Organized Simplicity: Step Zero

As Mr. True and I have been listening to Walden and Thoreau's emphasis on minimalism and simplicity, we both remembered one of my favorite books, Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. When I found this gem at our local library three years ago, I devoured it, recommended it to everyone I knew, and followed its ten-day, step-by-step plan to organize and simplify your home. We had intended to do it every year, keeping our home simple, but with one thing and another it's been about three years since the last time we did the entire house. After listening to Thoreau's inspiring experiences, we were both seized by the desire to do it again.

The book is about going through your life and removing everything that doesn't contribute to your purpose and enjoyment. It's in the same genre as the current bestseller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, but I like Organized Simplicity much better. For one thing, the author doesn't make absurd claims that if you do it once you'll never have to do it again or if you use her method of folding laundry you will come to enjoy it. (My hatred of that concept is personal, since I detest laundry with such a passion that my husband sorts it and I stuff mine into dresser drawers without folding at all; I cannot imagine any method of folding that would make me happy to add such a chore into my life.) More pertinently, Organized Simplicity was written by the mom of three young children living in American apartments and suburbs (as well as occasionally overseas - I'm jealous), making her advice much more applicable than that of a single woman in Japan.

The first half of Organized Simplicity is theoretical, talking about finding your life's purpose and making sure your finances and calendar and life in general reflect it. It's not nearly as abstract as some "life purpose" books, but it wasn't something I had great need of at this point in my life, beyond inspiration for the second half.

The second half is a ten-day exercise in which you take every single item out of a room, clean the bare room, and look at each item while asking yourself, "Is this item useful? Is it beautiful?" before returning to to the room if it gets at least one yes. The first time I read this book and shared the idea with my husband, he said, "Beautiful? I don't have anything because it's beautiful," so in our house the question is, "Is this useful or awesome?" (In this one case, I will admit that the KonMari "Does this prompt joy?" might be more helpful if you also have a family member who balks at "beautiful.")

Another factor prompting my desire to do this exercise was seeing my parents, over the last month, downsize from their 3000 square foot house here in Utah to a 500 square foot tiny home in California due to a job change. It is amazing how much stuff piles up in houses. It also made me curious about how big a U-Haul we would have to rent to move ourselves, if for some reason we desired to move. So we decided to not only do an Organized Simplicity on our house but also to measure everything as we took it out and put it back.

This series will document the ten days or so of work we'll be putting into this process. Organized Simplicity divides up the rooms in a general way, but we'll be adapting it to our house's layout and our own schedule.

We have a 1070 square foot house with a storage shed and carport (no garage, basement, or attic) to work with. We do have a large amount of closet space, which I am very grateful for. In this area, we have two adults and three small children, ages 5, 4, and 2, with a new baby due in the fall. The first time we did this process, three years ago, we only had two kids and I had been starting to feel that we needed a bigger house with our third. When I finished the process, I though our house was huge and had plenty of extra space. We're hoping to find the same results this time, because we now expect to raise our family in a home no bigger than this. (Who wants to clean extra square footage anyway?) Minimalism and simplicity is our way to go.

Here is our room breakdown and anticipated order:
1. Master bedroom
2. Kids' bedroom/playroom (one room)
3. Front room (living/family room)
4. Bathroom (yes, we only have one; if we do stay in this house, there will be another half bath added)
5. Kitchen (I anticipate this taking two days)
6. Home office (which someday will be a second kids' bedroom, but they don't need it yet, so it's a catchall space)
7. Storage shed and yards

We are excited to see exactly how much stuff we have and how much we can get rid of. We're happy to invite you to join us on this adventure!