Neat freak or just an unclutterer?
MSNBC has an article up on their site that examines the extremes of organization and cleanliness. While just about anything can be taken to an extreme, the article questions how much is too much when it comes to organization and decluttering. Obviously, obsessive compulsive disorders can factor into making ones life miserable. Hoarding and cleaning, while at opposite ends of the spectrum, can have a similar affect on one’s life.Our very own editor-in-chief, Erin Doland, has a few quotes in the piece and sheds some light on her personal transformation:
Erin Doland, editor-in-chief of the blog Unclutterer and a contributor to RealSimple.com, was once an amateur hoarder, saving everything from college T-shirts to ticket stubs, until her husband laid down the law. “I started purging, and it felt so good I kept going,” she recalls. “I went from one extreme to the other. Everything went.”
Here at Unclutterer we try and find a balance and process to keeping your living space organized and clutter free. I certainly don’t consider myself a neatnik, but I do abhor bringing items into my home just for the sake of a “good deal.” Go ahead and read the article and come back here to tell us if you think that being organized is getting a bad rap.
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Overwhelm yourself
My wife and I have accumulated quite a collection of glassware over the years. It is quite ridiculous, to tell you the truth. We entertain on occasion, but we have no need for the amount of glassware currently in our possession. Even when we do have a party we only use a small fraction of the glassware.
As I have mentioned in the past, we are downsizing our living space and we must reduce the amount of stuff that we have. The kitchen was the room we tackled last. I came up with the idea of removing every last item from the cupboards to assess what we had on our hands. The end result was quite overwhelming.
You don’t really get a grasp of what you have stored away in those cupboards until you have it lying out for display. I got the same feeling when we had our yard sale last summer. I asked myself, “Where did all this stuff come from?” The accumulation of stuff is gradual, and it tends to sneak up on you. My wife and I have been married for almost nine years now and we have just recently become more conscious of all of the things we have brought into our home.
It is much easier to prepare a plan of attack when you can see the whole of your problem. The final result was a successful paring down of our kitchen inventory.
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Good Housekeeping’s 30 minute clutter solutions
Good Housekeeping has an interesting online tool to help you organize and clean just about every room of your home. It is the 30 Minute Clutter Solution. The solutions are helpful and cover a wide range of areas from kitchens and pantries to laundry rooms. Each tip is supposed to take 30 minutes. This will give you a target as to how much time you should spend on each solution without becoming obsessive about it. We love the idea of combining the Good Housekeeping system with our suggestion of spending half an hour cleaning each day during the week.
Check out the 30 Minute Clutter Solution. It may become a useful resource for future cleaning projects.
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Bucketless car wash
If you hate washing your car as much as I do, you may want to check out Green Earth Waterless Car Wash from Lucky Earth Products. From the CNET’s Crave blog:
The compound–made out of water, coconut extracts, silicone, and a bit of salt–gets misted onto your car. Once there, it attracts dirt via electrostatic principles and encapsulates it. The owner then wipes their car with a soft cloth.
A $20 jug containing 32 ounces of the liquid is good for about 10 car washes. Additionally, the company has liquids for cleaning tires (Tire Shine) and stains (Oopsie Baby).
The race car circuit uses a similar method for washing their cars, explained Tamara Garcia, a Lucky Earth representative. The company basically took the idea but came up with a cleaning formula that is made from more environmentally friendly substances.
So you can get rid of your bucket, sponges, and shammies and simply spray your car clean.
(via Crave)
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Stop spending your weekends cleaning your home
The first time I appeared in print on the topic of uncluttering was years ago in an article for Parenting. In it, I offered up the following advice:
One day, one room: Dedicate half an hour to cleaning one room every day instead of cleaning the whole house on the weekend.
My husband and I still subscribe to this policy. In addition to picking up after ourselves throughout the day, we set aside 15 to 30 minutes for more intensive cleaning tasks like vacuuming, scrubbing toilets, and sweeping and mopping floors. Mondays we deep clean the dining room and kitchen, Tuesdays are foyer and living room, Wednesdays are bathrooms, Thursdays are bedroom, and Fridays are our shared office. We have created playlists that are 15 to 30 minutes long on our iPods with collections of fun songs to listen to while we clean. So, when the music stops, our cleaning tasks are usually coming to a close.
Check out the 2005 Parenting article for other tips on organized cleaning. Additionally, feel welcome to add some of your own in the comments section.
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Cleaning and organization quirks
Before I leave on vacations, I have to clean my house. I don’t know if it’s a peace of mind issue or what the motivation is behind it, but I always do it. The benefit is that I return home to a bed with clean sheets and fresh towels in the bathroom and uncluttered surfaces throughout the whole house.
I clean when I have to make a difficult decision. If I need to mull things around in my head, I find that tedious chores are what I do first.
I also organize when there are things in my life I can’t control. When my grandmother had a stroke, I spent two days organizing my office closet.
I’ve heard of students who clean when they are procrastinating doing their homework. Is that you? Do you have quirky organization or cleaning sprees? Tell us about your cleaning and organization quirks in the comments!
Popularity: 36% [?]
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