Time Management Tuesday: The October Purge Results

To bring everyone back up to speed, during the month of October I divested my home of one item a day because

• The Environmental Disorder study found that a disorganized environment can undermine impulse control. You need a little impulse control in my line of work.
• Owning a lot of stuff is time consuming because you have to take care of it. 
• According to the author of  Overwhelmed, the Danes don't buy and save a lot of stuff. It's good to be a Dane.

So how did that work for you, Gail, you may ask? Remarkably well.

During the first week, I noticed that I was close to emptying a drawer in the kitchen. And then I thought, Hey, I could start keeping the junk in that basket on the counter, in this drawer. Clean(er) counters make for a more organized environment.

Then I realized that just getting rid of thirty random items out of an entire house wasn't going to do much to help me organize my environment, improve my impulse control, and manage my time. But focusing on specific areas, like that kitchen counter, could. Thus I got rid of table cloths from the china cabinet in the dining room so that I won't have to spend time on my knees in front of it looking for linens when I'm expecting guests. I worked on the pantry so I, well, could walk through it, to be honest.

I got rid of some random things, too. But, really, the way to get a usable result from a possession purge is to apply a little logic, do a little planning. I may do an annual purge.

The Last Week's Most Interesting Ditched Item

Actually, I did this after the end of October, but I got the idea back in September. I don't use wine glasses at home, myself, because years ago I saw Nikita and Michael drinking wine from from tumblers, and I thought, Gee, that's kind of cool. And what was cooler? Tumblers could go in the dishwasher.

So when a waitress in a restaurant in Ohio brought me my wine in a highball glass, I thought, Hey, I'm getting myself some of these things.

But, Gail, you're probably thinking at this point, how will being the only woman in your town serving guests wine in what are glorified juice glasses do anything about your use of time?

Answer: As God is my witness, I will never spend so much as a minute washing and drying stemmed glasses again.