Stick a Fork In It 04/04/2011
Not once in all our years of providing hands-on organizing services did we ever have anyone call us in a state of total overwhelm because they had no idea what to do with all the forks in their house. Nor did we ever visit a home where the clients kept all of the cutlery spread out on the kitchen counter or dining room table to remind them to use it later, either.
We have encountered the above scenario with SO many other items, though, that we couldn't help but wonder: why is it we're are all so smart when it comes to our cutlery, yet can't get it together with the rest of our stuff?
Let’s break this one down.
It probably wasn’t difficult to choose a permanent home for your forks, because several things were obvious: you use them for eating, and you use them all the time, so a drawer in the Hot Zone of your kitchen or eating area was probably a no brainer. But what happens if you go to that cutlery drawer for a fork, and this time there aren't any there? Are you wracking your brain for where they could possibly be, or do you just automatically check the dishwasher, the sink, or perhaps the kitchen table?
A fork has a “life cycle” of use: take it out, use it, clean it, put it away, repeat. And there's a consistent place or home for the fork at every stage of that life cycle, so when you need to get your hands on one, you’re clear what your options are. It's a system your body TRUSTS, and you have no trouble believing that you'll know exactly where to find a fork when you need one.
If you take a look at the things you have lying around that are creating clutter in your environment, chances are they're things that have their own life cycle of use, but have not been given a home for in each stage of that life cycle.
Today, start asking yourself a few simple questions about your stuff: How and where do I use this item? How often? What are all the different things that happen with this item during its cycle of use? The more you ask yourself these questions, proper homes will start to become more and more obvious.
One day, organizing your whole house may become as simple as emptying the dishwasher!
We have encountered the above scenario with SO many other items, though, that we couldn't help but wonder: why is it we're are all so smart when it comes to our cutlery, yet can't get it together with the rest of our stuff?
Let’s break this one down.
It probably wasn’t difficult to choose a permanent home for your forks, because several things were obvious: you use them for eating, and you use them all the time, so a drawer in the Hot Zone of your kitchen or eating area was probably a no brainer. But what happens if you go to that cutlery drawer for a fork, and this time there aren't any there? Are you wracking your brain for where they could possibly be, or do you just automatically check the dishwasher, the sink, or perhaps the kitchen table?
A fork has a “life cycle” of use: take it out, use it, clean it, put it away, repeat. And there's a consistent place or home for the fork at every stage of that life cycle, so when you need to get your hands on one, you’re clear what your options are. It's a system your body TRUSTS, and you have no trouble believing that you'll know exactly where to find a fork when you need one.
If you take a look at the things you have lying around that are creating clutter in your environment, chances are they're things that have their own life cycle of use, but have not been given a home for in each stage of that life cycle.
Today, start asking yourself a few simple questions about your stuff: How and where do I use this item? How often? What are all the different things that happen with this item during its cycle of use? The more you ask yourself these questions, proper homes will start to become more and more obvious.
One day, organizing your whole house may become as simple as emptying the dishwasher!
