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I feel like this kind of snuck up on us; the notion of endless options being a good thing. I mean, we were happy with our single can of SPAM and one pair of all-purpose sneakers – weren’t we? But slowly, persistently, our expectations stretched until it seemed perfectly logical to have 20 different bottles of hair product under the sink (shh – don’t judge).

But are we happier for it?

Last week’s post, Are Choices Stressing You Out?, talked about our brain’s inability to SUCCESSFULLY handle multiple options at once. There’s some really interesting info there so take a gander if you have the time. Basically, when there are too many options, like 20 feet of frozen pizzas, our brain fritzes out. After a few minutes of analyzing, the brain starts chucking factors out the window to get back to a reasonable number of variables; maybe the pretty packaging and the lower (or higher) price. Meanwhile, the energy running the brain’s willpower has been drained by the decision making process so we grab a bag of donuts or a candy bar at the check-out. At home, we’re tired, stressed and disappointed in our purchase . . . and our caveman style consumption of the candy bar.

None of this sounds good, feels good… or brings us more happiness. None of this is sustainable.

BUT it does make money. Yes, we see your grand plan Mr. Consumerism (I’m not sure why I made him a he). We see why you want us in a constant state of mental exhaustion and banana brains; pushing our zombie carts and eating consolation bags of maple glazed donuts. Spending. Analyzing. Consuming. Exhausting.

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The Shift

However…I do believe there is a shift happening and I think it involves two separate yet related phases; change within the home and change outside of the home.

Phase A: We need to deal with all the stuff we already own because it contributes to our stress. I don’t mean in a hoarder, can’t find the kitchen kind of way but rather in the stress that making 100 mini decisions a day causes.

Phase B: We need to stop buying so much stuff! Believe me when I say this is a hard one for parts of my life (ahem . . . craft supplies, hair products . . . tea). Shopping is time consuming and, thanks to the plethora of options, mentally taxing. It eats up physical/mental energy that we can spend on more important areas of our life.

Now, I am NO expert on this and I really hope I don’t come across as the stern old lady shaking her finger at you while telling you how to run your life. Parts of my home are well organized. Other parts are a disaster. So, take my tips with a grain of salt. Use what works for you and consider the rest fluff. That being said, let’s take a closer look at Phase A.

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The Tidying Revolution

I know by now you have ALL probably heard of Marie Kondo and the KonMari Method. If not, check it out – it’s good stuff. For someone so tiny, Marie certainly is making a huge ripple in how we consume and live. She’s written a great book, The Magic of Tidying Up and has a new Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.

I must confess; I binge watched the entire first season of Tidying Up for three days. But it was business . . . so I could write this post – right?! Okay. So I was really just fascinated by it and there were two things that stuck out for me.

First, I loved that Marie’s come up with a way for people to be ‘okay’ with discarding things. She instructs her clients to ‘thank’ the item for the joy it brought them. I know that might sound silly but try it. You no longer feel the guilt of wasting money or not being sentimental or. . . whatever has made you keep the item for so long. You feel good about sending it on it’s way to bring joy elsewhere.

Secondly, I noticed that Marie never suggests her client buy anything for the organization process (other than a Costco size box of trash bags). I had to wrap my head around this. As a dedicated DIYer I kept seeing opportunities for new dressers and shelves and . . . functional, organizational decorating – you know, buying stuff! Marie does give the client pretty boxes to organize drawers and such but mostly, the client focuses on reducing what they own and using what they already have to organize it. Hmmmm. . . what a concept.

While many of us aren’t in a position or need to take on purging our entire home, there are a few areas that I feel offer the biggest stress reducing bang for your effort.

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PHASE A – Inside Your Home

 

Area No. 1 |Cleaning and Grooming Products

 

Finally I choose one . . . and guess what?
The other bottles go back in the bin. . . because maybe they will be the right product next time – and I did spend money on it after all. INSANE! I know! In fact, as you read this I’m probably discussing this process with my therapist. But now that I know the ‘thank you’ secret. I think I can fix this.

Goals for area No. 1a: reduce the number of hair products, cosmetics, medications, household cleaners, and laundry products. Try to get as close to having one single effective product per task as you can.

 

Area No. 2 |Clothing

 

The Hanger Trick

Having too much clothing creates clutter, more work (laundry), and more daily decisions. Purging my clothing as been an on-going process for me so I don’t feel I’m too out of control in this area. That being said, I’m sure I’m still holding on to things I really don’t wear (remember – optimistic tight wad here). To weed those items out, I’m going to do the hanger trick. What’s the hanger trick you ask? Simply place your clothes in the closet with the hanger backward – so the open part of the hangers ‘c’ is facing towards you. As you wear and wash clothes, hang them back up the normal way. After three months (within the season of the clothing item), if the hanger is still backwards it’s time to say thank you and good-bye.

Goals for area No. 2a: Try the hanger trick for three months. Also, go through costume jewelry, purses, and shoes.

 

Area No. 3 | Projects & Creativity

 

Okay, so I know y’all are dying to hear how I purged my craft supplies. There’s probably an on-line bet as to whether I can discard a fat quarter or piece of scrapbook paper without ending up in a corner, crying. Well, I hate to disappoint BUT I’ve already done quite a bit of that (don’t laugh). You can see my craft supply organization tips HERE.

What I am going to talk about though is organizing your creative IDEAS and POTENTIAL projects. There are so many places to get inspiration for DIY, decorating and craft projects. While I think this is a fantastic thing, (obviously) I also know it can be a challenge to weed through and find projects you really can and want to do. Inspiration is great. . . as long as it inspires and that means limiting the number of variables. The last thing I want you to do is quit being creative or walk away from a project because of idea overload.

Crafting is fun – damnit!

So what can you do now to make yourself ready to roll when the creative bug bites?

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Purge Pinterest Boards

The first thing I recommend is re-evaluating your Pinterest boards twice a year. Pinterest has SO MANY COOL IDEAS! Seriously! If you haven’t taken the plunge, you’re missing out. However, because the ‘Pinning’ process is so simple, you end up with lots of ideas . . . like hundreds, if not thousands. So, it’s completely understandable that you may become overwhelmed when looking for a crafty project. Every six months, look through your Pinterest boards. For each Pin ask: “Does this still inspire me and will I ever make it.” If the answer is No, delete the Pin. I can’t tell you how often, when doing this process, I see a Pin and think, “what the flippity floo was I thinking?!” The fact is, your creative tastes change. Your interests, abilities and needs change. And sometimes you go on a Pinning marathon while drinking wine. For all these reasons, purge your Pinterest twice a year.

Creative Projects File Bin

The second thing I encourage is creating a Creative/Projects file bin. Don’t put it with your other serious life stuff files. Make it pretty and keep it out where you see it. Here’s a few pictures of how I made mine.

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What goes in this Creative/Projects file bin? Pretty file folders (labeled of course) full of the cool ideas or projects you see in magazines or on websites and blogs. The trick is to tear out all pages pertaining to the project (or print, if from a website) WHEN YOU SEE IT. This way you don’t end up saving a pile of magazines or losing out on a project because you forgot which website it was on. File the pages into your Creative/Projects file bin by topic like Scrapbooking, Home Decor, or Recipes. When you feel the creative urge, pull out the file that is in-line with what you feel like making.

Goals for Area No. 3a: Purge your Pinterest boards and make a Creative/Projects file bin.

 

Now that you have some ideas about reducing the amount of options within your home (Phase A), let’s talk about how to deal with the abundance of options outside your home.

 

Phase B – Outside Your Home

 

Area No. 1 | Dinner

 

Do you cringe when you hear or think the phrase, “what’s for dinner”? Sometimes, it actually makes me erupt inside -like a little domestic version of the HULK. I doubt Marion Cunningham of Happy Days felt this way. Why? because she fixed the exact same dinner on the exact same day – always . . . forever. Her grocery trips were identical week after week; Monday’s were meatloaf, pork chops on Thursday, roast on Sunday. While I don’t feel I should go that far – I mean Marion also only fooled around with Mr. C one day a week – on Frisky Friday, so let’s not get crazy here. But, I do feel a little routine can help reduce some of the stess around that dreaded question while still allowing variety – the spice of life.

Meal Services

One thing I’m doing to reduce the stress of shopping for dinner is using a meal service for two days of the week. Every Wednesday afternoon I get a box with absolutely everything I need for two complete dinners for two and instructions on making them. The food stays fresh for about four days in my fridge so I have some flexibility if we go out to eat or order pizza. I actually really love this because it makes us try new things, helps us eat healthier during the week AND reduces the decision making stress and time spent on shopping for dinners. On the other days I try to do two-fers. I make a more tradition dinner one night and then use the leftover protein in a salad or bowl the next night. This way I only have to make decisions about the first night’s meal then throw in a salad or stir fry kit for the second night.

Avoid the Danger Zone

Another thing I think helps with reducing the stress of dinner is avoiding the entire middle section of the grocery store as much as possible. This is the region where choice anxiety thrives! Thirty kinds of instant rice, entire countries of soup and pizza and frozen vegetables. A bonus – this is also where most of the bad-for-you food lives so by avoiding these areas you’re avoiding temptation and eating healthier. You will still have to conquer the nation of yogurt but I have faith in you.

Goals for area No. 1b: Look into food services, get better at meal planning, utilize the two-fer method and avoid the middle aisles at the grocery store.

 

Area No. 2 | Shopping On-line

Use Your Filters

Have you ever gone on-line to buy something and the next thing you know, two hours have passed? I have and for me, that’s double the stress. I experience stress while trying to decide on my purchase and then I experience guilt stress over wasting so much time doing it. The single biggest tip I have is USE FILTERS. The more exact you get your search to the item you really want, the less time you will spend looking at invalid options. Remember, studies found that when we have too many variable, our brain throws a bunch of them out to try to get the situation back under control. Your brain isn’t really picky about the variables it throws it either. It just wants to get down to two variables so it can make a decision, call it a day, and go zone out on Netflix.

Look at the apple experiment mentioned in last week’s blog. After all of Jad’s effort to chose the best apply by considering EVERY possible variable, his brain whittled it down to higher price and bigger size = better. But Jad’s apple wasn’t better.

More Isn’t Better

Having MORE choices isn’t better. Multiple options don’t help us make better decisions and they don’t make us happier about what we buy. In fact, more options actually does the opposite. SO, use your filters when shopping on line. Narrow it down as close to the product you really want and you will save time and anxiety. Additionally, if you’ve already purchased an item from Amazon and need it again. Just go to your order history, find the item, and select buy again. This way you avoid getting sucked in to looking at additional options/items.

Goal for Area No. 2b: Use filters when searching for items on-line. Use the Buy Again option on Amazon.

 

Area No. 3| Ask Three Key Questions

 

Okay, we are going to round this up with the simplest one of all. Any time you shop for an item that is not on your automatic purchase pilot (stuff you buy repeatedly and use) ask yourself these three key questions.

Do I Need It?

Do I Already Own Something Like It?

Where Will It Go?

These are three questions store managers hate to hear because, if you answer them honestly, more times than not, that item is NOT coming home with you. The reality is there is very little we NEED and we already own so much. Plus, if you have recently gone through the pain and effort of purging your home, there better darn well be a specific use and place for ANYTHING coming into it.

Goal for Area No. 3b: Ask the three questions before buying.

Summing It Up

Remember, reducing what we currently own and changing how we shop for future possessions is beneficial in several ways.

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Your home is easier (and quicker) to keep clean

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You spend less time making decisions – what’s for dinner? which outfit should I wear? Should I use this or that?

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You feel more creative

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Your physical and mental energy is available for the more important parts of your life.

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Well Lovelies . . .

I hope you found even a bit of this helpful. We are all in this struggle together so please use the comment section below to express how – of if you are saying NO to option overload.

Special note – if you are a rock painter, participating in The Kindness Rocks projects or are interested in the whole rock painting craze, MAKE SURE you watch for the next new post. There’s something fun and exciting happening.

Until then, happy purging, crafting, eating, working, living . . .

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