Behind the Puddle

Last week, we began by making the field of vision smaller. Rather than looking at an entire house filled with decades of belongings, we started where we were and asked whether there was something to our right or left that needed a decision.

Before we go much farther, there is something else we need to understand.

There is no single correct way to be organized.

We are different people. We notice things differently, remember things differently, use our homes differently, and need different things from the spaces around us. An organizational system can work beautifully for one person and be nearly impossible for another person to maintain.

That does not mean the second person failed.

It may mean the system failed to consider the person.

Some of Us Need to See Things

Some people function best when the things they use are visible. Seeing something reminds them that they own it, need it, or need to do something with it.

For someone else, seeing those same things creates visual noise. They may function better when belongings are put away behind cabinet doors, inside drawers, or in containers.

Neither is inherently more organized.

A completely clear kitchen counter may be calming and functional for one person. For another, putting everything away may mean frequently used items become forgotten, difficult to retrieve, or simply stop being used.

The goal is not to make the counter photograph beautifully.

The goal is to make the kitchen work.

Some of Us Organize in Big Categories. Others Need Details.

Think about something as ordinary as batteries.

One person may want separate compartments for AA, AAA, C, D, button batteries, rechargeable batteries, and batteries waiting to be recycled.

That level of detail may make perfect sense to them. Another person needs a container that says Batteries.

If we give that person eight different containers, we haven’t necessarily made their life more organized. We may have created eight decisions they have to make every time they put away a battery.

The opposite is also true.

Give someone who naturally thinks in detailed categories one large container labeled Office Supplies, and they may become frustrated every time they have to search through pens, tape, envelopes, scissors, staples, and paper clips to find what they need.

One person isn’t better at organizing. They simply organize differently.

Accessibility Means More Than Being Able to Reach Something

Decluttering Decades is particularly concerned with accessibility because the way we use our homes can change over time.

Something stored on the highest shelf may technically have a designated place, but it isn’t particularly useful if reaching it requires climbing onto a chair that is no longer safe for you.

Accessibility can also be cognitive.

If putting something inside an opaque container means you forget that you own it, that container may not be serving you very well.

If remembering which of twelve beautifully labeled containers holds something requires more effort than finding the thing itself, the system may be too complicated.

If opening a heavy drawer hurts your hands, if bending to a bottom cabinet has become difficult, or if carrying supplies from one room to another takes more energy than it once did, those things matter too.

An organized home should reduce unnecessary effort.

Your Organizing Style May Not Be the Same Everywhere

You also don’t need to identify yourself as one particular “type” of organizer.

You may want important paperwork divided into very specific categories while being perfectly happy putting all of your gardening supplies into two large containers.

You may need medications visible so you remember them but prefer kitchen counters without anything on them.

You may want photographs carefully organized by person and year while holiday decorations simply need to fit into a few clearly identified containers.

Instead of trying to determine what kind of organizer you are, we are going to ask a more useful question: What do I need from this space and these belongings in order to use them successfully? The answer can change from room to room. It can also change as your life changes.

We Are Not Creating a Television Reveal

Many of us have watched programs where an entire home is emptied, sorted, discarded, reorganized, decorated, and revealed within an hour of television.

The actual work may have taken considerably longer, but the message we receive is still powerful. Before. After. Problem. Solved. Decluttering Decades doesn’t work that way.

We are not trying to produce a dramatic reveal. We are trying to create a home that becomes progressively safer, easier to use, easier to understand, and more supportive of the person living there. That may not make exciting television.

It can make everyday life considerably easier.

Someone else can organize your belongings into a beautiful system. But if you cannot remember where things are, cannot comfortably reach them, don’t naturally put them back there, or find the system exhausting to maintain, the room may be beautifully organized without actually being organized for you.

The System Should Fit the Person

This is something we are going to return to throughout Decluttering Decades: We are not organizing the person to fit the system. We are creating systems that fit the person.

That means we will pay attention to how you actually live rather than how someone thinks an organized person should live.

Can you find it? Can you reach it? Can you use it? Can you reasonably put it back? Can you maintain the system on an ordinary day, not just your very best day?

Those questions matter more than matching containers.

This Week, Notice What Already Works

You do not need to reorganize anything this week. Instead, pay attention.

Notice one place in your home that works particularly well for you. It doesn’t have to be attractive. It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else.

Ask yourself why it works.

Maybe everything you need is visible. Maybe everything is hidden. Maybe there are very specific categories. Maybe there is one big basket. Maybe something is stored in an unconventional place simply because that is where you actually use it.

That information will help us later.

Then notice something that repeatedly doesn’t work. A drawer that becomes messy every time you organize it. A pile that always returns. Something you can never find. Something you own but rarely use because getting it out is too difficult.

Don’t fix it yet.

Just become curious about why it isn’t working. Perhaps the problem isn’t you. Perhaps the system has been asking you to live differently than you naturally do.

And if today isn’t a day when you have the energy to think about an entire space, you already know what to do.

Look to your right. Look to your left. Choose one thing you can see and ask: If I wanted to use this tomorrow, where would I naturally look for it?

You may have just discovered exactly where it belongs.