Sure-thing investing
Once again, I would like to welcome Lauren Halagarda as a guest author on Unclutterer. Her ROI advice is perfect for the tax season. Lauren is a spectacular professional organizer living in the Washington, D.C., area.
We invest our time, energy and money on buying and acquiring things while futilely trying to achieve the life we want. I can assure you that you gain more return on your investment when you switch your focus from buying stuff to being organized. Here are just a few examples:
ROI: Self-confidence.
Put an end to the apologies you make for being late, forgotten commitments, and lost or misplaced information or belongings.
Investment: Time management basics
Stop over-scheduling. We often try to fit in “just one more thing” before moving on to our next commitment. We end up running late, frazzled, overwhelmed, and distracted. STOP and THINK, how long will it really take to get there or prepare for that meeting? Are you being realistic about traffic? Parking? Etc. Honestly, the worst thing that can happen is that you will be early. The horror! Bring a magazine or book and catch up on your pile of reading. Yes, you know, I’m talking about that “I’m gonna read it someday” stuff that has taken over your horizontal surfaces.
ROI: Quality Time with loved ones
Stop spending your “free time” maintaining, cleaning, storing, battling through, and tripping over your stuff.
Investment: Letting go
Let go of the stuff that you don’t love and don’t use that gets in the way of stuff that is important — which isn’t really stuff at all, is it?
ROI: $$
Investment: Clear your Kitchen
Unclutter your kitchen, rid your cabinets of idle appliances and gadgets, toss the excess plastic storage with no matching lids, and clear your counters of unused spice racks and unitaskers. Instead, create a functioning kitchen where you have room to breathe and the ability to access what you need. Involve the family (including children) in the cooking experience. Not only will you save money by not eating out as often, but you will be teaching your children a lifeskill.
Small investments in being organized will provide you with a huge payoff. If you are having difficulty getting started, check out the NAPO Professional Organizer Directory to find an organizer that’s right for you.
What are some small investments that you have made and what is the ROI?
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Posted by Lauren on Apr 13, 2009 |
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8 comments posted
Posted by becoming minimalist - 04/13/2009
ROI: Freedom – Freedom from the past to pursue the future.
Investment: Clear out your book collection. One year ago, I removed many of the old resource books from my office shelves that I rarely used. Subsequently, I have been freed/forced to find new solution to problems. The world is changing so fast that yesterday’s solutions rarely do any good anyway.
Posted by Jesper - 04/13/2009
About kitchens..
While I’m all for clearing away unused items, one should be careful, I think, of creating a too clutter-free kitchen. A kitchen, above all, should invite to cooking. A minimalist design with too many cabinet doors and empty spaces does not do that. Spices, foods, pots and pans should be visible and easily accessible.
That said, it’s important to have a lot of counter space. A too cramped kitchen isn’t inviting either.
Examples:
Good: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ps6p.....elker4.jpg
Less good: http://www.imagecows.com/uploa.....esign1.jpg
Posted by Erin Doland - 04/13/2009
@Jesper — I think the second pic you posted, your “less good” option, is MUCH preferable to the first. The first makes me anxious. As someone who is tall, I’d constantly be hitting my head on all the hanging pans.
Posted by Karyn - 04/13/2009
For me, at least, it’s a cluttered kitchen, not an uncluttered one, which discourages me from wanting to cook in it. I don’t need my pans and spices to be constantly visible; I can pull them out of the cabinets when I am preparing to cook a meal, so that they are ready and visible when I need them to be ready and visible.
Posted by Lauren Halagarda - 04/13/2009
@Jesper- I completely agree that the kitchen needs to be functional- not empty. And in my opinion, the things you love and use aren’t clutter (though they may not look pretty or minimalist to someone else).
When I help clients organize their kitchens I often find spices in decorative spice racks collecting dust from 5-10 years ago; quesadilla makers, waffle makers, table top mounted apple corers, etc. that have never been used; cabinets full of mismatched plastic food storage; bucket o’ kitchen tools of which they use maybe three…I consider these items to be clutter.
I am no minimalist but recently cleared my kitchen counters, too. Not a perfect magazine kitchen but it’s definitely functional!
http://www.twitpic.com/39q1s
http://www.twitpic.com/39q1n
Note re: pot racks- I have had my pots & pans on display when I didn’t have the storage space. They get dusty and require more time and energy to maintain.
Posted by molly lasater - 04/13/2009
ROI: Freedom from the past-relationships!
INVESTMENT: Get rid of anything that reminds you of someone from your past. We tend to hang on to jewelry because it’s worth money, or clothes, etc. But when I finally discarded EVERYTHING I had that reminded me of times spent with my previous fiance, then I was COMPLETELY free! That jewelry that I knew cost him so much money–I held onto it thinking I could sell it or make it into something else…but when I decided I was sick of looking at it, I gave it to my teenage nephew who had an awesome christmas present for his girlfriend (for free) and I had a ton of weight lifted from my shoulders because I didn’t have to see it anymore! Same with clothes…if it was style I had worn with “him” or specific clothing he bought me, then I gave it to the salvation army…again no more reminders of the past. Free to enjoy my blessings CURRENTLY in my life!
Posted by Another Deb - 04/13/2009
@ Molly
I second that emotion! All of the “memories” really add up to the final less savory disappointments and drama. Keeping the mementos may seem like a way to validate that you were once loveable, when you know all along that you ARE loveable!
Posted by Isaac Viana - 04/14/2009
Great article. I know most of it is common sense, but you know the saying…
I’m looking forward for more similar articles to this one. I would like to see a great series of “Sure-thing investing”.
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