Least resistance

August 22, 2006

I’ve been on an organization kick lately. (It must be all the back-to-school prep.) As a rule, I’m a huge fan of efficiency. I’m constantly trying to think of ways to make my life more streamlined and fuss-free. Here’s a sampling of my line of thinking:

  1. Nonessential walls in houses are dumb. I don’t like walls because if you have them, you have to fill them. With stuff. And I don’t like “stuff.” Just more in life to keep track of.
  2. However, there is a fine line here. I like streamlined, but I don’t like cavernous because cavernous usually means echo-y and I hate echo-y. My dining room is echo-y because there ain’t much in it. Someone was visiting once and he asked me how long we had lived here. I said three years and I don’t think he believed me. He thought we had just moved in and hadn’t finished unpacking. Nope. That’s all there is. And it’s echo-y. What can I say. I just try not to talk on the phone in that room because I don’t like the idea that I sound like I live at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
  3. I don’t like bookshelves. Not because I don’t like books—books are fine—I just don’t like bookshelves. I don’t like them because they’re a royal pain to clean and equally hard to keep tidy. The only surefire way to keep them tidy is to not touch the books they hold. And what’s the point of that? Bookshelves with glass doors is definitely the way to go if you must.
  4. This I like. I’ve always thought the fanny pack was a great idea—too bad the traditional fanny pack, while functional, is not exactly fashionable. As far as I’m concerned, not having to carry a purse is freedom indeed. Well, now there’s a solution…almost. I say almost because this pretty little thing costs a pretty little penny. Maybe I’ll just have to make my own.
  5. The computer has got to be one of the finest inventions man has ever seen. (Second only to Cold Stone Creamery.) Imagine. Every single piece of information you could every want or need right at your fingertips and you don’t have to file a thing. I stand in awe.
  6. My personal multitasking record: I was shopping at Walmart once with all three kids. Then the baby got hungry. Then my sister called. So there I was, walking through Walmart pulling one kid in the cart, keeping track of one kid tagging along behind, a baby in one arm, nursing, talking on the phone propped between my chin and my shoulder, smiling at the Walmart employees staring at me and throwing things in the cart as I went.

Now. What’s your best streamlining idea?

Category: Fashion & Beauty, Life, Money, Organization

Comments

10 Responses to “Least resistance”

  1. Kirken
    August 22nd, 2006 @ 11:48 pm

    I find the more room you have the more stuff you have and the more cleaning to be done. I DISPISE cleaning. I don’t like stuff. Yet we seem to have alot of stuff. I’m having trouble getting rid of said stuff because some people in this house are packrats and I really do not know where to start. I’m thinking the bathroom because it is the smallest of the rooms in our house and the room with the least amount of stuff.

  2. Tess
    August 22nd, 2006 @ 11:55 pm

    I have stuff in my attic that has not been looked at for at least 2 years. It’s going in the trash first chance I get.

  3. Amy
    August 23rd, 2006 @ 7:12 am

    Ah yes, those packrats. I’ve got one of my own. And it’s true—the more space, the more stuff. Thus my obsession with the Tumbleweed Tiny House.

    Tess, isn’t funny crazy that we so often have boxes around, storing who-knows-what that we haven’t used in who-knows-how-long and yet we still refuse to part with them? It makes me cry out in a loud voice, “WHAT IS MY PROBLEM ANYWAY?” You go girl.

  4. cmhl
    August 24th, 2006 @ 5:52 pm

    you need to check out the “works for me wednesday” posts on http://www.boomama.blogspot.com

    I have got some of the most fabulous suggestions from those links.

    my favorite suggestion?

    Every Sunday afternoon, I get everyone’s clothes picked out for the entire week, ironed if needed, and hung up. Or put in a hanging thing in the kids’s closets. That way, no digging through drawers during the week, and that at least is taken care of.

    I always make lunches the night before, and have everything laid out as well.

    OK, that was kind of a boring tip, wasn’t it? haha.

  5. Amy
    August 25th, 2006 @ 3:56 am

    cmhl…anything that makes life easier can’t be boring. Thanks for the tips!

  6. Shash
    August 25th, 2006 @ 11:54 am

    Something like #6 should be on “America’s got Talent”. It’s my first time by your blog - thanks for letting me take a peak.

  7. joannmski
    August 25th, 2006 @ 6:22 pm

    Wow, those are great. I think my biggest thing lately has been “if I don’t buy (insert appropriate chachke here), we won’t have to throw it out in 9 months…”

  8. Leah, The Mom
    August 27th, 2006 @ 2:24 pm

    Don’t you just hate cleaning?
    1. You clean and then 6 months later you have to do it again. My grandmother taught me years ago to set the vacuum in the middle of the living room floor, even if you are not cleaning. Then if someone drops by unexpectedly, they think you were just ready to begin and will excuse any mess.
    2. Another one of her tidbids was to set the dinner table early on so that when hubby arrives home, no matter where you are in dinner preparation, he will think dinner is close at hand/mouth. He will be less likely to complain.
    3. To cut down on the amount of laundry when your children are small, let them wear their shirts wrong-side-out throughout the day. Then if you need to take them to the store or to pick up brother, turn the shirts right-side out. No one is the wiser.
    4. And along that same line of laundry, with pre-teens and teens, they tend to clean their rooms by gathering everything off the floor and placing in the hamper. Give pants and shirts the quick sniff test (only bend the elblow). If an article passes, fold it neatly and place in the stack to be returned with the clean clothes. Just allow enough time to elapse for the chore to have been completed.

  9. Amy
    August 28th, 2006 @ 4:58 pm

    Leah, very clever tips!

  10. Alida
    August 30th, 2006 @ 6:10 pm

    If you really want to streamline your life you must move overseas!

    Our life went from a 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom house in California to a three bedroom apartment in Russia. Everything we owned fit into 130 boxes and 8 suitcases.

    And we most likely could have done with less… we had no concept of what the word essential actually means! LOL

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