Are you a KonMari cultist? Or is your bedroom haunted by a growing pile of unsorted laundry? Or perhaps you’ve found a pseudo-organized happy medium?
They say clutter takes an unspoken toll on your focus and creativity by resulting in what you might call visual decision fatigue – there’s lots of evidence showing that clutter is actually stressing you out, impacting your short term memory and focus. And that it causes you to feel alienated in your own home or office.
Life is hard enough. There are a zillion things you can’t control that can derail your day and take a notch out of your equilibrium.
If you don’t already have a system in place for wrangling and reducing clutter, it’s time to find something that works for you.
Biggie gave us the koan, “Mo’ money, mo’ problems”— in an earlier era, it was said, “Much coin, much care.” In Japan, a similar adage translates as, “If you own one thing, you have one added problem.”
In spite of what consumer culture would have us believe, wisdom says the less stuff you have, the fewer troubles.
While looking into my own clutter issues, I’ve learned about the 5S system. 5S comes to us from Japanese manufacturing practices, which gave the world Six Sigma and related concepts from the productive heyday of Toyota and other organizations during the postwar period.
In a manufacturing setting, 5S improves safety and increases productivity, because supplies and materials are easy and quick to access, spills are cleaned up immediately, parts and tools are easy to find because they’re always stored in the same designated place.
Here, I’ve adapted 5S organization for your personal environment.
You don’t have to run your home or office like a factory. But streamlining and dedicating space for each possession will support your mindset and increase your general well-being – according to science.
Using 5S to guide the arrangement of your home will help you “deliberately place importance on selecting, organizing and caring for one’s belongings,” according to architect Nicholas Gurney.
5S organization for the home
- Sort it
- Simplify it
- Shine it
- Shelve it
- Schedule it
Supplies you’ll need:
- Sticky notes for temporary labeling
- Pen, pencil, or marker for labeling, or to make a shopping list for containers and supplies
- Several large, empty boxes or bags for sorting trash, recycling, and donations
- Microfiber cloths for wiping and dusting
- Non-toxic cleaning spray for disinfecting and glass cleaning
Some tips to make this successful
To avoid overwhelm, I’m recommending you start with just one room, or zoom down further to perhaps just one area, like your medicine cabinet, or the kitchen junk drawer. Then rinse and repeat through other trouble areas in your environment, whether it’s home or work.
Block off an hour for this, with as few distractions as possible. Make it more pleasant by putting on some music you like, and add some scent to the space with a clean burning candle or an essential oil diffuser.
To make this a positive and successful experience – and thereby increase your chances of making it a habit – take breaks, especially when dealing with sentimental objects. Reward yourself with something small between each stage, or plan a bigger reward when you’re done, like an indulgent snack, or something else you can look forward to.
Sort it
Begin by removing things that don’t belong – make a pile to move them to an area that makes more sense, where it will actually be used. Properly dispose of expired products. Recycle or donate out of date or broken items that may still have value. Group documents for proper filing, or shredding. Think about what is truly essential, and what is just extra.
For example, on your vanity, throw out expired products, broken tools, or items you have used in the past 3-6 months. In your closet, be very realistic about what you currently wear, and sort out items that don’t fit, need repair, or are worn or outdated.
Simplify it
When you have just the essentials for this area, simplify the way they are arranged. Group similar items, or items that are often used together. You may see further opportunities to eliminate or move more items. If there are multiples, duplicates, or backups, keep just one and move the others to storage or a staging area, like a pantry or closet.
Shine it
Now clean out the surface or area you’re focusing on. Vacuum out drawers and disinfect the handles. Clean up spills and disinfect tools. Dust any large surfaces, and shine glass or mirrored areas.
For example, on your vanity, not only clean the top surface, but also the inside of drawers, shelves, and jewelry and makeup storage boxes. In your closet, vacuum the floor and dust any shelves. Do you need to replace any lightbulbs?
Shelve it
Even if the area you’re working in doesn’t actually have shelves, in this stage you’ll find a place for everything, and put everything in its place – just like maintaining stocking a grocery store, or shelving books at the library. The goal is to set a designated space for each item that makes it as easy as possible to access when needed, and to create a visual control system to quickly see when things are out of place and in need of attention.
This is the time to put individual items in right-sized containers. Use color coding or make labels if that will help keep you from wasting time in the future looking for things. I’ve found that clear containers and open shelves are the best for me – out of sight, out of mind just creates hidden clutter.
If you know that clutter is a chronic problem for you, try to approach this as you would for someone you cared for: a young child, or an older person. Make it so clear, and simple, and right-sized that you can eliminate even the possibility of uncontrolled clutter in the future. A place for everything, and everything in its place.
Schedule it
No matter how well-designed your space is now, it’s inevitable that it will need some maintenance. Depending on your schedule, how often you access the area, and the likelihood of spills, set a schedule for cleaning up and running through the 5S’s again, whether it’s weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
Before you move on to your reward or other activities, write down this schedule on your calendar or whatever system you use to note essential appointments. This is an important appointment with yourself and your space, and you should give it the same attention as a medical checkup or a tax filing deadline – or make it as fun as your beauty appointments or fitness classes.
Follow-through
One last thing before you transition to your next activity: take out the garbage and recycling, and put items for donation near the door or right in your car, or schedule a pickup from a local hauler or charity.
You may have additional tasks that have come up too, like cleaning makeup tools or jewelry, or dropping clothes at the cleaner or tailor. (Learn how to shrink your dry cleaning bill with these tips.) Organize those items and stage them so they’re ready to go. Then document an appointment or to-do item in your calendar to remind yourself to follow-through.
Now you can repeat this simple 5-step process through each room, or just laser focus on each clutter problem-area.
For more inspiration on 5S housekeeping, look at this Sydney apartment designed per 5S principles by architect Nicholas Gurney.