Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Setting Limits
April! Spring! Renewal! I hope many of you have been working on the three habits I introduced so far: Taking Inventory, Blocking Out Time and Doing a Last Sweep. If you have, you may already be feeling a sense of lightness and renewal. If you feel like you have those habits pretty well established, let’s add another: Setting Limits on Stuff.
It may not sound like a habit in the strictest sense, because, like getting to neutral, setting limits really about maintenance. When you get organized, you purge and make sure that everything has a place and fits into that place, be it a closet, or a drawer or a particular box or bin. Think of that container, whatever it is, as a boundary. The reason you do this is to give yourself a built-in cue. If, for example, you go on a shopping spree, and the drawer that was neatly holding your dozen cloth napkins is now overstuffed because you tried to add another six, you know that you have to purge one of the old sets. The drawer is your boundary: That is where you keep all your napkins, and not being able to close the drawer is your cue that you need to eliminate some napkins. The boundary is a natural way of reminding you that you are committed to setting limits on stuff.
Work on keeping the volume of stuff in your home steady. Remember, it’s like breathing—in, out—if you buy a new T-shirt, let one go. Be aware of those boundaries. You’ve organized, everything fits, now it is just about maintenance and you do that by setting limits on stuff.