Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Closed Cycle
When I was a kid, science wasn’t really my thing, but as an adult, I find it fascinating. In particular, I’m interested in the environment and natural sciences. There’s something very elegant to me about a lot of the cycles found in nature; I love the closed cycle of water that transforms from ocean to cloud to rain. There’s something satisfying about how neat and efficient nature is, always breaking things down and reusing them.
I like to think about these cycles in relation to our homes. What are the closed cycles in your home? Laundry is a great example of a closed cycle—or it should be. You have clothes, you wear them, once a week you wash them, and then the cycle repeats. From time to time, you buy new clothes to replace those you’ve worn out, but theoretically you have a set amount of clothes that is constantly being worn and washed. In reality, many people buy far more clothes than they need and don’t have a regular routine for laundry.
In my home, I find I have a closed cycle for many office supplies. For example, I haven’t bought a paperclip in decades. I use them all the time, but eventually the papers they’re holding get recycled or shredded and the paperclips go back in their little plastic box to be used again. Same goes for file folders: When I eliminate a file, I put the folder back in the cabinet to use again. I’ve been working on the same box of folders since the ’90s. I do need to buy printer paper, but not often, because I try to re-use paper from old files if it doesn’t need shredding. I keep the pile in my paper drawer, and since I am constantly adding to that pile, so I always have a “fresh” supply of recycled paper. (If your printer has it, choosing the setting to print on both sides of a page will also help you reduce the amount of paper you use.)
Some people have cycles within their networks, like the way my best friend and I constantly swap back and forth the same ancient Tiffany’s gift boxes (which we use for decidedly non-Tiffany’s jewelry). We keep them with our gift-wrap, and re-use the next time we are giving one another something small. Some people do cookie exchanges, passing the same few cookie tins back and forth among friends. I love these examples of things that get used and reused instead of necessitating any more purchases.
Try to think of things in your home as a part of a natural cycle: think about what items that you don’t need to buy more of, because they are being reused and recycled constantly, and then look for other opportunities to create closed cycles. There is so much we have to learn from nature, and by striving to be as elegantly efficient as the ecosystem, we can also be less wasteful and less cluttered.