Slow Sunday: Tidy Little Boxes

Welcome to Slow Sunday: a weekly feature exploring the journey to slow living and embracing joy in simplicity.

It is unsurprising that decluttering is a facet of slow living. Physical clutter is suffocating; it robs us of calm and joy and stops our homes from being sanctuaries. When you step in the door you should feel relaxation, not tension. Eliminating chaos from our homes equals a happier life. This isn’t a well kept secret; we all know this.

Tubs, Boxes, Organizers, etc, etc.

There was a time when I would see those cute little acrylic containers on Instagram and it would light up my brain. I would dedicate hours to achieving organizational perfection.  Chances are that you have seen some sort of professional organizer’s work on Instagram and it has lit up your brain too.  Maybe if you spent a few hundred dollars on beautiful storage containers and gave up your weekend your home could be that immaculate as well.  Imagine everything you own in tidy little boxes, beautifully labeled, and stacked to perfection. Imagine the satisfaction and relief you would feel.  Of course inevitably a day would come when you ran out of your moisturizer.  And that’s okay, you can just go buy more.  Except there is a promotion right now where the 100mL is the same price as the 50mL.  Obviously you’re going to get the 100mL- you just need to figure out where to put it because it no longer fits in that adorable little tray.  I guess you can just shove it in the drawer.  And so it begins.

Organizing for the ‘gram

I have become disillusioned by this Instagram level of storage and organization. Despite how aesthetically pleasing it can initially be. It’s not about how much talent it does, or does not, require to sort things into trays and bins and boxes, though I do feel that with the right budget anyone can have similar results.  Is approachability bad? No. Is ease of use bad? Of course not.  But what are we sacrificing for quick results?

It is not sustainable. What do you get when you organize your junk? It isn’t no junk, or even less junk.  It’s just junk: lined up in a rainbow.  You have a system that is permeable to adding or replacing items and time constraints when maintenance is needed. Everything is perfectly organized, until you’re in a rush one morning.

Am I saying “give up, don’t even try to organize your stuff?”. Absolutely not. I am saying do not organize what you can discard.

Do Not Organize What You Can Discard

It isn’t about rejecting organizational systems; it is simply about being selective about when to implement them.  Too many storage containers is counter productive and it discourages intentionality. If you focus on organizing before you focus on editing and purging the things you own you will end up with things you don’t want or need.  Not only will you have these items but you will have spent money on containers encouraging you to keep them.

Do we need to be creating more demand for plastic in our world? Of course we don’t. There is no need for quarter sized containers that fit into half sized containers that fit into whole sized containers. Before we print out thirty labels in a font called “Buttermilk” or “Moontime” let’s take a deep breath and a step back.

Here are five things you can do before you max out your credit card on boxes for a temporary high:

1. Throw out expired products. Expiry dates are a contentious issue and I am all about using your own judgement here but let’s get real: old medications, sunscreen that dates back to college, nail polishes that have dried shut- say goodbye. Do you use mousse in your hair? No? Throw. It. Out.
2. Clean out your fridge. There is probably something yucky in there and it should be prioritized over making a cute little tub say “cotton pads”.
3. Dump all of your clothes on your bed and summon up your Marie Kondo strength. Get rid of anything that you’re obviously never going to wear again. Now stop making excuses for the other items you’re never going to wear again. Does it feel like a waste of money to get rid of clothing you’ve never worn before? Yes, but it is already being wasted if it’s just sitting in your closet. Gift or donate.
4. Put like items together. For me I decided that all scissors would be kept together in one drawer, instead of being abandoned on my husbands desk after opening mail or crammed in with craft supplies. Once you have your items consolidated it’s much easier to realize what your storage and pretty label needs truly are.
5. Purge your social media. Delete people that you would go down the wrong aisle to avoid at the grocery store. You won’t miss them. And you know those people who post antagonist and nonsensical garbage? Delete them too.