Unnecessary things- In the coming season of sales, we are so drawn to buy another summer skirt, a few more toys for children, some more dishes at attractive prices how to avoid unnecessary purchases and get really necessary? Cleaning will help: arranging order by the method of “shelf after shelf” not only makes you sober but also teaches you how to treat things properly.
A mess on the table or a junk-packed cabinet, it would seem, can not affect the feeling of happiness, but order gives the personal strength and energy. The decision to dismantle the shelf behind the shelf helped me calm down and made my life much easier.
Actually, I spend a lot of time cleaning, so I did not expect to find much junk. But as soon as I looked closely, I discovered a lot of unnecessary things that lay in the most unsuitable places for a hundred years. I noticed the wall clock with the batteries sitting down, a pile of unread books on the floor in the hall, a mirror leaning against the wall and not hanging in place.
Here are the questions I asked myself when putting unnecessary things in order:
- Does it use any of us at least?
- Do we love this subject?
- Will I replace it if it breaks or is lost?
- If so, does it lie where it is needed?
- And if not, why do we keep it?
So, the shelf behind the shelf, I dismantled the whole house. I even came up with a few key phrases or rules that made this process more efficient.
Get out constantly. Having noticed an empty box from the flakes or a trace of toothpaste on the mirror in the bathroom, I began to clean it right away, not giving empty promises: “I’ll clean it afterward.”
Buy what you need. Often trash in the house accumulates because of unnecessary purchases, but sometimes purchases help to bring order to the house.
I always try to buy as little as possible. I buy only one bottle of contact lens fluid. I do not buy items with limited functionality – for example, a laptop bag or rubber boots. I use a plastic bag with a zipper.
I’m not trying to buy what seems beautiful to me. I often think: “Maybe I do not need it” or “I’ll buy it some other time.” But I often suffer because I do not have what I need, or I have to use something that is not intended for this purpose.
Lovers of the same purchase say to themselves: “Maybe I’ll ever need it,” “Why not buy a few things in different colors?”. They waste time, money, energy and space, often suffering from their unreasonable extravagance.
Drop your projects. The surest way to complete a project is to abandon it. The main source of rubbish in my apartment (and in my mind too!) Were unfinished projects. I examined the shelf behind the shelf of the cabinet with toys, I found a set for making sketches in the mountains. We were going to do this with Eliza. In the store, everything looked exciting, but after opening the box, we found the instruction on several pages.
“It looks like it’s not easy,” I said, putting the box back. “We’ll deal with this another day.”
Only a few months later the box again caught my eye. Now I got out of it what might be useful, moved it to another place, and threw it away.
Forget about feng shui. I was often advised to study feng shui – the Chinese art of placing furniture and unnecessary things in order to stimulate energy, prosperity, and harmony. Some principles of this teaching are quite practical (getting rid of withered plants or photos of former friends), but in general this teaching is alien to me. Well, I do not want to add violet to the zone of prosperity – I’d rather spend time and energy on other changes.
Clean the surface. Somehow, helping my sister Elizabeth to understand (it was her idea!), I noticed that, despite the general bitterness of the kitchen, the surface of the dining table was absolutely clean. Ideal proof that clean zones remain clean, and littered – clutter even more.
Surfaces are designed for work, not for storage. I have learned this principle and now I try to free the surfaces whenever possible.
Think about appearance. I wanted my apartment did not look messy and cramped. As the piles of t-shirts showed, I never mastered the art of folding clothes. One of the charms of adulthood is that you do not need to be shy about asking for help. I knew exactly who would help me! One of my friends in the senior classes worked part-time in a children’s clothing store. “She knows how to fold clothes!” – I thought. We met and I handed her a T-shirt. Her friend examined her critically and issued a verdict:
She unfolded the T-shirt facing her, and then bent the left sleeve to the center, followed by the right sleeve. Having folded both sleeves, she turned it over and folded it in half – everything took about a few seconds.
And I began to practice. I folded all the shirts in the house. Piles of neatly folded clothes inspired me with joy. Probably, the same feeling is experienced by the surgeon at the sight of the tools disposed in the ideal order.
I felt a deep affection for the subjects that in my view were associated with daughters. Sometimes getting rid of children’s relics is easy and pleasant – I picked up a photo of smiling Elinor against the backdrop of a pile of diapers that we made on the day they got rid of them forever. But more often such actions cause a sense of loss. There were things I could not part with: Eliza’s first glasses in a bright blue-yellow frame, Elinor’s boots, a mermaid costume, children’s books. But how to store all this?
And all of a sudden I had an idea: you need to create a memorable box for every girl. I just turned up two large boxes. I signed them and put the girls in the rooms to collect what was needed. I thought that the boxes would be full to the eyeballs, but I was mistaken: the girls had not stacked so many of their “jewels” in them.
That’s what I noticed: if I allow myself to keep an object, I immediately get rid of a lot of junk. After saving a few good drawings of my girls, I threw out a lot of ordinary Kayak Malak. It has always been hard for me to get rid of the toys and books that my girls no longer need. But when these things passed to my charming nephew, I did it without the slightest regret. I sent him two large boxes of cot-books and a cart with plastic food, which he did not let go when he was staying with us. The thought that it would please Jack, softened the sense of loss for me.
