Brian's Tip of the Week!

(CONFESSION: I am bad at blogging when I go on vacation)

Maybe you have plateaued, I know our items last week were weak: deck of playing cards and an old tea tin. riveting. So how do you get over the hump and find more items to get rid of, without being ridiculous and getting rid of items you actually need? Brian drew inspiration from a book he's reading, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. And while the title of the book is anything but minimal there are some great pointers to be found in this short book. So without further ado we give you...

Start with one category. Brian suggests clothes, shoes, coffee mugs or books. Instead of going room by room, sorting like a crazy person, feeling as though your items keep multiplying, finding piles of stuff you never knew you had, even though the people at Arc know you by name. You'll find items of the same category in practically every room of your house, so gathering all the same items and then sorting through them tends to be more efficient.

Example: clothes - maybe you have some in storage (seasonally sorted) and maybe you've got a front closet, a bedroom closet, and any number of dressers. Gather and conquer.
Example number 2: mugs. Laura is to blame for this suggestion. Because let's be honest, how many mugs does one girl need? How many wonders can one cabinet hold? Okay. focus. Perhaps if you only use one coffee cup per day, and you do the dishes once a week - you should max out at 7 mugs. However, challenge yourself further. Maybe, you can rinse your coffee cup out after each use, and then you technically only need one coffee mug. period. Mind blown.
Example letter C: gift bags. oooh curve ball. All of your gift wrapping paraphernalia should be collected in one general area. This includes all tissue paper, bows, ribbons, packages, boxes or bags.. you know what I mean. Start using this stuff up. Do not buy until you have used up your supply of gift giving container holder wrapperses.

Good luck!

Need not,
Brian and Josey