Clear the Space

The pants with the tags still attached, the friend who only calls to complain, the “junk drawer," the hidden mysteries beneath the kitchen sink, the job that spins you into an existential crisis daily, the looping thoughts that stop you from setting up your online shop: WHATEVER it is making you feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, Spring presents the perfect time to get organized and create space for new things. To get those dormant organizational juices flowing again, I’m sharing a few tricks of my own trade, sprinkled with wisdom nuggets from some of the world’s greats.

Time for an exorcism. Whether it’s your closet or your contact list, organizing begins with expelling what doesn't belong anymore. Clutter comes in many forms, but every kind affects your life. There are a multitude of scientific studies with supporting research that mess and chaos can negatively affect your physical and mental health, your relationships, and your wallet. Email inbox sitting at 60,000 unread messages? Trash sitting there since last Tuesday? Don’t know where the other matching sock is? Panicking over a girls’ trip you’d rather skip? These little aggravations amount to greater impact. Novelist Eleanor Brown defines, “Clutter is not just physical stuff. It’s old ideas, toxic relationships and bad habits.” Your potential to enjoy life is on the line, it's time to exorcise the demons of stagnant clutter.

You may be familiar with the organizing consultant and lifesaver, Marie Kondo, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and producer of her own Netflix show. She asks people when they are deciding to toss or keep something if the item "sparks joy." She does not ask them, “Do you think you might wear this to someone’s wedding? Will you get this tailored to fit better? Did your great aunt give you this?” Her method is simple and clean (pun intended). l’m going to add-on another suggestion to this concept: act upon your initial reaction. If you hesitate, toss it. Adios, online shopping mistake!!! There is something to note about taking inventory of your belongings. Reviewing what you want to keep and releasing what you do not is mentally and emotionally freeing. Not everyone is called to renounce all possessions and become a monk, but orderliness is a virtue. Mother Teresa claimed, “The less you have, the more free you are.”

Gather and make a home. The bathroom is a great place to begin. Starting with your closet can be too sentimental; so starting in a space full of rotating products serves as a more neutral ground to get into the flow of clearing. Examine every single item in your bathroom, a bold proposition, I know. Every. Single. Thing. Set aside some time and empty the cabinets. Combine multiples if you can, at least group them together, and then, create homes for the items by putting them into a box or a bag. This has transformed my grooming experience by making locating what I need easier. If you have the disposable cash to invest in attractive storage, knock yourself out. If you need to be crafty, like me, use shoe boxes, packaging from products like throw blankets, plastic cookie tins from Trader Joe’s, glass spaghetti sauce jars; get clever and use anything that can create a home for something.

I love this trick: I saved the sturdy plastic packaging from a mattress cover, a sizable bag with a side-zipper. This is where I store my hair dryer, flat iron, hairbrushes, styling products, and hair pins and ties (the pins and ties are contained within their own smaller bag). This is such a nifty trick that keeps organization and sanity easy. After I’m done styling my hair, one fell swoop and a swipe to close the zipper packs the items into their contained home and I toss it into the cabinet. It’s accessible with a single grab and hidden with a single toss, atop the shoeboxes containing their own categories (razors, nail polish). Finding a organizational tricks that keep maintenance simple should remain your focus.

Continue moving through your living space applying these steps of eliminating what no longer contributes to you, then grouping similar possessions and creating homes for them. I’ve found that playing cerebral music makes the task become meditative. I'll play something instrumental, like lounge jazz or a lo-fi beats playlist.

Maintaining an organized space is easier now because I experience the benefits in my daily life. Discernment gained from the practice of organization expands and begins to catch fire in other areas of life: mental, physical, how I spend time and with whom. Keeping up with my organizational habits has made certain areas of life easier and less stressful. And, lower stress levels hold the reputation to causing more enjoying in life. Benjamin Franklin advised, “For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.” I believe he was on to something. If organization frees up an hour in your day, surely the benefits span across a lifetime.

Take out the trash in your mind. You’re probably familiar with Albert Einstein’s words, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” This can be directly associated with thought patterns. We all have those menacing mental pests, those things we wish we didn't think about on repeat. I’m no Joe Dispenza, but, as with the physical act of organizing, I apply the same principles mentally. For myself, silence is a healer and the catalyst for organizing my mind. I need time within my day when my psyche is not being influenced by social media, other people, or my current set of circumstances. Within this quieted space, I acknowledge and excuse the thoughts that no longer contribute to my wellbeing, group the floating thoughts that are necessary, and make a home for them: writing a to-do list, making a wish list, or speaking affirmations to replace the “stuck” thoughts. I don't necessarily meditate every day either; I still achieve this quieted mental state in different ways, sometimes painting my nails, having a glass of wine outside, or taking a walk just to catch a break in my day.

I won’t claim to be a self-help guru, but the next level of organizing your life is the MOST rewarding: ridding yourself of people and circumstances that only make a mess. There is an art to quitting a job you financially rely on and cutting ties with people who make you feel lousy. Seek help when you are ready to make these changes, plenty of guidance surrounds us in today’s world: podcasts, books, online groups, life coaches, therapists. Life is too precious to spend energy on things that offer nothing in return. It’s a delicate subject when considering careers and the groups we associate with, but consolidating your time and efforts is the home stretch in achieving a peaceful and organized life.

Eliminate what no longer contributes to your contentment. Gather and group the important bits. Then, make a home within and around yourself for what will truly spring your life into inspiring motion. It’s been a long twelve months for us all. Time to shake it off, dump it out, and welcome new aspirations. Organizing your physical clutter is just the necessary beginning. So, create the space that will gift you a better life. You can start with cleaning your room.