Limiting Clutter with Containers
Posted on January 7, 2009 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Clutter
Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.
I agree with Flylady when she says that clutter cannot be organized. For that reason, I generally dislike storage bins. They seem to put a nice face on a messy problem.
However, sometimes containers can help me set limits on what I do keep. I use the container to say that I cannot have any more “x” when the container is full. Some examples:
The Yarn Stash. Every knitter has one. And although I completely cleared mine out two years ago, the odd ends from projects keep hanging around. I keep them in a banker’s box, and when the box is full, I must give some away.
Children’s art supplies. We have a hanging rack on the back of a door that holds all the art supplies. If the rack is full, the supplies must be used before more may be collected or purchased. This has the great effect of keeping the stash of toilet paper rolls to a manageable level, and making sure that we don’t buy duplicates.
Board Games. As my daughter gets older, I sometimes forget to weed out the board games. By limiting our board games to one cabinet, we make sure that we keep only those that we play and that are age appropriate.
If you use containers purposefully, they can be a great aid in controlling the amount of stuff in your home. What do you use containers to corral?
Photo by noricum
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Comments (2)
My suggestion on Yarn Stashes deals with the odds and ends you collect or are left with and all the various gauge swatches. I’m turning mine into a crazy quilt. I’m researching how to do a naalbinding connection rather than sewing the swatches together but I think when it’s done it will be a nice way to remember all the various projects I’ve made with the yarn and also a way to use all the bits of fiber I collected as part of breed swaps for spinning. For those I’m spinning a similar weight yarn to most of my samples and knitting swathes that use it all up since it’s never enough for even accents on any other project. Just turning all those bits into a throw I can leave out on the couch will save space.
I commend your patience and ingenuity.
My extra bits are usually donated to my daughter’s school. They always seem to need yarn.