I’ve made a few purchases to live with less clutter.

I realize that sounds oxymoronic, but sometimes purchasing an item with a fixed volume can corral, or even replace, items that have fluctuating volumes.

Fluctuations can lead to mess because nature abhors a vacuum. We use up items at different rates, and space in one area attracts the overflow from another. Like when our stash of paper plates topples over into the space created when we deplete our paper towel reserves, or our long-forgotten bag of polenta collapses into the space created by our dwindling bag of brown rice.

But when volume is fixed, we can design and maintain a good system long-term.

One way to move from fluctuating to fixed is to purchase containers and decant.

Containers create a firm boundary and always take up the same amount of space no matter how full they are. The level of rice may change within a glass jar, but the jar itself takes up a fixed amount of space no matter what, maintaining the organization of the pantry and preventing a vacuum.

Another tactic is to purchase reusable versions of disposable things when appropriate.

A reusable Keurig cup, a handful of microfiber cleaning cloths, a refillable water bottle, stainless steel straws, reusable shopping bags… these purchases will eliminate the wild fluctuations of their disposable counterparts. Plus these alternatives save time and money in the long run and create less waste.

Our homes will always be dynamic. But if we can tip the balance in favor of fixed over fluctuating, we can spend less time organizing and re-organzing our homes and more time simply living in them.