Wednesday KatMari

[rachelmanija]

This has really been a breakthrough for me. I have previously never in my life been able to do any sustained organizing that did not involve some favorite hobby. Marie Kondo's show, at least, is basically about being a therapist for people's relationship with their possessions and their living space; once I realized that and started considering mine in those terms, all of a sudden tidying became my own personal therapy and thus an enjoyable and doable task, rather than something I inevitably got bored or frustrated with, wandered off having accomplished not very much, and then procrastinated on trying again for weeks/months/years.

Also, she has some good practical tips. My big discovery is that putting stuff in transparent boxes makes it a million times easier to find things - I'm very "out of sight, out of mind" for a lot of stuff, so it will essentially not exist for me unless I can literally see it. I have been hitting the Daiso (Japanese dollar store) for boxes. I realize that this is one of those things that's easy and tempting to shame people with: "How did you get this old before learning something any normal person figures out at age five?" But in fact I did not figure it out until age 45, due to watching that show.

I am currently working on the kitchen. Alas, I AGAIN forgot to take proper "before" photos. You can extrapolate what it probably looked like by the fact that yesterday I unearthed a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese that expired in 2011, which is probably also the last time I ate it.





Alex and Erin help me sort stuff from a drawer I had forgotten existed for literally years.



Erin helps me sort packaged food. I did not notice the Hello Kitty crackers till after I took the photo.

My kitchen has two of these cabinets/counters, one on each side. Here's what they both looked like "before:"



And after:



Erin approves my progress! (I feel like I need to note that I do eat stuff other than packaged snacks. It's just that the healthy stuff is mostly in the refrigerator.)





I put things I use daily or near-daily, plus non-refrigerated perishables on the counter, so I will see and eat them rather than having them go bad because I forgot they existed.



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Comments

[movingfinger]

Using risers for the items in the back can help a lot with cabinets like those.

I love your clear organizer bins---yes, it really helps keep things from disappearing, when similar things are together and you can see what is in there. Daiso is so good for things like that!

On canned goods, I started writing the date I bought them on top of the can in marker, to make it easier to rotate them and to help remind me to use them.

[rachelmanija]

That's a good idea, thanks. Does Daiso have risers?

I also like the idea of writing the dates on things.

[movingfinger]

I have seen them in Daisos (where I am now, there is only a small Daiso), but sometimes the hardware store has them---you can get the kind with two or three steps on them, that slide together and apart to fit the space, or you can just use a piece of wood (or two) or inexpensive empty square plastic boxes to lift things up. Sometimes Daiso has kind of flatter plastic boxes, actually trays used in drawers, that can be flipped to make a riser, but ideally you don't want the riser to be two cans deep unless you are "queuing" the cans on it.

If you stack a couple of cut-to-size 2x4s and glue them together, that works well too and the width is about the same as most cans. You can cover it with contact paper for a smoother look. Works only if you have a hardware store do the cutting for you.

The wire racks are too rickety in my experience.

[rachelmanija]

Thanks!

[redbird]

If Daiso doesn't have anything suitable, we got clear acrylic risers at the Container Store--I'm not sure what the store calls them, we were using them to double-up rows of paperbacks on bookshelves and be able to see (part of) and reach the books in the back row.

I miss Daiso; I checked the other day and the farthest east they've gotten in North America is Texas.

[rachelmanija]

Thanks!

LA has something like six of them. Not to make you jealous. My city is totally awesome.

[mildred_of_midgard]

If you need to write different dates (or any other labels) on the same containers, I have found these erasable labels super useful: https://www.amazon.com/Multi-Color-Dishwasher-All-Purpose-Organization-Jokari/dp/B00PGS9HXC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1548961078&sr=8-4&keywords=reusable+labels