NOW!
GiphyIf it's something that will take you less than a minute to do, do it now. insighttrip
To add to that. Do a little bit.
Can't clean your room?
Just take that one sock on your bed and put it in the clothes bin.
It's not a lot by itself, but over time it will add up. Rednex141
DO IT ALL
Write it down.
Write to-do lists, write a schedule, write your feelings, write goals. squadparty
I make my lists thinking of time optimization, so I would have something like:
- Load washing machine (Unless you're doing hand washing (?) )
- Brew coffee
- Take garbage out (While washing machine is on it, and the coffee is done/water heats up)
- Enjoy coffee
- Take care of laundry.
- Proft.
Keep moving, but still managing to get that cup of coffee while still making progress on the rest of the items on your list. Also, don't be too harsh if you don't DO IT ALL in a single day, just don't let it accumulate to a point where everything becomes a must do. (Like you're out of clean clothes AND the garbage collection is coming today, etc). Fanelian
DO NOT sit down....
Try not sitting down/lying down until you get something done. Just get in from work/school? Set your things down but DO NOT sit down at your couch/computer until you get X Y and Z finished. Little things can really add up, but you have to have the self discipline to do it. GonnaMakeAList
Rewards Program.
I reward myself for completing a task. Let's say I'm craving a coffee before work. I take my vitamins and get my lunch for the day prepared before I can make myself the coffee.
I stick to a loose schedule and not everything is rewarded, but I find that larger chores (any type of bathroom cleaning), usually requires a little more incentive. I kinda keep this ongoing conversation going in my head: "Wanna continue binging that awesome new show? Clean the sink and floors, then you can go back to watching." cousin_geri
Push...
GiphyIf you wait until you feel like doing it then it will never get done. Get up and push yourself. sassfire
Quick 15....
I prescribe to I-can-do-anything-for-15-minutes philosophy to get over the idea that I need to be super into doing something for me to do it. My bathroom needs to be cleaned but it seems like a huge feat, I can spend 15 minutes working on it. Usually by the time the 15 minutes are up I'm invested in the job and want to finish it. But on the days that I'm counting every minute, I get to be done and walk away. NoCureForCuriosity
Make it happen....
Do what's in front of you everyday! See something out of place? Put it away. See something dirty, clean it. Teeth hurt? Go to the dentist. Works even on people! Parents/SO trying to love you, be a part of it. Make it happen, don't step over life. hiways
Storage.
The biggest thing I'm focusing on right now is the idea of "containers." Your dresser? It's a container for your clothing. If your dresser is overflowing you have to get rid of some of your stuff until it all fits in the container. Repeat as needed for all the other areas of your life where you have too much stuff. BoringMcWindbag
Hey Marie....
GiphyI personally put on a tv show like Hoarders or Marie Kondo for motivation when I need to clean. It makes me clean like there is no tomorrow looking at gross stuff. I got all of the clothes in my house organized and folded properly yesterday. Thanks Marie! pip1022
One episode of "Hoarders" and I'm up and running with a trash bag and vacuum. There have been a couple of episodes of that show that made me viscerally ill. And I fought against the Marie Kondo method but finally succumbed. She knows what's she's doing. I like what she says about not feeling guilty about getting rid of things you don't wear --just thank them and let them go. Flahdagal
So Good....
GiphyMake a list of crap you need to do and if something costs less than ten minutes do it immediately and when you do something on the list cross that mess off because that feels so good. diatomicsoda
Most recently, Teigen showed off her pantry, promising an "organizational orgasm" in a series of pictures.
And, well, she isn't exactly wrong.
"...look how purdy my pantry is!!! neat freaks, swipe for an organizational orgasm. Thank you, @riorganize!!!"
This is beyond just organized.
This is a dream pantry.
As someone who likes to do the cooking for my family, I've often considered reorganizing my pantry, but even those hypothetical plans have never gone this far.
The post went viral with everyone weighing in with praise on the post.
However, this also gives us a look into what Teigen keeps in the pantry, and it's amazing.
There's so much jam and peanut butter, snacks for the kids and well-presented spices and sauces for cooking. It's all displayed, with ease of access.
However, how many bottles of Tobasco sauce does someone really need?
Now, this isn't just the case of the rich and famous having more time to do something we plebeians do not. They also have more money to hire someone to do it for them.
In the post, Teigen gave a shout out to RíOrganize, a business that offers "full-service luxury organization."
Ría Safford, the founder of the business shared her excitement to work with Teigen on her own Instagram.
In an interview with People, Safford shared her secrets to make the pantry not just pretty, but functional.
"This project was a partnership with iDesign and is a lot of the products we used are there. There were some additional products that I purchased on my own, but the main products are The Home Edit collection."
Clear and labeled bins, tiered shelves, and Lazy Susans keep things neat but also easily accessible. The whole endeavor is very impressive.
And Safford has every reason to be proud.
In addition to making the rest of us drool over her organizational skills, Teigen's post even had Marie Kondo stop by to praise the work.
After seeing this, I might need to make plans for my own kitchen. At the very least, organizing all the tea I have should be a priority.
But after seeing Teigen's pantry, I'm considering stocking up on Goldfish.
**
The KonMari Method, according to Marie Kondo's website, is:
"A state of mind – and a way of life – that encourages cherishing the things that spark joy in one's life. Belongings are acknowledged for their service – and thanked before being let go, should they no longer spark joy."
Sandy recently wrote an essay, which was published by them., in which they describe the slow process of how removing the clutter from their life brought about a realization of who they really were.
Allen originally picked up a copy of Kondo's book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up in an attempt to help their boyfriend, Rob.
While he wasn't an overly untidy person, Sandy was very organized and there was one spot that needed tending.
They wrote:
"Our courtship had been a steady reclamation of his less-tidy space by my relentless wave of tidiness. (Whatever's going on in Marie Kondo's brain that makes her say "I love mess!", I have it, too.) His nightstand, though, was The Place He Put Things. A place I ached to clean."
After unsuccessful attempts to get Rob to read the book, Sandy decided to lead by example.
They started with the closet; as they went through all of their clothes and determined whether they brought joy, there was a clear pattern that emerged.
They recalled:
"I didn't take me long to see it, what the discard pile was. It was only the skirts, only the dresses, only the flowers and lace and sparkles. It was everything I'd bought hoping that some colleague might say: Isn't that cute?"
"I burst into tears, shame filling me entirely, and then I laughed about the fact that this book had made me cry, this silly, stupid cleaning book."
Allen described having an internal list of moments that hinted that they weren't satisfied with playing the ultra-feminine role, moments that they couldn't let themself fully acknowledge for fear of what that would mean.
One of these moments was from a work Halloween party.
They explained:
"One Halloween, I'd come as Ace Ventura."
"After lunch they were giving prizes to those who'd really gone above and beyond costume-wise, myself not included. I stood in the crowd next to a colleague who'd come dressed as her boss."
"Earlier her costume had gotten a big reaction, though, because it was her dressing as him: sneakers, jeans, glasses, of course the hoodie. Everyone laughed. Now we were standing around, drinking booze, eating sugar. I told her I liked her costume and she looked embarrassed."
"'I feel so awkward. Don't you feel awkward?' she asked."
"I didn't get what she meant."
"'Dressing like a guy!' she said."
"'Oh,' I said, and without thinking added: 'I always dress like a guy for Halloween, or at least a lot of the time.'"
"'That's funny,' I said to my colleague, 'I haven't noticed that before.'"
Here's a photo they shared of their favorite Halloween costume ever. Sandy is on the left.
It wasn't until they started working from home that things started to become clearer.
They said:
"Now with no office to go to, I rarely dressed, and if I did I wore sweatpants. The days I did go out, for an appointment or a meeting, I might force myself to dress up. Tripping down a cobblestone street one afternoon in heels, I wondered who the hell I was trying to fool."
After running into someone they knew while donating the last of their dresses and heels, Allen had a realization.
"I didn't say to him, nor could I have articulated, that I was throwing out the last of me pretending to be a woman."
"Walking away, I felt joy, an almost ridiculous joy. I also felt terror, like when a cartoon has walked off a cliff and is standing blissfully on air."
Rob was supportive of Sandy through their journey to self-discovery, acknowledging their struggles and providing loving support.
After a clothes shopping trip that was an ordeal in and of itself, the two went on a date.
"That evening, we went on a date. I wore a new button down, trousers, Oxfords. We moved down the street, his hand in mine, which was shaking, so terrified by the question of what we must look like to others."
"Before that night, I realized, I had never before been both 'dressed up' and comfortable."
Allen goes on to describe the various ways that this paradigm shift, which started with the simple act of sorting their wardrobe, has changed their life.
The way others react to them has changed significantly as they present in a more gender neutral fashion.
"Sometimes people think I'm male at first and then realize I'm not, usually when I talk, and sometimes I then see a wild anger in them."
"In those moments, I feel my vulnerability. Though in other senses I feel safer; I am no longer constantly catcalled, as I was before — that drumbeat of male violence, muffled. All the time I feel how arbitrary these categories are. All the time, I know this is all just about power."
"Some who see me now are excited about my apparent difference. In a restaurant, a waitress ran over, grinning, nearly shouting, "'What are you?'"
"The best feelings are the converse of this cisgender othering: the moments of communion, however brief, I share with other queer and trans people out there in the world."
The essay's reception on Twitter was overwhelmingly positive.
This article sparked so much joy: https://t.co/BWgdOg8eIR— zo (@zo) 1551216381
This made my day. https://t.co/7VFGMiP2mb— Dr. Nour Halabi (@Dr. Nour Halabi) 1551212054
I finally read this essay from @sealln and it's just so very, very good https://t.co/ZACfpGJznT— Hayes Brown (@Hayes Brown) 1551383073
Never has an article made me so emotional. As someone still understanding their gender identity, I often feel alon… https://t.co/T9oskQ7nLw— Beet (@Beet) 1551298408
Quite a few people have expressed having had a similar experience to Allen's.
madmaxmasure/Instagram
@HayesBrown @sealln I have had a very similar experience. I don't have much else to say other than "oh yeah this ha… https://t.co/QPYDfnRz6H— Everett (@Everett) 1551384050
A few Instagram users commented that Allen's essay helped them to articulate their own "gender stuff."
meaghan_betz/Instagram
kzoenicole/Instagram
Clothes are an integral part of how people express themselves.
Maybe taking a hard look at what you actually wear and and enjoy and what you hold on to because you think you should, could give excellent insight into who you are as a person.
If you want to learn more about KonMari, Marie Kondo's book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, is available here.
Kondo's follow-up, Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up (The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up) is also available here.
