The Insanity Of Collecting Stuff That We Don’t Need

The word “collecting” is not the best word to describe this problem. Collecting indicates some order or design which in this case is lacking. What I have in mind is the keen desire to gather lots of things because they “might come in handy someday.” Or to keep them for the sake of the past.

Why do we love to collect so many things and have such a hard time throwing them out? Either we do it for the past or for the future. Certainly it isn’t for the present, since the present is suffering because of all this stuff we are trying to live with.

We feel we have to hold on to things from the past because we are trying to preserve some beautiful memory. The things we keep are attached in our minds to some important person or event in our lives, and we keep them out of respect. This is a particular problem when the person whose things we are keeping has died.

One of my best friends felt compelled to keep several houses full of furniture because they were from the estates of deceased loved ones. The same woman had four closets full of clothes four sizes too big from her admired, deceased mother-in-law, whose memory she wished to preserve. A widow I knew felt that if she threw away anything that had belonged to her husband she would be throwing away part of him. My guess is that anyone who loved us would be the first to urge us to live our lives in the present and not try to hang on to the past.

We also try to keep things for the future - just in case we ever need them. We save for possible needs or emergencies that might come. Don’t sacrifice the present for the future. That’s no healthier than living in the past.

There is freedom in having no more than you need, no more than you can control. But the collecting impulse is hard to control because on the surface it seems so logical. Why not keep that yarn? Someday you may learn to knit, and it will be wonderful to have your own supply already! Why not keep all prescription medicines?

The problem with this thinking is that it just doesn’t work. We gather and gather and gather good things, and some things that are not so good. Soon the pile gets out of control, and we can’t find what we want when we need it. Things control us and our lives. We begin to make adjustments in our way of life to accommodate all the “stuff” we have. We tell ourselves that we can’t throw anything out. We end up with so much that it is a monumental task to clean or organize. I am not saying that everything must go. But the collecting mania has to be taken in hand and controlled.

Popularity: 42% [?]

Lost Your Keys Lately?

Sometimes we need help remembering where we put things. Most of us have at one time or another lost our keys, glasses, checkbook, or that piece of paper we had just a second ago. Have you ever stopped to think about why we misplace these items so often? Usually it’s because we aren’t paying attention when we put them down. We’re distracted, and putting something down is not what we’re focusing on. Misplacing things has nothing to do with how old we are—only with how busy.

Choose One Place

How can we prevent ourselves losing things we need and save ourselves the aggravation, not to mention wasted time, that goes along with it? The best way to remember where things are is to always put them in the same place, what I like to call a forget-me-not spot. Why? we can apply “over-learning” to help rev up our recall for where we put things. If we always put the items we need, such as our wallet, keys, and glasses, in the same place, we don’t need to pay attention to where we put them, as they will always be in that forget-me-not spot. Here are some tips for using a forget-me-not spot:

1. Pick a convenient place. Your forget-me-not spot should be conveniently located so you will really use it. At home, I think the best place is near the door you use most frequently. At your office, the best place is most likely somewhere on your desk.

2. Make sure it can hold all your things. Your forget-me-not spot should be something that can hold the objects you want to put there. It can be a drawer, a shelf, a bowl on a tabletop, or a box. I once heard about a woman who had a table in her foyer painted with images of her keys, wallet, and glasses. While it probably worked well, it’s not really necessary to go to so much trouble! Plain or fancy, make sure your forget-me-not spot can fit all the objects you need it to. It’s also nice if there’s extra room for small items you may need to remember to take someplace, such as a book you need to return to the library or dry-cleaning receipts.

3. Get into the habit of using your forget-me-not spot. If a forget-me-not spot is going to work for you, you really need to use it. This really is a case of use it or lose it!

Popularity: 26% [?]

A Woman’s Perspective On Organizing The Kitchen

We should get and keep our homes organized in the least possible amount of time. I don’t think it is unrealistic to say that our work can be accomplished in two or three hours each day. If you work and don’t spend all day at home you will have less time and less energy for housekeeping. Nevertheless your goal can be achieved!

To accomplish this, a lot of cluttered surfaces need to be cleared. Special temptations for clutter are the top of the toilet tank and the bathroom window ledge. Kitchen windows, and kitchen counters, too, fairly beg to have things put on them: bottles, jars, tissue boxes, and
appliances.

The clutter turns any dream of cleaning these surfaces into a nightmare. There is no such thing as a quick swipe at the bathroom or kitchen in your morning cleaning when all these things have to be moved. The best way to achieve order in the bathroom is to get a shower caddy and put the shampoo and conditioner bottles, the soap, and the washcloths on it.

As much as possible, have a bare counter in the kitchen. For a long time I fought this idea. I noticed that two of my “Squeekie-Cleanie” friends had almost completely bare counters. Still, I resisted clearing my kitchen counter because I thought it was an unnecessary and rather extreme step. Then I tried it. What a difference it made!

Clearing my kitchen counter and color coding my clothes in the closet were the two moves that had the most satisfactory results for me. I didn’t think either one was particularly important, but both turned out to be significant helps. I took the canisters off the counter and distributed them in several separate places in the kitchen cabinets. I put the blender under the counter in a place that had been cleared by throwing away some unused item.

I felt I had to leave my toaster and my coffee maker on the counter, although my Cleanie friends keep theirs underneath. But since then I have gotten rid of my toaster, so that spot on the counter is empty. When my family wants toast, I broil it in the oven.

Now you are going to tell me that you don’t have room under your counter. I know the problem. I am sure that men design kitchens and have no idea how much room is necessary for storage. However, let me tell you of one woman’s experience. She had her kitchen remodeled. During the remodeling, she put her kitchen equipment on a table on the back porch. After the remodeling was finished she decided to leave it on the porch and to get items to be stored in the kitchen only as she needed them. At the end of three months, half the things were still on the back porch. If you used this method, how much would be superfluous and left on the back porch?

Popularity: 18% [?]