Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter

Is Empty Organized?

With all due respect, minimalism isn’t organization. Life is complicated. There are signed documents that need to be saved and inhalers and snow boots and all manner of items that need to be stored, preferably in a place where you can find them when you need them.

I get it. I like a Pinterest board of soothing white rooms as much as the next girl, but my job isn’t minimalism, it’s organization. I help people to organize what they have, and as part of the process, it often becomes apparent that they have too much of one category or another of stuff. Sometimes, they didn’t notice they had too much because the stuff wasn’t organized. It wasn’t until I said, “Okay, let’s put all the pencils in this box” and then quickly filled that box and two others, that it became clear there was a wee bit of a pencil problem. It’s okay. Pencils are great. Maybe to winnow the supply you can toss the shortest ones, or the ones with no eraser, or, if you have unopened boxes, donate them to a school. Can’t let go of any of them? I’ll make you swear not to buy another pencil until you’re down to one box.

Longtime readers know I don’t consider myself a minimalist. And I’ll admit, I sometimes find the fetishization of minimalism a little pious. In fact, it seems like cheating to me. I mean, where is the challenge in organizing one pot? Anyone can fit a capsule wardrobe into a closet. But when I fit your New York fashionista shoe collection into your New York­–size closet, that takes skill. Certainly, we all have too much, and we could all do with less. I consider myself an environmentalist and I agree that our consumer culture is bad for everyone and the earth. But I still like my scarves, and my Instapot and my 19 feet of bookshelves. And I know that you like your stuff, too. So, don’t confuse minimalism with organization. Organization isn’t about self-denial or monochromatic living, it’s about keeping the things in your home flowing, sometimes quite a lot of things. Focus on buying less and keeping what you have in a way that you can access it when you need it.

When you think about it, the opposite of organized is chaos, but the opposite of empty is full, and while I don’t want my life to be chaotic, I absolutely want a life that is full.