WOF: Simplifying our space sounds wonderful – but what if it’s such a huge job that the very thought of it makes us want to go lie down with a pillow over our heads? Where do we begin such an overwhelming task?
MARCIA: Begin with my principle: Keep what is working, change what is frustrating. Often that’s the kitchen or your paperwork. I do that because if you’re functioning fine, don’t try and look perfect. We just want people to function better. Often it does look better when you start functioning better, but our goal is never to look great. Our goal is to function.
People ask, “Why do we need to organize?” The answer is, “The faster the pace of your life, the more organized you need to be.” That’s really important for people to know – it’s not an extra thing to add on to your life, this is vital to your life.
I wrote the book in the order that you tackle it. I have 5 sections; I started with visible space. You want to start with the room you use 70% of the time in your home, which is not the family room – it’s the kitchen. I walk the reader through the whole book in the order that you should tackle the rooms because you develop skills doing the kitchen, the family room, and daily paperwork before you end up in the basement, the attic and the garage.
It’s laid out for you; I had an illustrator put pictures in so people can go “Oh, I get it!” One picture per room; it really lays it out. If you’re not a reader you can look at the diagrams that tell you steps 1, 2, and 3. You work at 3 different levels in each room.
Then at the end of each chapter I wanted to make it easy for the reader so they can skim through the chapter and skip to the 10-question checklist. You stand at the door of your room and follow it through; it walks you through the whole room. You’ll see things that you won’t normally see, but that a professional organizer would see.
WOF: Just last week CNN had a story about how clutter causes sustained stress that can lead to health problems. There are more benefits to having an organized space than just looking better, aren’t there?
MARCIA: There are. One is you feel better about yourself. Two, you’re going to accomplish more because you don’t have to clear out the clutter to accomplish it and to focus. Three, your relationships are totally going to improve because you become dependable. There are lots of benefits. I had a class make up a list of benefits and I think we came up with about 20 of them.
Everything looks better, it feels better, it functions better. You feel less stressed and the odd thing is, it takes less energy and time to be organized than to be disorganized. Initially, if you just toss things down when you come home from work, that feels like it takes no time. But the pick-up time later is going to be four times greater than if you just put it away right at the beginning.
WOF: The CALM approach; even the name sounds soothing. Tell us about it.
MARCIA: I was looking for a template that people could remember easily whether they’re starting a shelf, a drawer, their attic or garage. You want to:
Create a Plan
Don’t just jump in. Particularly when people organize their closets, they think, “OK, I’m going to organize. It’s Saturday, this is great.” They make piles: stuff that goes to the dry cleaners, stuff they don’t wear so much but might, here’s a pile where they need to buy something that matches . . . soon they have 6 piles on the floor, it’s time for lunch, and they go, “Oh shoot, I’ll just leave it and come back later.” They never come back and they’ve lost it because they didn’t create a plan.
Approach It By Sections
I like for people to think of a drawer as a section. Then one wall, say in the kitchen, is a section. You think of the whole room in sections. Instead of saying “My office needs to be organized” say “My desktop needs organizing.” Just narrow it down to one section; it’s much easier. It’s like the tortoise and the hare – you finish faster if you keep steadily at it. The ‘all or nothing’ approach doesn’t work.
Lighten Up and Let Go
It’s important every time you organize a drawer or a shelf to make sure you get rid of stuff. Otherwise you’re just reorganizing the Titanic, so to speak. You really need to get rid of stuff.
Manage It Simply
You have to say, “How did it get this way?” Well, “I’m tired after work, I drop things.” Or it’s, “The kids and I never have time to clean up after dinner.” We have to decide how to counteract it in our daily lives. If you know your point of weakness, then you can make a change. Your point of weakness could be turning on your computer and ignoring all the paperwork around you every morning. So the answer is, don’t turn on the computer for 10 minutes and clean up the paperwork before you turn it on. Then you won’t have to spend that time doing the desktop again since it’s part of your new daily habit.
WOF: What if we’re all for organization, but we live with a pack rat? Is a peaceful coexistence possible?
MARCIA: Yes, it is. When you’re frustrated with your pack rat partner, go organize something of your own. My rule is, if you live with a packrat you have to agree on common areas not having clutter. That would be the kitchen, family room, and joint office. People can have their own space, but joint areas and common areas cannot have clutter. I always say if it’s in a marriage, you should rise to the level of the most-skilled person. One might be skilled in organizing, the other might be skilled in finance. Rise to the highest level and don’t pull the other person down to your level.
WOF: In order to live in an organized space, do we have to be constantly cleaning? In other words, once we get organized will we have to constantly work to stay organized or will it get easier?
MARCIA: It gets easier when you make it a habit. For instance, if your bedroom tends to stay messy, get in the habit of making your bed every day in the first minute and a half ― then it’s easy. Then 70% of your room is clean. In your kitchen, if you teach yourself to clean up 5-10 minutes after every meal, then you’ll never have to do the hour-and-a-half cleaning at the end of the day. Maintenance is always easier than a big pick-up. If you can change your habits to support your life, it’s definitely going to be easier and will save you lots of time. If you can do it through the week as part of your routine, you don’t have to spend your weekend time doing it.
WOF: What are you planning to organize next?
MARCIA: I’m so excited . . . I’m writing “Simplify Your Holidays.” It’s going to be a 3-ring binder that women can pull off the shelf year after year. It’ll have all their Christmas card address lists; it’ll tell you what date to start; it’ll have everything in one notebook instead of the back of envelopes. It’s coming up in October for next Christmas.
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