Posted on: December 31, 2018

 

O MONTH: “January is Get Organized & Be Productive (GO) Month, an annual initiative sponsored by the National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals (NAPO). This month-long event increases general public awareness of what NAPO is and how our members are drivers of change by providing unique services tailored to meet their individual client needs.”

Living with less. That messaging is coming on strong – and with good reason! This past week, the stores I visited were literally PILED with merchandise. It is time to stem the tide.

If your closets are bursting at the seams, a sure-fire way to get organized for the long haul, is by becoming conscious about what you are buying in the first place!

When people learn what I do, one of the reactions is the starry-eyed, “Oh! Your house must be SO ORGANIZED!” They reality is, you don’t have to “organize” individual spaces if the amount of items living there fit just fine in the first place. For example, I own about 12 pairs of shoes and boots. It would be closer to 13, but I still haven’t replaced the knee-high black ones that got chewed up by a client’s Bernese Mountain Dogs – but as a 9W, I am a little hard to please. My point is, yes, I am organized – but in a larger, whole house sense. I do not have a breathtaking wall of shoes in a walk-in closet because I do not need to.

Taking care of all the items you own takes time. When you cannot keep up with the amount you have, the overloaded systems begin to back up. If your closets are bursting at the seams, a sure-fire way to get organized for the long haul, is by becoming conscious about what you are buying in the first place!

That is where the challenge of “one. less. thing.” comes from. I greatly admire business owners like my colleague, Lisa Lukin of Simple Joy Living, LLC, who moved from the Chicago suburbs to Maine with her family and is walking the walk. I have been walking towards living with less at slower pace. One less pair of shoes at a time!

This is my challenge for you! If you do not have time to eliminate excess in your closets, basement, kitchen cabinets, etc. right now and are feeling frustrated, a very simple move in the right direction is to consider purchasing less. Just one less thing. Once a day.

One less cute top.

One less pair of cozy socks.

One less book (ouch).

One less can of “Screamin’ Dill Pickle” Pringles.

Got kids? Talk to them about it too! Tell them what you are doing. If they are with you in the check-out line, remember this challenge and have them to select your one less thing!

Just one less thing.

I can tell you, there is a jar of Trader Joe’s “Carrot Cake Spread” in my pantry that has been there since Thanksgiving. That could have been my “one less thing” that day! Seasonal impulse items like that can create clutter if you are in the habit of picking them up.

At the end of the day, become conscious consumers is better for our planet. So let’s get started! If this challenge inspires you, reach out and let me know what you did not purchase on a given day. I will be sharing my journey on social media this month and am excited to hear from you!