HOT TIP // The Corkscrew Test

We can free up so much space in our kitchen if we’re willing to cull those objects that only serve one, hyper-specific purpose.

Let’s interrogate our gadgets with three simple questions, adapted from Sam Bennet's work at The Organized Artist:

• Is there an alternative to the tool that would work just as well?

• Do you do that job so frequently that your life would be markedly easier with that specific tool?

• Is the tool challenging to store, to keep in working order, to keep clean?

Sam Bennett calls this the Corkscrew Test. For her, and for me, a corkscrew is worth owning even though it doesn’t serve multiple purposes like a pot or knife. Read on...

Object: Corkscrew

Is there an alternative tool that would work just as well?

I suppose I could technically shove the cork into the bottle with a knife or the handle of spoon, but that would probably get cork crumbs in my wine. I could try the internet’s dozen ways of opening a bottle without one, but many of them involve repeatedly thwacking a bottle against a wall. Hard pass.

A corkscrew is hands down the best and easiest way to open a bottle of wine.

Do you do that job so frequently that you’re life would be markedly easier with that specific tool?

I’ll open a bottle of wine every week or so, and a couple of bottles for parties at the house. I save a lot of time and energy using a corkscrew, not to mention sparing myself a great deal of embarrassment.

Is it challenging to store, to keep in working order, to keep clean?

Not at all. It’s small, it lays flat in a drawer, it doesn’t require replacement parts, and it’s easy to keep clean.

Verdict: I can own a corkscrew guilt-free. (Full disclosure, my corkscrew is also a beer bottle opener, so *technically* it is a multi-purpose tool.)

Here's another:

Object: Avocado Tool

Is there an alternative tool that would work just as well?

Yes, a knife. I already own three that could suffice.

Do you do that job so frequently that you’re life would be markedly easier with that specific tool?

Using a knife thus far hasn’t been that aggravating, so no, preparing an avocado with the specific tool wouldn’t be markedly easier.

Is it challenging to store, to keep in working order, to keep clean?

It’s not bulky. I’d probably hand wash it considering all the nooks and crannies in the tool, but it is dishwasher safe.

Verdict: I’ll stick with the knife.

For me, a rice cooker fails the corkscrew test, but a salad spinner passes. A bread maker fails, but reusable stainless steel straws pass.

How about you? Maybe an apple slicer makes no sense for your lifestyle. Or maybe an apple slicer helps your prepare a healthy snack for your kids after school and you'd be lost without it. You get to decide. 

Which objects pass your corkscrew test? Celebrate them.

Which hyper-specific tools don’t deserve prime real estate in your kitchen? Let them go.

HOT TIP // Don’t Shop On Payday

Just got paid...Friday night…

So payday is categorically awesome, but feeling flush on payday can be a huge trap for making impulse buys (a.k.a. collecting future clutter).

An easy way to stick to your budget and avoid buyer’s remorse is to impose a rule: No Purchases on Pay Day.

If you’ve waited two weeks for that check to hit your account, you can wait one more day to use it. You can admire beautiful and useful things and add them to your Shopping List, and then let that paycheck age like a fine wine in your bank account. 

Adding a little bit of time and inconvenience to our impulses allows us to suss out our true needs and wants from our kneejerk, ooh-look-a-shiny-object reactions. We'll have a chance to look at our list objectively post-payday, and likely remove some items. 

This rule also gives us the chance to remember the water bill due next week, the baby shower gift we still need to purchase, and the groceries we should probably pick up after the initial dopamine hit of payday wears off, keeping our budget on track. Maybe an item remains on our list, but we delay purchasing it until our obligations are met.

So avoid the stores, age your money, and think about what you can do instead of what you can buy. Experiences, especially when shared, can bring us long-lasting contentment and don't take up any space in our home. 

HOT MESS // Spare Yourself the Spare Change.

Marie Kondo has a rule about coins: they belong in your wallet.

Not a jar, not a bowl, not a piggy bank. Your wallet, exclusively.

I resisted this at first because I liked the thrill of dumping a huge jar into a Coinstar machine, eagerly awaiting the total. It felt like I was getting free money, because a coin or two seemed worthless but by amassing hundreds of these little metal disks I could get triple digit dollars!

But sure enough, I’ve come around to the Konmari view of coins. Here’s why:
 

1. Storing coins somewhere in my home means I have to store coins somewhere in my home. I need to have a container, and that container needs to live somewhere, either in prime real estate that should be dedicated to something else or, heaven forbid, on a surface.

2. Schlepping coins to a Coinstar feels like a chore. The jar is heavy, the machine takes a while, and I find I always have to re-feed perfectly good legal coins into it after they’ve been initially rejected. Plus, if someone is waiting behind me I’m filled with the same anxiety that befalls me when I'm trying to parallel park in front of a line of cars. I’d rather spend that time looking at the houseplants on offer. (But not buying any, because houseplants are currently on my NOPping list.)

3. Coinstar takes a cut unless you redeem your coins in the form of a gift card. But the only option for a gift card is currently Amazon, which I’m trying to avoid in favor of supporting local and independently owned businesses. (For what it’s worth, Coinstar also allows you to donate money to several charities)

4. Coins are not free money. Treating them like they just fell from the sky leads me to spend irrationally. Coinstar and retailers that install the machines bank on this. From the Coinstar website: “Research shows consumers make special trips to visit retailers with a self-service coin-counting solution, and 79% of consumers who cash in a Coinstar voucher spend more than half the cash they received on in-store purchases.” How many of those in-store purchases were impulse buys not on the Shopping List?  I shouldn’t go spend “Coinstar cash” on some fancy gelato and “cash cash” on ingredients for actual meals. In reality, coins are just fractions of dollars that I’ve worked hard to earn. I should value them as such, budget them as such, spend, save, and invest them as such, and store them with my other money.

So, coins live in my wallet now. I budget them like I do my other real money, using my cash account set up in YNAB. I leave handfuls of them in tip jars. I overfeed parking meters so I feel less rushed having a meal at a restaurant or running errands. I spend them at independent stores whenever possible. I basically try to align my coin spending with my values the same way I try to align my cash or card spending with my values, because any distinction only ever existed in my perception. (And because handing over exact change feels so satisfying.)

If you have a container collecting coins (and dust) in your home, head to the Coinstar machine one last time, let Coinstar take their cut for their services, cash out, and head to a local and independent boutique to pick up a lovely wallet with a zippered coin pouch. (Or if you already have a great wallet, use it to pay your water bill.)

Then recycle the coin container for good.

HOT MESS // Searching for The One

In my early, dogmatic days of minimalism, I spent months trying to find the perfect pair of shoes. The ones that I could wear every day, every way. The ones that would be comfortable and chic, appropriate for a meeting or for happy hour,  for summer or for winter. The ones that would be part of my aspirational signature look, the ones that would communicate to the outside world my commitment to living with less. (Why, yes, I was smug and insufferable. However did you guess?)

So, I purchased pair after pair, thinking I had finally found The One. I bought black leather Chelsea boots and wore them everyday, until summer heat made them feel like mini saunas for my feet. They were donated.

I bought Sanita clogs and wore them everyday until they made me feel frumpy at a chic restaurant. They were donated.

I bought slip on sneakers and wore them everyday until I felt underdressed at a work function. They were donated.

I bought sleek leather ballet flats and wore them everyday until chilly November temperatures threatened to give me frostbite. They were donated.

I’ve lost track of how many other shoes auditioned for the role of The One, but you get the idea.

The irony of this obsession with finding The One is that I actually spent more time, money, and energy shopping, not less. More environmental, economic, and human resources were used up in the production of those shoes for me, not less. Sure, I donated the shoes when they failed to meet my impossible every day, every way standards, but that does not negate my wastefulness.

I’ve realized that I need more than one pair of shoes to successfully navigate the changes in seasons and the changes in my activities. I can have 10 pairs of shoes and still use them all, love them all, care for them all. That doesn’t make me a victim of materialism, consumerism, or excess. It makes me a person with a full and varied life living in the full and varied climate of the Mid-Atlantic region.

Maybe you’re trying to get out from under a pile of possessions, or maybe you’re hitting a rhythm in simplifying your stuff. Either way, here’s a helpful heuristic for considering the objects in your wardrobe:

Where does your stuff fit? Do you have 15 pairs of heels when you could make do with 4? That’s where you can pare down.

You can also use this tool to, dare I say, go shopping. You might value being active outdoors, but have no appropriate footwear for the colder months. Could a pair of water resistant hiking boots add value to your life? Get a pair. But not before adding them to your list shopping, y’all.

This also helps with thinking through outerwear, bags, and other accessories that seem to multiply like gremlins in the closet.

And remember, like Voltaire said, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

HOT MESS // Cords

The Ancient Greeks had Hydra, the nine-headed monster who would sprout two heads each time one was cut off.

Us Modern Americans have cords, which multiply in the dark corners of boxes, bags, or heaven forbid, entire drawers.

So, how should you organize it?

You shouldn’t. Get rid of it all.

The cords you need, use, and want to keep are not in that bag, or you would have realized it when that essential device you use all the time went dead.

There is nothing in that bag but a tangle of orphan cords, whose parent devices have probably long been updated. Heck, those broken or outdated devices are probably there in the bag, too.

If you get a phone, a tablet, a laptop, a camera, whatever, store the cords in one place. Label them with a piece of masking tape if you want, but if you’re actually using the cords often because you’re using the devices often, you’ll likely know the cords by sight.

And take that entire bag of cords to be recycled.

HOT TIP // The Minimalists Game Remix

You may have already guessed that I’m a BIG fan of Marie Kondo, and I personally believe in tackling our stuff, storage, and systems in one fell swoop rather than doing a little bit of tidying every week (or heaven forbid every day!) for the rest of our natural lives.

But that level of intensity is not for everyone. Some people find starting small is easier than an overhaul, and they respond better to the Minimalists Game.

In contrast with the Konmari method of one-and-done tidying, the Minimalists Game is more of a slow and steady approach.  Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, aka The Minimalists, suggest people commit to a month-long challenge of letting go. The game is to discard or donate 1 item on day 1, 2 items on day 2, 3 items on day 3, all the way up to 30 items on day 30. If you complete the challenge, you’ll have let go of 465 objects that were taking up space in your home and in your life.

You can opt for the Konmari approach, or you can opt for the Minimalists approach, and either way you’d free yourself from a great number of objects. There are many paths up this minimalist mountain.

I’d like to suggest a third. If you are drawn to the inertia-busting intensity of Konmari AND the little-by-little habit building of Minimalists Game, try this: Rather than start with one object on day 1, two objects on Day 2,  and so on for 30 days, flip that timeline. Start with 30 objects on day 1, 29 on day 2, 28 on day 3, until your 30th day ends with you choosing 1 object to donate or discard.

Purging your possessions draws on both your gut-level intuition and your rational analysis. Sometimes you pick up one object and your gut shouts “Keep that treasure” or “Toss that junk!” Other times you need to think and reflect on whether or not you actually use it, if you have something else that serves that function better, if you know of a friend who could utilize it much more than you could.

Tackling a tidy with some level of intensity helps tune you in to your gut, and helps you streamline your analysis. If you follow the Konmari method, you’ll hone your discrimination skills with less emotionally charged categories like clothes and books, so you’re best prepared to tackle sentimental items that take up more mental space than physical space.

With the Minimalist Game Remix, you spend Day 1 scouring your home for 30 items to donate or discard, and as such you’ll have 30+ opportunities to practice that discrimination. By the time you get to Day 30, choosing that final object will be considerably easier, even if it’s a sentimental item.  

And you'll still end up with 465 less items taking up space in your home. (Or less, if you reach a satisfying click point sooner like some others.)

HOT MESS // Instagramitis

If I had my druthers, everyone would detox from visually saturated social media indefinitely.

We all know comparison is the thief of joy. We know that all of those staged and filtered pictures are BS.

And yet we scroll and heart and pin and like ourselves into a stupor. Our expectations of what a life looks like, let alone what a house looks like, devolve into fantasy. No sane person has a fridge that has one entire shelf dedicated just to San Pellegrino and another to fresh cut flowers. She’s too busy using her refrigerator for, you know, food.

The "fresh cut flowers and sparkling water fridge" only happens in photos in which San Pellegrino paid some absurd sum of money to manufacture that image. Or, perhaps even more disturbingly, when a typical person arranges, photographs, edits, and posts that picture as part of an elaborate performance of identity.

Either way, it’s inauthentic.

Either way, it should not be the goal of getting organized and decluttering.

Your home should look and feel like your home.

Sure, let’s make it look visually pleasing and even beautiful. But first let’s make it functional, and beneficial to the people living there. And perhaps most importantly, let’s avoid purchasing new things in the pursuit of a bland and lifeless perfection that will shift with changing trends or marketing schemes. 

Life should happen in your home, and that life should be apparent, not picture perfect. 

HOT TIP // In vs. On

If you want your home to look and feel more organized, embrace the difference between In and On.

Homes with objects on surfaces tend to look and feel cluttered. Stuff is ON the floor, ON the counter, ON the armchair, ON the dining table. Even if the stuff is useful, beautiful, and meaningful, it can start to look like junk when it is strewn about on surfaces.

Surfaces do not make good storage. Surfaces are good for verbs, like chopping vegetables, folding laundry, paying bills, crafting, sleeping, eating, sitting, etc. Reserve your surfaces for these activities. Don’t go putting nouns ON them.

Store your nouns in something instead. Storage works best and looks best when it’s happening IN a closet, IN a cabinet, IN a drawer, IN a tray, IN a basket. These spaces aren’t designed for activities, they’re designed for stuff.

Look at a hot mess in your home. Can any of the objects there be stored IN something so the activities meant for the space can once again take priority? If you've done the sort and purge steps from S.P.A.C.E. with me, you’ll probably have a lot of new real estate available in closets, drawers, or cabinets.

There are two exclusive exceptions to the In vs. On rule: you may store things ON a hook or ON a shelf. If you’re really struggling to store every object In something, you might consider installing a hook or a shelf. This cheat also works well when considering retrieval: taking a coat off a hook is often simpler than taking it out of a closet.

That said, break the In vs. Out rule only if absolutely necessary!

If objects find their way onto a surface throughout the course of the day, which they inevitably will as you go about your life, just be sure to adhere to curfew and get those things back in their assigned homes. 

HOT TIP // Independents Day

I’ll rarely tell you to shop til you drop, but I will tell you this:

Shop as much as you want, provided you’re shopping at local and independently owned businesses. (And it’s on your shopping list.)

According to the awesome researchers at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, shopping at a local, independent business returns 3 times as much money to your community than shopping at a chain.

Shopping at a local, independent business returns nearly 50 times as much money to your community than shopping online.

Local business owners are more likely to contribute to the community through volunteering, local government, and participating in civic causes and events.

Supporting a local store helps make Charm City charming.

HOT TIP // Thou Shall Not Purchase from the The NOPping List

I have 36 rolls of toilet paper in my basement. Until that number falls to single-digits, toilet paper is on my NOPping List. NOP as in No Over-Purchasing. NOPping as in not-shopping.

Introducing my 2nd commandment: Thou Shall Not Purchase from the The NOPping List.

Buying only items on your shopping list is an important step in curbing impulse buys and stemming the tide of stuff into your home. That's why it's my first commandment.

You can up the ante by following your nopping list, too.

The nopping list can and should include comestibles and toiletries that you will use up. Let's say you stocked up on an item you use often while there was a sale. Great! BUT, before you forget about the multiples in your pantry or your bathroom the next time you’re on autopilot at the store, add it to your nopping list so you don’t overpurchase.

Consider adding other goods to your nopping list, as well. I won’t buy another pair of jeans until one of my current pairs wears all the way out. My jeans have filled the space I have dedicated for them, and to acquire more would be needless and burdensome. I am not willing to redesign my closet organization for the sake of yet another pair of jeans when the ones I currently own serve me perfectly.

Add your weaknesses here, too. Cait Flanders, author of The Year of Less, banned herself from buying take-out coffee for two years. I’ve banned myself from buying anything you could call a school supply until I've used up the many pens and notebooks I have now.  I should probably add houseplants to my nopping list because it’s getting a little jungly in my house. Scarves should also have a semi-permanent slot on my nopping list, when I finally face the reality of my scarf-hoarding tendencies. 

I keep my shopping and nopping list as one note in my phone, so I can consult lists before checking out and avoid overpurchasing items that would then overflow their dedicated space assignments.

How long an item stays on your nopping list is up to you. Maybe that item stays on your nopping list only until you’ve used up your supplies at home, and then it’s transferred to your shopping list. Or, maybe you decide to give something up forever.

Either way, commit it to writing, and JUST SAY NO.

HOT TIP // Curfew

Remember that PSA that ran every night?  A stern, deep voice warned: “It’s 10 pm. Do you know where your children are?”

10 pm is a great time to know where your children are, but let’s not stop there. It’s 10 pm, do you know where your car keys are? How about the water bill that came in the mail today? The bag of drycleaning you need to drop off first thing in the morning? Your kid’s lunchbox?

I love Amanda Sullivan’s idea of “The Last Sweep.” Her idea is that we should all take a minute to put our house in order before bed so our mornings are less frantic and frazzled. The Last Sweep is quick and mindless, because you’re using the systems you’ve already designed when you had time and energy to do so.

Decide what feels orderly enough to you. Maybe you can’t stand dirty dishes on the counter, but in the sink is okay. Maybe dirty dishes in any spot is unacceptable, but leaving clean dishes in the dish rack is okay. Maybe dishes need to be cleaned, dried, and returned to their assigned shelf before you can drift off to sleep.

Whatever level of order feels right, don’t let your possessions break curfew. Before you head to bed for the night, know where things are. Because they're where you’ve assigned them to be.

HOT TIP // Thou Shall Not Stray From The Shopping List

Before your clutter was clutter, it was a purchase you made. While getting your home organized can happen in a few sessions, keeping it organized requires that you change your habits around shopping.

So here’s the first commandment: Thou Shall Not Stray From The Shopping List.

Entering a store is submitting yourself to hundreds of manipulative marketing tactics. Tons of money and time has gone into designing the ideal environment most likely to separate you from your money, and no detail has been left to chance.

Retail stores manipulate the layout of aisles and displays to maximize your exposure to products. They use color theory to influence emotional states, HVAC systems to diffuse scents meant to trigger pleasant memories, music to energize you or soothe you.  They manipulate pricing, discounts, deals, and product grouping to nudge you into buying more things. These influences are not totally within our conscious awareness, so we’re all vulnerable to needless impulse buys. (Yes, I'm aware I sound like a tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist, but this is for real, y'all.)

The best way to counter these tactics is simple. Make a shopping list at home, free from the insidious influences of the retail environment.  Enter the store with the list in hand, and stick.to.the.list. No excuses. No matter what.

If you see something in the store that solves a problem, or that you genuinely forgot to add to the list at home, DO NOT TOUCH IT.  Instead, add it to your existing list first. Then continue with your intended shopping. If you look at that item on the bottom of your list and think “meh, I actually don’t need that…” then check out and get the heck out. If you see that item on the list and think “phew, good thing I saw that item, because I really need it…” then you can go back and get it.

Adding time and effort to the impulse is the best way to ensure you didn’t just get suckered into purchasing the item.

Remember:

Impulse + immediacy + convenience = impulse purchase = likely regret = future clutter

Impulse + waiting +inconvenience = objective reasoning = smarter shopping = tidy home