Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter

Check, Please

Sometimes I’ll think I need something new. I’ll notice that the pillowcases or bra or exercise pants that I’ve been using regularly are looking shoddy or losing elastic, and I’ll think I need to replace them. But then I check. Because while sometimes I actually need something new, just as often there’s an unloved or forgotten pair of pillowcases or leggings waiting in the wings, and then I get to do the best thing of all: let something go without replacing it. In organizing terms, I win!

When I see a home with a lot of duplication, I wonder if they didn’t check before buying a lot of their stuff. Some of the biggest arguments my husband and I have are when he goes rogue and buys stuff that isn’t on the (carefully compiled and printed) grocery list that I give him. Inevitably, the thing he spontaneously picks up is something we already have—tortilla chips, marinara, shampoo. What’s the big deal? Well, for me it’s space, because I have so little, but for some of my clients, who have much more space, the problem becomes seeing and remembering what you have. When there’s so much, and the cabinet is so crowded, it’s harder to see and remember what you already have on hand.

Part of the problem is that people are always in a rush. We don’t want to check. And now, with the internet, we can get that hit of dopamine (completion!) in thirty seconds if we just hop on and buy some new pillowcases. Done and done, as they say. But I say, not so fast.

Today, when I decided my pillowcases were shoddy, I considered buying some new ones. But I do have some extras. I don’t love my them, but they’re fine, and most of the time I just wash the ones I like and put them right back on.

So before you buy, check, please. You might not need anything at all, and that is a lovely feeling.