The Joy of Less, a Minimalist Living Guide (19 page)

Finally, call up all your minimalist might and turn it loose on your paperwork. We’ve already talked about ways to limit our incoming mail: like having our names removed from marketers’ lists, and signing up for online statements and billing. However, we also want to narrow down the paper we already
have
. For this purpose, I highly recommend investing in a scanner (or a printer with a scanning function). Yes, it’s one more piece of office equipment; but it’ll likely take up less space than the stacks of paper it eliminates. You’ll wonder how you ever lived without this wondrous device! I digitize articles, greeting cards, letters, bills, statements, instructions, photos, pamphlets, and more—anything for which I need the information, but not the original copy. (Of course, be diligent about purging computer files, so you don’t end up with digital clutter.)

Before you go too crazy with the scanner, though, understand that you’ll always need to keep
some
paper copies around. Specific time frames for retaining documents are highly dependent on your personal situation, tax and legal requirements, and common practice in your area. The following guidelines are provided only to give you a general sense of what you might be expected to keep; consult your financial advisor, or the Internet, for more specific and up-to-date details.

Typically, the papers you’ll need to store forever include tax returns, real estate records, annual investment account statements, and loan documentation. It’s also wise to keep your final utility bills when you move, in case you need proof of residence. Retain receipts for big-ticket items (like cars and appliances) for as long as you own them (or longer, if a tax-deductible expense); you may need them to make an insurance claim, or receive warranty service. I think I speak for all minimalists when I say that no one
wants
to hang on to this stuff; but make your peace with it, and put it into Deep Storage—it could make your life a lot easier in the long run.

As far as other financial documents go, opinions differ widely on how long you should hold them. I’ve seen it recommended to keep bank statements for as long as seven years, and credit card statements for as long as three. Utility bills can generally be tossed after a year, unless you need them to support your tax returns (then keep them for seven). You can also purge pay stubs annually, after you’ve reconciled them with your W-2 forms. ATM slips, deposit slips, and debit and credit card receipts (for minor purchases) can usually be thrown away after you’ve checked them for accuracy against your monthly statement. Again, these are very broad guidelines; consider your particular situation, and comfort level, when deciding what to purge.

Our offices are dynamic spaces; there’s stuff coming in, stuff going out, and stuff moving around on a daily basis. Therefore, we can’t simply do a large-scale declutter and call it a day. Keeping them streamlined requires constant vigilance; the speed at which office supplies can spread out, and paperwork pile up, is astounding!

To maintain your minimalist office, set up a system for incoming paperwork so it’s dealt with immediately. Be a good gatekeeper: keep a recycling bin by the front door, and stop catalogs, circulars, takeout menus, and other junk mail from even entering the house. For the mail that makes it into your office: open each piece and
act
on it at once, instead of stacking it up on your desk. Shred credit card solicitations, balance transfer checks, and other nonessential paper with personal information; scan, or file away, any documents you need to keep; and sort bills that require payment, letters that require action, or information that requires review, into the appropriate inbox or slot on your desk. In an ideal system, each piece of paper would be handled just a single time.

When you finish your work for the day, return all supplies to their designated places, and files to their appropriate folders. If it’s more efficient to keep them together, set up a “working” module for that particular project—preferably in some kind of container, rather than spread out across your desk. Then, you can pick up right where you left off, without having to gather up the necessary materials; and you won’t have to push them aside to use your desk in the meantime. Also, be on the lookout for refugee items from elsewhere in the house; return your child’s homework, your spouse’s novel, or your dog’s chew toy to its respective owner, before it has a chance to settle in. You have enough to worry about with your own stuff!

Everyday maintenance will keep your desk clear, and your stuff under control. However, you’ll still need to purge your files periodically. Try as you might to follow the One In-One Out rule, chances are you’ll still end up with a little more “in” than “out.” Scan your file folders on a monthly or quarterly basis, and toss (that is, shred or recycle) what’s no longer relevant—the majority of paperwork is time-sensitive and quickly outdated. Furthermore, do a full-scale purge on an annual basis, and clear out the old to make way for the new. I like to schedule this for early January, and have a fresh start for the new year!

If asked to name the most functional room in the house, many of us would choose the kitchen. After all, it’s the place where we store, prepare, serve, and consume the food that sustains us. It also serves as a popular gathering place for the family. Given its significant role in our lives, no wonder the kitchen contains a lot of stuff! Too much stuff, however, can actually diminish the room’s functionality, and make it unpleasant to work and hang out in. So let’s see how we can pare things down, and make this space as streamlined as possible.

Have you ever wandered through a kitchen showroom (or browsed through the pages of your favorite decorator magazine) and fantasized about trading in your kitchen for the one on display? Did you eye its gleaming surfaces with envy, thinking how wonderful it would be to cook in such a sleek and functional environment? Have you ever thought that life would be perfect if only you had more cabinet storage?

Much of the time, what attracts us to showroom kitchens isn’t the high-end appliances, specialty countertops, or fancy cabinetry—it’s the space! Display kitchens are invariably clean, spare, and free of clutter, and include little more than a handful of appliances and tableware. That’s what makes them so lovely and inviting. The good news: you don’t have to spend a fortune on renovations to achieve this look. You can give your kitchen a dramatic makeover simply by decluttering.

Remember how we talked about moving day, and how wonderful it felt to unpack your things into a fresh, uncluttered space? Think back to those beautiful empty shelves and cabinets, and how nice it was to line up your plates, glasses, utensils, and gadgets in perfect order. Unfortunately, between then and now, things have likely become a little more crowded and a little less organized. (I suspect our tableware is throwing wild, late-night parties in our kitchen cupboards!) Not to worry; we’re going to recreate that first day by Starting Over, one cabinet at a time.

To this end, empty every drawer, cabinet, cupboard, and shelf in turn. As always, don’t be tempted to leave something in place because you “know” you will put it back there. That’s cheating! Remove every piece, until the space in question is entirely bare—that means all your plates, coffee cups, glassware, forks, spoons, knives, pots, pans, gadgets, appliances, food, foil, takeout containers, and even the contents of your “junk” drawer. Remember, the idea is not to choose the things we’ll get rid of, but to choose the things we’ll keep. Once everything’s out, you’re going to examine them thoroughly, and return only your best, most useful, and most essential items to their places. Pretend you’re outfitting a brand-new dream kitchen, like the ones featured in magazines; why should yours be any less fabulous?

Should you have any lingering doubts about completely clearing the contents, this method yields a special bonus: the fantastic opportunity to
clean
those cabinets. How long has it been since they’ve had a good scrubbing? In the course of cooking, kitchens get greasy and dirty; and while we’re pretty good at keeping the surfaces sparkling, we tend to forget about the
insides
of our cabinets. Grime, dust, and spills build up over time and lead to unhygienic conditions. So while you’re eliminating the clutter, eliminate the dirt as well (how efficient we minimalists are!). Scrub them spotless, and you’ll truly have a “fresh” start!

As you’re cleaning out your cabinets, cupboards, and countertops, you’ll probably come across plenty of items for your Trash pile. If you haven’t purged your pantry lately, much of it may be food; check the expiration dates of every item you touch, and ditch anything that’s spoiled, expired, or otherwise past its prime. Spices, sauces, and condiments also have limited shelf lives, so don’t let your decluttering pass them by. If that bottle of soy sauce is older than your toddler, toss it and treat yourself to a new one when needed. Do the same for other perishables, particularly if you can’t remember how long you’ve had them, or the last time you used them.

Other Trash may also be lurking in your kitchen—in the form of chipped plates, cracked glasses, and bent or mangled silverware (like the fork that got caught in the garbage disposal). Give your food the respect it deserves, and serve it on (and with) undamaged tableware. Don’t save these battered pieces as backups for your better stuff; they’re difficult to fix, depressing to look at, and dangerous to use. Send them to that Great Kitchen Table in the sky! Discard broken gadgets and appliances, too; if you haven’t already made the effort to repair them, you evidently can live without them.

In your Transfer pile belong all those items that are useful to someone other than
you
. For some reason, we tend to accumulate much more kitchenware than we need or use on a daily basis. Some of it enters our lives as wedding and housewarming gifts, others as impulse purchases. (I’m willing to bet that most of us have at least one “miraculous,” “time-saving” culinary gadget we saw on a late-night infomercial—and haven’t used since the day we bought it.) Some items may have seemed practical when we purchased them, but turned out to be too complicated or time-consuming for our lifestyles; so give that pasta machine or ice cream maker to someone who’ll appreciate it. Be honest with yourself as you’re sorting through your stuff; if you avoid using your food processor because it’s a pain to clean, take this opportunity to set it free.

Don’t forget that food can go into your Transfer pile as well. Our tastes and dietary needs change over time, and the shelf life of some foods can outlast our desire for them. We may grow tired of tomato soup before we finish our stash, or decide we’d rather eat fresh fruit than the canned stuff on our shelves. Don’t feel bad; regard it as a wonderful chance to do a good deed! Donate any unwanted canned or packaged items to a local food bank or soup kitchen. The castoffs from your pantry can keep someone else from going hungry.

You may have difficulty purging some kitchen items out of concern that you’ll need them someday (and you’re pretty sure it’ll be the day after you get rid of them). If so, create a Temporarily Undecided box. Put in it those things you don’t use regularly, but think you
might use
sometime soon—like the bread machine, muffin tins, and fancy cake decorating supplies. Mark the box with a date, and donate whatever you don’t retrieve after a specific period of time (say six months, or a year). It’s a great way to deal with those “on-the-fence” items; they’re available if necessary, but won’t take up precious space in your cabinets and drawers. Better yet, you’ll see what life is like without them—and you may decide you don’t miss them at all.

Your Treasure pile should contain only those things you rely on, cherish, or otherwise use on a regular basis. These candidates are competing for a coveted spot in your cupboards, and will have to prove that they’re indispensable. As we go through the following steps, we’ll examine them closely, and decide exactly what’s worthy of a place in our kitchens.

The kitchen is a great place to have a conversation with your stuff. Some items have been lurking in the shadows for so long, you may not know them anymore. Here’s your chance to get reacquainted, and make sure your relationship is still mutually beneficial.

What are you and what do you do?
We shouldn’t have to ask, but let’s admit it—sometimes we don’t have a clue. These days, there’s a kitchen gadget for every conceivable task; and just because that pineapple corer or pastry wheel seemed indispensable when we bought it, doesn’t mean we’ll be able to identify it a few years later. In this case, a little mystery is
not
a good thing. If you don’t know what something does, it’s obviously not essential in your kitchen. Send it on to another home—it could make a fun gift for a culinary friend, who might actually know what to do with it.

How often do I use you?
Ah, the million dollar question! Items that evoke the response “every day” or “once a week” can start making their way back into your cabinets. Just because you only use the turkey baster once a year, however, doesn’t mean you have to get rid of it; such knowledge can simply help you decide where to store it. If you use something less than once a year, some deliberation is in order: is that item really worth the space it’s taking up? Nine times out of ten it’s highly unlikely you’ll miss it.

Do you make my life easier (or more difficult)?
Sure, I can cook rice and boil water on the stovetop, but my rice cooker and tea kettle make my life easier. Therefore, they earn a spot in my kitchen. On the other hand, I let go of my cappuccino machine because I hated cleaning it, and found it much more pleasant to go out for a cup instead. If something’s difficult to set up, use, or clean up (and the rewards are not worth the effort), consider giving it the heave-ho—and find an alternative way to meet that particular need.