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February 15 - February 16, 2024
Step 5.2: Purge Down to the Limits of the Container
Stuff we will definitely eat deserves shelf space more than stuff we might never eat.
THE FOOD STORAGE CONTAINER CABINET
Store food storage containers with their lids on.
Everyone knows you can fit more food storage containers into a cabinet if you nest them. Especially if you get the kind that all use the same size lids and vary only by height so they can all nest. But the goal isn’t to get as many into the available space as possible. It’s to declutter. To make the space easy to use and able to stay under control pretty much all the time. Here’s my problem with stuffing in as many containers as possible: If I grab a container for my leftover spaghetti, I can’t just grab the container. I have to get the right-sized container out of the middle of the neat
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The idea of Future Me being so resourceful (looking things up) and so idealistic (not wasting that long-forgotten can of tuna) makes me feel happy and proud.
I have finally embraced Realistic Right-Now Me. She’s the one who makes lasting progress in my home.
If you believe expired food is good enough to eat, then eat it. If you hesitate to eat it, throw it out.
REPURPOSING Are you a repurposer? Yay! That’s awesome! Or are you a wanna-be repurposer? There’s a big difference.
THE HEAD EXPLOSION RULE
If I feel like my head is going to explode over a decision that isn’t life changing, but feels totally life changing, I choose to declutter the item. Because no item is worth my head exploding.
GRANDMA’S DISHES
But what about Grandma’s dishes? Or Aunt Sally’s crocheted potholders? Or Uncle Henry’s hand-carved cutting board? Even though they’re special and legitimately sentimental, the Container Concept still applies.
Ultimately, every question comes down to the Container Concept. Do you have the space to keep these things? If not, what are you willing to get rid of so you can keep them?
you love them, or because you feel guilty about not keeping them? Can you use them?
Using items like these, sometimes to the point where they get completely used up, brings about a tiny bit of the feeling I have when a loved one passes away after a long and full life. I’m sad, and the grief is real. But I feel no regret because the items did what they were created to do. They fulfilled their purpose.
Treasure, don’t store.
If there’s an entire collection of Grandma’s plates that you don’t love and aren’t willing to make space for by getting rid of the ones you actually use, can you keep one? A plate hanging on the wall will remind you of her every day.
HOW I STARTED MAKING LASTING PROGRESS IN MY BEDROOM
Grab a black trash bag and a Donate Box.
STEP 1: TRASH
STEP 2: EASY STUFF
Keep going with easy stuff. Clothes from the floor go into the dirty clothes bin. Clothes piled on that chair in the corner need to go back onto hangers and into the closet.
STEP 3: DUH CLUTTER
No matter what you assume is in that pile, look. When I look, in addition to trash and easy stuff, I often find IBMTs (I’ve Been Meaning Tos) or WDIHTs (Why Do I Have Thats). Those are Duhs. Don’t spend energy or emotion on Duhs, because plenty of other things will require energy and emotion. Just stick them in the Donate Box.
That chair wasn’t serving the purpose of a chair. I couldn’t sit on it. It was a dumping ground and a constant eyesore in a room where I struggle anyway. I did what always works when I need to stop piling things on a piece of furniture. I got rid of the furniture. I gave away the chair.
Consolidating reveals Duhs. As you’re consolidating, match the socks. If there are odd ones, throw them away. As you put T-shirts together, purge the ones you kept only for when you are completely desperate. Get rid of the shorts you never wear because they give you a wedgie.
CLOSETS AND CLOTHES
STEP 1: TRASH
Ripped things. Stained things. Faded-beyond-usability things.
STEP 2: EASY STUFF Easy stuff might be coats someone hung in this closet even though you have an established coat closet elsewhere. It might be Halloween costumes that have a designated tub up in the attic but that you never put away last year.
STEP 3: DUH CLUTTER Look for Duhs. Duhs are clothes that aren’t unwearable but that you know for a fact you’ll never wear. WDIBTs (Why Did I Buy Thats) and SWDMMTIWWTs (Seriously, Why Does My Mother Think I Would Wear Thats). No angst, no questions, just Duhs.
STEP 4: ASK THE DECLUTTERING QUESTIONS
The two decluttering questions don’t work as well for clothing as they do for other things. You look for clothing in the closet, and we’ve already removed the easy st...
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Step 5.2: Purge Down to the Limits of the Container
STORAGE AREAS
DEFINING THE ROOM Is this an actual storage space, or is it space you sacrificed so you could store things? Like maybe, a garage.
To get started, focus on the easiest of the easy stuff: trash.
STEP 2: EASY STUFF Identify the easy stuff. Easy stuff has an established home somewhere else, but it isn’t in that home.
If you pick up a Duh, put it in the Donate Box. Duhs will be plentiful in here. This entire room may be a Procrastination Station. You’ll likely find things you already decided you didn’t need, but for some reason you didn’t get rid of them. Maybe you’ll find boxes full of things you meant to donate that you collected back before you knew Donate Boxes needed to be donatable. Maybe this is the space where you shoved things you assumed you’d put in a garage sale someday, but you never had a garage sale.
Decluttering Question #1: If I Needed This Item, Where Would I Look for It First? If you have an answer, take it there. But if your answer is “Uh, in the storage room?” move onto question #2.
Decluttering Question #2: If I Needed This Item, Would It Ever Occur to Me That I Already Had One? This is the big question for a storage space. The first part of the question—“If I needed this item . . .”—will turn some things into immediate Duhs. If not, ask the whole question. If I needed this item, would it ever occur to me that I already had one?
No matter what you were thinking when you stored the snow cone maker, if you wouldn’t look for it, put it in the Donate Box. If you feel like your head is going to explode, put the snow cone maker in the Donate Box.
Once you’ve made your way through large, out-of-the-box, visible items and eliminated Duhs that revealed themselves through consolidating, start working on what seems to be the easiest pile or the easiest box first. Remove the trash, deal with the easy stuff, donate the Duhs, ask the two decluttering questions, and consolidate what’s left with similar things in the rest of the room.
get rid of your own junk before you tell your husband to get rid of his. Clean up your own house before you tell Aunt Harriet you’re coming over to clean up hers.
Nonspecific toy storage is completely meaningless in our home. Having less stuff is the only thing that makes a lasting impact.
Remember your goals are “better” and “less,” so progress is everything. Keep moving forward. Stopping to argue about a deck of cards that’s missing the ace of spades isn’t worth stopping the progress.
The goal is less. Any decluttering project that ends with less than you had when you started is a success.
“Would I pay to move this?” is kind of like the Head Explosion Rule. If the question makes you say, “Uhhh,” get rid of it.
I’m committed to living for now—for the situation and life stage I am in.
