Just thinking of tidying up makes me blue. Especially ”Oshiire (storage)” and closet. Too tiring and bothersome. Even someone helps me, I don’t want anyone rummage my stuff. Sigh.
Is that what you think? Then, why don’t you start from a very small part like kitchen drawer. Because it is small. You can start and finish easily and learn about tidying up.
What? A drawer? That won’t tidy up my house!
Don’t worry. All the basics of tidying up are condensed in a kitchen drawer, so when you master the basic rules, you can move on to a next and bigger part of your house.
Don’t be impatient. “Little by little” is a key to your successful tidied life!
Start from a drawer
Reasons for the drawer
Why the drawer? There are four reasons.
- ・”how to approach” is the very basic of all the tidying up
- ・you can work on just by sitting
- ・can be finished in a short time
- ・you can feel the effect instantly
What I’m going to show here is the very basic of all the tidying up. Even when you do the closet, shoe shelves, cupboard, what ever you do, you can easily start with them once you master the basic rules and procedure.
And above all, you can sit and work because the working range is small, which means there will be a small burden on your body.
The small working range also means working time is short. Again, because the burden is small on the body and the time, you can start easily. You don’t need a strong will like “I will make that happen.”
On the other hand, you can actually feel the effect easily. This feeling is connected to your motivation for next stage for tidying up. If this works in a good chain reaction, you will widen the area for the whole house. Doesn’t it sound nice?
How to approach
- Make it empty
- Sort
- Put back
Very simple. Let’s see one by one.
Make it empty
It’s very important to take everything out. You have to make the drawer empty.
In the process of taking out, if you take a thing one by one and think “Do I need this?”, you have to do “sorting” at the same time, which means you will need longer time and there will remain something you never need.
So, take everything out and make it EMPTY.
It is important to be like you have a new drawer and you are going to put your things one by one.
Sort
First, sort by how often you use.
Everyday? Once a week or less than that?
NEVER sort by whether you NEED it or Not!
Think HOW OFTEN you use it!
If you stick to that rule, the placement will naturally be decided.
For instance, measuring spoons you use every day must be placed in the front so you can easily take out. Yes, the peeler and the kitchen scissors, too.
Clips for plastic bags should be gathered together. Maybe metallic tools like cheese cutter and turners should be in one group, but silicon tools s are in another…
See! You will be surprised your hands move so naturally and smoothly.
Then, you will find the leftovers, like ice cream spoons you brought back from the supermarket or maybe the meat chopper you thought you need it but used only once or twice.
Throw them away!
If you cannot decide to throw them away, then keep them apart somewhere in a different box. For this, please read my other article, “Make a Between Box“.
Put back
Now you are getting close to the goal!
First, decide a rough placement.
It is very important to think about HOW EASY to TAKE OUT. Give PRIORITY to how often you use.
When the placement is decided. Then, just put them back. Perhaps, you need a new partition or small boxes. This is where you are going to show your skill and senses. Please always keep in mind the ease of use.
If you feel the partitions won’t fit to the new placement, don’t hesitate to throw them away. Perhaps there are some boxes in the house or your will find nice ones in one-coin shop.
But please also remember to get storage goods which are friendly to your wallet. If you try too hard like “Oh, I must get something nice”, it sometimes becomes burden.
This is the partition originally installed in my drawer. It didn’t fit to my placement, so I finally threw it away.
I found some small boxes in one-coin shop.
In the first place, try to get less quantity than you think you need. If you need some more, you can add them, but when you got over quantity, you will end up holding stocks which you don’t need. Or sometimes you regret by buying a thing that doesn’t fit in the placement you decided.
Try placement like a puzzle.
Finally, I decided like this, but still I need some more boxes.
For the time being, I folded up a box using a paper bag.
A few days later, I went to buy another box.
PERFECT!
Tidy and refreshed! And above all, easier to use!
Now, I’m happy and enjoying to have a look over what I have done.
This time, I spent JPY500 for five small boxes in one-coin shop. Why don’t you go and look around the shop? There are many hints and surprises hidden.
In the end
１．Start from a kitchen drawer
- ・”how to approach” is the very basic of all the tidying up
- ・you can work on just by sitting
- ・can be finished in a short time
- ・you can feel the effect instantly
２．How to approach
・Empty the drawer
Point 1 : Take everything from the drawer
・Sort
Point 2: Ask yourself whether you need it or not but how often you use it
・Put back
Point 3: Think about how easy to take out
Point 4: Get the storage goods friendly to your wallet
Point 5: Get the storage goods less quantity than you think you need
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