Comment by mo_42
1 day ago
I wouldn't say that I was a very chaotic person but after moving several times it felt like it takes longer to find some special tool than buy it new. So I created a little program to keep track of all my stuff [1]. It took quite a while to put everything in there but it helps me to check for a tool if a friend asks for something. Also, I like to be aware of what I own and what I should give away because I don't need it anymore.
The one logistical change I made that solved this for me was that whenever I have to look for something, as soon as I find it, it gets moved to wherever the first place I looked for it was. I take that as an indication that my brain's default sorting system thinks it belongs there.
I also have a tendency to go through everything I own once every couple of years and get rid of anything a past version of me thought a future version of me might want to do, but future me does not want to do, though, so the total amount of "stuff" I have is pretty manageable to start out with.
Brilliant idea (moving the found item to the location you first looked at)! If you ever write a blog post about your org system/such tricks I'd happily read it :)
Check out Dana K. White. She uses this principle along with 5 other "rules" to declutter. Has really helped me get my space in order.
1 reply →
I don't know if there's more to it than these two sides of the same coin, but every time I move house, when I pull something out of the box and go to put it "away," wherever it's going to stay from then on, I close my eyes for a second and think, "If all I knew was that I had already unpacked this, but I couldn't remember where I'd put it, where would I go look for it first?" and then I go put it there and that becomes its home.