering a lower-quality piece of wood — are often used even in very high-quality furniture. As long as the base piece is solid wood or plywood, the only drawback to veneer is that it limits the number of times an item can be refinished.

The article discusses composition and construction of wood and upholstered furniture and includes a quick furniture checklist to have with you when shopping. Remember: informed consumers are smart consumers, and unclutterers are smart consumers.

In the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the pesky Goldilocks is able to quickly find the bowl of porridge, chair, and semi-firm mattress that all meet her definition of just right. Granted, she has a limited set of options from which to choose, but she loves her choices so much that she is blissfully able to drift off to sleep in a den of BEARS at the end of her decision-making day.

In my life — thankfully without much threat of deadly wildlife mauling me — I struggle to find that point of just right with everything. How many pairs of jeans, shoes, spare rolls of toilet paper, rechargeable batteries, and baby bottles should I own? How much time should I spend working, socializing, sleeping, and exercising to feel my best? Is my house too small for my family’s changing needs?

Determining the just right amount of physical goods has proven to be easier than determining the less concrete attributes of life, and so I wanted to share my methods with you. The following is how I decide the perfect amount of goods for my space and my life:

• How much space can I commit to storing this type of good?
• How much space do I want to commit to storing this type of good?
• Will I use all of it before it expires and/or becomes outdated and/or my brand loyalty changes?
• Do I have enough (or too much) to get me through to my preferred cleaning schedule? (For example: Do I have enough pairs of socks to last me between laundry days? Am I putting off laundry until it gets out of control because I have too many pairs?)
• Do I need or want this item at all?
• How much time, money, and energy will I save in the future if I have more than one of these in my space?
• What will I do if I run out?
• Would having more or less of these items improve my quality of life?

Regardless of how good a deal is, I stick to this method of determining just right. What method(s) do you use? Tell us about it in the comments.

Over the weekend, writer Andrew Sullivan linked to the findings of a 2003 study on “The role of eyebrows in face recognition.” The study concludes that when a person removes his or her eyebrows (either by shaving them off or digitally removing them in a photograph) it is very difficult to recognize that person.

More than half of the people looking at images of celebrities will fail to name the celebrity when their eyebrows are missing. And, since most of us aren’t as famous as Richard Nixon, it’s safe to bet that if we were to remove our eyebrows that most people wouldn’t recognize us, either.

I’m mentioning this study because it is fascinating to me on two levels. First, I thought it was cool. Who comes up with the idea for testing this sort of thing?

Second, I instantly thought about the human desire to express ourselves through stuff. We buy doo dads and knick knacks and a seemingly unlimited supply of things to proclaim, “this is who I am!” We think our stuff tells the world who we are, but our eyebrows — little bits of hair that nature automatically provides — say more than our possessions ever will.

Remove a favorite chair from your home or toss out your beloved t-shirt and everyone in your life will still recognize you. Shave off your eyebrows, and even your closest circle of friends will have to stare at you for awhile to realize that they know you. I’m not suggesting that you shave off your eyebrows, rather that you remember this strange study as further proof that your stuff isn’t you.

(Images of Richard Nixon and Winona Ryder from the study.)

We want to again welcome guest author Alex Fayle, the writer and professional organizer behind the helpful anti-procrastination website Someday Syndrome. This is his second post of three in a series on fighting procrastination.

In my first post in this series on Unclutterer, I talked about vanquishing the Getting Started Monster and hopefully you were able to defeat your own personal Getting Started Monster.

Great! If it’s an organizing project you’ve started, you’ve probably cleared a surface and streamlined your stuff. Maybe you’ve even managed to clear off the dining room table for the first time in years. Momentum has supposedly kicked in and you’re ready to keep going.

But you don’t.

The rest of the space stays disorganized and the papers start piling up again on the dining room table and you feel totally discouraged. Why bother when it’s just going to get cluttered again?

I’m the same way with my writing. Unless I’m vigilant about my writing, I can let it slide by the wayside and without really noticing I’ve come up with enough excuses not to write for over two weeks.

Not good.

You think I’d want to write every day. After all, it’s my passion and writing every day brings me closer to my goal of being a published author?

Yes, but it’s also work. Hard work. And there’s no immediate pay off. Yes, I have the reward of 200 or 2000 words written, but I get nothing, no gold star, for doing so and my long term goal is still a long way off.

Unfortunately, just like with getting started there’s no trick to continuing. You can use positive enforcement of mini rewards, or picturing how happy you’ll be after you achieve your goal. You could also use negative motivation by imagining how much regret you’ll feel for not doing the thing that you’re procrastinating about.

In the end, however, there’s only the choice to continue.

The Power of Choice

There’s a saying about courage: A brave person feels fear and continues anyway. For getting around to it, a productive person feels like quitting but continues anyway.

Looking at it another way — every single day is a new start so getting back to a task you did the day before is exactly like starting it all over again facing the same Getting Started monster.

Almost every single goal I can think of requires a series of smaller steps to complete. Many times those small steps are repetitive and require a long-term commitment. The longer the commitment the easier it is to lose energy and enthusiasm until you’re moving less than a run-down grandfather clock.

If you’re the sort of person this happens to (I certainly am) all you need to do is make a choice to keep going. When I don’t feel like working, I remind myself that I’ve chosen my goals and if I don’t want to achieve them I don’t have to. Of course I wouldn’t be happy letting most goals fall by the wayside so I say “okay, fine” and get back to work.

With some goals, however, I truly do lose interest and I realize that the goal isn’t for me. By offering myself a choice to continue or not, I sometimes do choose to stop, often with a huge sense of relief.

So, how do you make sure you remember this choice? By repeating it to yourself every day.

I’m not big on affirmations where you stare in the mirror and tell yourself good things that you’re supposed to believe about yourself. The phrase in this exercise is meant as a daily wake up call, reminding you to keep the autopilot turned off and to stay engaged in everything you do.

And just what’s the super fantastic phrase that’s going to keep you motivated and moving forward?

I choose all my actions including what I’m not going to do.

That’s it. By taking responsibility for your actions, every day you’ll make a choice to continue or not, but remember – it’s your choice, no one is making you do or not do anything.