Adventures of an extreme organizer

I've been OCD about cleaning for as long as I can go back in memory. I remember my friends laughing at me when I refused to throw a candy wrapper on the streets in India. I can more or less say the same about decluttering and organization. However, this is my first attempt at organizing my entire home in one shot. That's why it's been on my mind so much lately. There's another reason for it but I'll get to it at the end.

I've started such projects in the past only to find myself abandoning them midway. Not this time! In order to ensure that I stick with the fight to the bitter end, I've decided to start a focused blog on decluttering and organization. In other words, find an outlet to channel my OCD a little and at the same time, share my thoughts and learnings along the way. A few friends and family members expressed an interest, hence the inspiration. I recently discovered much to my own astonishment that I am capable of spouting organization/decluttering tips and tricks by the millions, many of which I haven't used myself. But I know for a fact that they will work. I dont know where they are coming from! Perhaps I'm a sleeper agent.....

Call me crazy but I've found a reasonably strong association between visible clutter and invisible (mental) clutter. Turns out I'm not the only one who feels this way. Whew! I've found myself being much more productive, positive and calmer when my home/work area is clean and there is a certain harmony in my surroundings. Clutter costs time and money, not to mention wasted effort and stress. Therefore, as I declutter and bring harmony to my home, somehow, I feel it will help declutter my mind and bring more focus. I could certainly use a dose of mental decluttering, given that I've been such a scatter-brain of late. That being said, I have yet to start writing my new blog. But it wont be too long now!

Got any good suggestions for the name of the blog?

Minimizing 'stuff'

It's funny. I've been thinking a lot lately about minimalism (I'll probably write/elaborate on that separately later). Then I read this article. Ok, let me make some things clear right at the start. I love to cook and don't think that eating out everyday is my cup of tea. I also love to entertain and have people over. Anyhoo, aside from all that, it still made me wonder.....how much stuff do I own?!

The smallest space A and I have lived in was a 640 sqft 1 bedroom condo, our first home. When we were looking to buy our first place, we knew we wanted to live in the city. The idea of a cozy condo close to downtown was very appealing (still is). We looked at numerous condos and none of those said 'home' like this one. Something about the condo itself and the location was just perfect. The moment we walked in we knew we wanted to live there. And so we got it! However, the first few months after moving there was something of a challenge, space management wise. In retrospect, it was the best thing that we did to ourselves. It taught us to keep our possessions to a minimum. We started going through several rounds of selling unwanted items, giving things away to Goodwill, throwing random junk, realizing along the way how much we own that is wasteful. We finally reached a point where everything we had pretty much fit inside our little closets and creative storage solutions. However, entertaining was a little tough...especially long staying visitors like our parents.

After about two and a half years in that little home, we moved just five blocks away, still in the city and close to downtown, to our 2nd place - a two bedroom condo of about 1016 sqft. We still live here and love it. Generally speaking, both of us gravitate towards living spaces that are just enough and a little more. The lack of a guest bedroom in the first condo was slowly turning out to be an issue. So we finally upgraded. While this place had tons of storage space of its own, I found after we moved and unpacked in this condo that nearly two of the closets were pretty much empty! I was exhilarated! But we've since accumulated some stuff.

So it's time to declutter once again. I've always liked the idea of living as minimally as possible. Luckily for me, A thinks similarly too. Of course, it's not possible for us to give up everything and go live in a cave...that's not what I mean. But the idea of consuming as little as possible, materialistically speaking, given your life's interests and style is very appealing. It's definitely a constant struggle but feels like a worthwhile one to pursue. Also, the second part of this equation is wanting less materialistic stuff and therefore buying less. Luckily, we're already pretty good about that.

Therefore, as part of my home organization project (that I mentioned in my earlier post), I will be decluttering our possessions once again. I can say with absolute certainty that I will be able to free up AT LEAST the guest bedroom closet completely once again. So may the decluttering begin!

Good start!

It's been a week and a half and I'm still at it. I'm in disbelief. This is the first time I've had success in waking up early without the use of jet lag for an extended period of time! ;-) I wake up at 6:30 am every morning, give or take 5 minutes. It is probably so small and unimportant a feat but I tell ya....I've been feeling absolutely wonderful! It's psychological but just the fact that I've managed to accomplish this little thing makes me feel like I'm so much more productive. Here are some direct benefits I've experienced so far:

1. I eat a good breakfast everyday.
2. I read for at least 20 minutes. My current reads - The Dharma Bums (Jack Kerouac) and A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson). I read one book in the morning and one at night before going to sleep depending on what I feel like each morning. On some days I read up on photography (my new found hobby).
3. I get ready for work without a sense of crazy rush. 
4. I even saw dawn breaking over the horizon on a couple of days when it wasn't raining or grey! It was peaceful and lovely.
5. I've felt energetic all day long.
6. I'm able to come back home early because I get to work earlier. That gives me the benefit of additional time in the evenings as well. So I've been cooking more - satisfies both my craving for getting creative in the kitchen and healthy eating for both of us.
7. A side benefit of waking early and having more time in the day - I finally started my home organization project. I always dreamed of an immaculately organized home - and I dont mean just on the outside. Every closet, shelf and drawer must be cleaned out for getting rid of unnecessary items, i.e., be as minimal as possible in my possessions. Everything must have a dedicated place so we wont need to clean up clutter much. I dont like to accumulate too much stuff and hence dislike shopping (yea, weird for a girl I know). But I'd rather be as less consumerist as possible - as much as I can help it anyway. Also, strangely enough, my state of zen is directly related to not just visible clutter but also the kind that's hidden away behind closed closet doors. It really does affect my sleep. (My husband is convinced I'm not from this planet. ;-))
8. Finally, I've started planning my days better and getting more out of each day. As part of that, I'm also setting goals towards following a path of doing only what I love, not just on weekends, but all week long.

Anyway, I think that's the list so far. I'm quite excited with the progress I've made if I may be allowed to gloat for a minute here. ;-) And here's hoping for more....