Flat surfaces can be a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it’s great to have the area to work or play on, but on the other, those flat surfaces act like a magnet for stuff. If you’re trying to keep your home or workspace a little more tidy, this simple mantra will help you avoid clutter buildup.
Picture: Nancy Hugo, CKD
In the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, author Marie Kondo has a simple mantra for keeping your flat surfaces from becoming storage:
Don’t put it down, put it away.
The tools, toys and other things you own should all have a home somewhere. Not everything needs to be hidden away, but a dining room table doesn’t have to be a dumping zone. Your kitchen counter doesn’t need to be a catch-all for every tool you use to cook. It’s easy to just set things down, but it’s not that much harder to put it away when it has a home. Keeping a place clean can really be that simple.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing [Amazon via The Kitchn]
Comments
3 responses to “‘Don’t Put It Down, Put It Away’”
I’m the opposite. I don’t see the sense in putting something away when you’re just going to pull it out again later. Seems like a waste of time to me.
So all your possessions are scattered around your house ready for when you need to use them?
Yep.