I admit to wondering/fantasizing about what my placement would be like – conjuring long days of sitting in a hut somewhere far from the civilized world, time to meditate, time and empty space to conjure new metaphysical adventures  – maybe even a UFO or two out there on the African plains.  I thought I would be riding a bike long distances. tucking my skirts around me so as not to expose any thigh god forbid.   And actually, I’m not alone in that conjuring, though few of us have it to that extent.

  As you know by now, I’m here in Gulu – the second largest city in Uganda (which does NOT mean large by US. standards).  But it is definitely a town, with roads, a Taxi-park (right), garbage, dust, noise, crowds and some utilities some of the time.  I have not thrown my leg over a bike once –  it’s too risky in the presence of Bodas and SUVs who consider an inch clearance giving wide berth.  So I walk everywhere – because I can.  I’ve not meditated more than a few minutes here and there, but I do – on a daily basis – use the spiritual tools I came with.  Nope – no UFO’s either. I don’t think Museveni’s fighter jets based a few kilometers away qualify. Plenty of ghosts I suspect, but they are not visiting and I don’t seek them out.  I’m glad of that. 

In the presence of so many nods to development, one can be tricked into thinking other things are available too, but the things that are lacking are interesting in what they say at a deeper level.  For instance, I can buy a mobile modem and almost always get internet for my computer but I can’t get a file folder.  I can get a mobile phone that takes two sim-cards and will do everything but make toast, but I can’t buy a pot that won’t burn rice. Considering that the picture on the left shows a school kitchen (a luxury), needing such a pot never makes the short list.

So what’s not surprising (in terms of my stated goal) is that I have been plunked down in an organization that well – needs a lot of organization.  They are not alone in this and it does not negate in anyway the work they do.  It is good work, useful work and contributive, but once again infrastructure is lacking: it goes all the way to the basics and impacts everything.   I’m in the process of going through literally thousands of pieces of paper and publications, many tossed willy-nilly into file cabinets stuffed to over-flowing.

I’ve been provided with file cabinets, have ordered hanging files, white boards and markers and most, if not all, are forthcoming. But it’s the little things that make document storage doable, time tables work, and accountability possible and those are hard to come by if  available at all. Most have not even been heard of – even at Uchumi, the Munu store.

File folders, abundant in the states, do not exist in areas outside of Kampala.  Ask for a file folder, and you get a flimsy folder with clasps. In the best of worlds, there might be one cut from construction paper and folded.  Files are stored in File Boxes, whether you have one piece of paper of 1000.  You can imagine the space this wastes and when there IS no space, it’s maddening.  And like all governments the government of Uganda prides itself in generating unending reports, many of which land in the offices of NGOs.  (Don’t be confused by the fact that “Non Governmental Organizations,” must comply with plenty of gov’t requirements, which include tomes of documents which must be stored.) They are hard to store and end up in slippery piles that slide like goo, in non-defined categories that no one can find when they are needed to justify a grant proposal, etc.  

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Reprinted from The Austin Homesteader, 2002

The garage. Just the mention of it brings groans, gasps and the rolling of eyes. Even the most fastidious people have been revealed to be closet-messies when it comes to the garage. In private consultations, people have been know to throw their bodies across the door to the garage – “Oh NO – your CAN”T go into the garage!”

Does the Garage Count?

I’ve consulted in many high-dollar, beautifully appointed homes – meticulously neat in the public quarters, but total chaos in the garage. In a few, the garage door couldn’t be closed because it was full from top to bottom and front to back. Several hardware stores could have been stocked with the contents. Things were so well packed-in, there was no hope of finding anything without emptying everything. So, whenever someone needed a tool, they would go buy another.

THNEEDS

Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Somehow the garage has become the repository for not only all the seasonal-gear, tools, yard stuff, and hand-me-downs, it also contains trash, recycling, and the unredeemable. Finally, it houses things we no longer need and things NOBODY needs. Dr. Suess said it best. He called them THNEEDS (things nobody needs).

It’s not the garage that’s the problem. In fact, it’s a very useful part of the house – some people even park their cars there! It’s what happens when we treat it like a land fill. Anywhere there’s clutter, especially broken, dirty and unused items collecting critters – the energy gets stuck and it effects the way life is lived by those who reside in the house.

The garage nearly always appears in one of the corners (Guas) of the house, making it – in Feng Shui terms – a big deal. Let’s pretend that the front door is in the center of the house on the same parallel as the front edge of the structure.

Navigating Around the Corners: the Bagua Again…

• From the center front of the house, navigating in a clockwise direction the first corner we come to in the 7:00 position represents the life aspect known as Knowledge and Spirituality. Clutter in this area slows down the initiation of new projects, interferes with feeling grounded, inhibits personal growth and limits the wisdom we bring to bear in life situations.
• The next corner moving up and around into the roughly 10:00 position represents Prosperity or Manifestation and has to do with our ability to create the kind of life we want for ourselves. Clutter here can interfere with finances, projects coming to fruition financially, and the safekeeping of resources,

Detached Garages

Wait! What’s that racket I hear? It’s dancing in the streets! I think it’s coming from those folks with detached garages. Turn off that music! You’re not exempt – because the garage is still part of the energy of the property. Sorry….To determine where on the property the house falls, use the point where the driveway comes in as the “front door” to the property.

Coming and Going

On the more mundane level, here’s something else to think about. If you’re one of fortunate few who can actually get your car in the garage, you also probably enter and exit your house via the garage. If you do, the garage is the last thing you see in the morning before heading off to work, and the first thing you see returning home. So – if your garage is neat and brightly lit, painted and things are in order – you’re more apt to start your day feeling “together.” If, on the other hand walking into your garage constitutes as act of bravery, then you are probably reminded of all the stuff you need to do and what a mess things are. It permeates the entire day.

Coming home after a long, possibly frustrating day at the office, wanting nothing more than to get home and relax – you drive into the “little shop of horrors.” Your mood plummets, your energy is zapped and any joy you had about coming home is vaporized. Instead of greeting your family with a smile, you offer up a scowl and it sets the mood for your evening at home. When you look at the garage this way, it becomes a very important room.

Jettison the Junk

OK – so we’ve got the landscape of how important it is to get the garage in order, but it’s so overwhelming. Where to start? Here’s an automatic toss list for getting started. In other words, these are things you can get rid of without a second thought and without having to think about recycling – with the exception of some tools that may be rehabilitated via Goodwill.

• Mildewed items
• Rusted nails, screws, etc.
• Broken tools with missing parts
• Old paint that has ever frozen (toxic waste recycling)
• Broken rakes, saws, lawnmowers, whirligigs scooters…
• Flat tires
• Oily rags

Storage

Next, look at storage. By far the quickest way to deal with storage in the garage is to use vertical shelving or racks. Most garages I enter have piles that go up to about four feet, because that’s about as tall as you can stack before things begin to fall, slope or slowly tumble into small pyramids. This is not what is meant by “pyramid power.” Consider these options:

• Vertical storage: Any home improvement store will have their version of sturdy, industrial strength vinyl or plastic shelving. The ones I’m talking about are 18”to 24” deep and 36” wide with shelves placed at least 12” apart. You can stack boxes, store large tools, fake Christmas trees, saddles, or a rack of antlers on the shelves – safely. They’re easy to assemble in multiple configurations, solid, and inexpensive. I’ve seen many a garage transformed quickly merely by using these shelves.

• Pegboard or a section of rod with hooks, to hang yard tools, mops, hoses, extension cords simplifies putting away tools and it keeps the rake from falling on your head while you trying to get to the weed trimmer. Be sure to use a spacer to attach it to the wall so the hooks have space to attach.
• Vertical bike racks for larger bikes or small metal parking slats for kids can hold multiple bikes. These save space and the frustration of moving a bike before you can get into the garage, not to mention the tangle that ensues when they all fall down in a mass of spokes and handlebars.
• A small table or shelf unit next to the door entering the house serves as a parking place for an errand box, removes clutter from the house, and can make for a smoother morning exit. A lamp on top the unit can also make the difference in your mood when entering the garage.

Paint what?

Garage maintenance is never at the top of anyone’s list. That why it’s important to make it easy to do. While I’ve had people giggle and gasp at the next suggestion, it’s actually a feature in new upper-end construction.

Painting the floor with one of the new epoxy paints that come in spatter colors makes cleaning up oil spills of paint a breeze. It also looks great and actually makes you want to keep the garage clean. Painting the garage interior with a semi-gloss or high gloss is actually high on my personal list because it makes it lighter, smells are not absorbed as easily into painted surfaces and finally, it’s easier to clean.

Just for Fun

Finally, for an extra pick-me-up when you drive into the garage, put a fun poster right in front of your car or on the garage side of the door entering into the house. You’d be surprised how nice it is to come home to a cheery image.

The bottom line on garages is this: if your mood drops when you walk into your garage, it a signal that it’s not working for you in other areas f your life. This is a great time of year for this; it’s cooler, bugs have slowed down, and it’s about time to find those holiday decorations. Kids are forever wanting money and are therefore usually eager to help if you let them keep any funds they earn from the re-sale or garage sale of old toys. EVERYONE enjoys and gets better use of the garage when it’s organized and clean.

So enjoy your new project. If you start it now, you’ll actually be able to find those Christmas or Hanukah decorations, clean out the “white elephant” presents you received last year and make room for more! Now that’s a cheery thought…

The post The Garage appeared first on Nancy Wesson Consulting.

Reprinted from The Austin Homesteader,  2002

Ever find yourself muttering “Now – where DID I put those keys, screwdriver, car-proof of insurance (sorry officer I know I put it in a safe place …..).  It’s like those squirrels!  They spend half the summer and fall burying nuts and tidbits in a safe place so they can find them in hard times.  If it’s such a safe place, how come they’re frantically diggin’ up your entire yard trying to find the little buggers later.  If you’re identifying with the squirrel here, you may have a problem with ……. CLUTTER. 

Where Did it Go?

You know those Christmas presents you bought in the summer for 75% off, then went home feeling all smug and efficient, and put them in a place nobody would find them?  Well, did you find them?   If your answer was “yes”, but not until you were looking for the BBQ equipment next summer, this article may be of some interest.  Clutter is the real reason everything important goes on the refrigerator door.  It’s the only thing in the house too big to misplace. 

OK, you’re right; everyone has these “moments” of forgetfulness.  I too have wandered the mall parking lot looking for my car.  I have occasionally misplaced my keys, put the screwdriver in the fridge, and  milk under the sink.  But we’re talking chronic, can’t find it, embarrassed to have people over, late for work, can’t iron your clothes because you can’t find the iron or the top to your favorite suit, would answer the phone if you could find it, etc. kind of chaos.

Managing Your Energy

Whether you are a true “keeper” or organized to the max, the fact is that you have devoted your energy to everything you have in your space and in your life.  An item becomes clutter when: you don’t use it, don’t like it, or can’t find it when you need it.  Everything in your life either supports you or sucks your energy.  Things or relationships that are broken, stacks of things you should have done or events you feel you should attend, items or acquaintances you’re hanging on to out of guilt or other pressures are things that drain your energy.  Things that make you feel good to hold or look at are not clutter, even if you rarely use them, because they support your energy.  The same goes for social “obligations.”

Everywhere you look these days, there’s some mention of clutter, or how to organize, simplify life.  Has life become soooooo complex that we have that we have to get instructions about de-cluttering from magazines?   In a word – Yep! 

Noise

Why – because we are so continually inundated by noise (another form of clutter) – auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile , social- that we have become a society of responders.  It’s the squeaky wheel syndrome and at some point the clutter in our lives screams with such excruciating intensity that we have to pay attention.    Computers were supposed to create a “paperless society.”   Yeah – right.   I don’t know about you, but I don’t completely trust having everything in a black box subject to power surges and viruses.  So there are hard copies to file, back-up discs, etc.  

We have more things demanding our attention whether or not we invited them in.  In order to keep up we have to take an extremely pro-active role in protecting our boundaries.  Made a donation lately? Now your name is on the call list for 30 more charities.  Subscribed to your favorite magazine? 

Now you get a daily stack of junk mail offering you everything from instant “skinny” to new and improved body parts. But don’t you just feel compelled to open this stuff??  Well I used to be, but no more! Mail comes in three categories:  personal hand addressed items (keep these – they’re becoming collectors items), correspondence/bills from places we KNOW we have accounts, and all the rest which can be thrown away/shredded without guilt or examination.

Create Your Own Quiet with These Strategies

There are hundreds of books, kits, and related products defining systems to help you organize.  I’m not going to try to summarize those here.  But after years of working with clients, family, myself, and businesses I know there are a few techniques that work for everyone – no matter what your personal style is.

Find Your Emotional Triggers

The first biggie when you hit the clutter wall can be summarized by the question, ”How do I know what to keep and what to throw.”   Nearly everyone gets into a tug-of-war of emotions vs. intellect in going through their “stuff.”   Here’s a trick that bypasses that process, with items that don’t have to be kept for tax or legal purposes. 

Make a list of 20 people you know – first names only and the first that come to mind, not ust friends.  Have someone call the names out and pause after each name. Notice how you feel when you hear the name.  Usually, it’s quite definite.  You may feel a lightening of your mood, or an instant tightening of the chest or knot in your stomach.  Feelings can usually be categorized as positive or negative.  The trick is to stay out of the “logical mind” that tells you “of course I like that person, I’ve known them for 20 years.” while that may be true, how do you FEEL about them?

So what in the world does this have to do with clutter?  The point of doing the exercise  is to help you identify what it feels like in your body when a physical thing has a negative impact on you.  Turns out, the same feeling you get from people-associations, occur with objects .  With people, it’s easier to identify the feeling – if it’s the first time you’ve done something like this.  Once you can identify a “body feel”  you can transfer the process to objects . 

Some things will be more obvious – like he mask on the left. Maybe it’s from a grand expedition that brings back great memories, but if it reminds you of the great-aunt you dislike, find a way to let it go.

Take Emotional Inventory

Take a stroll through your house and do an emotional-inventory. Stand in front of a piece of furniture and feel what happens.  Continue selecting objects until you begin to get some “hits.” You may be surprised.  Now move onto smaller objects. Hold one in your hand – Does it feel good or creepy?  It won’t take long before you know the instant you look at something or touch it, whether it results in your feeling good or down about it.  Use that feeling as your keep-or-toss-indicator.  This technique will save you untold hours of agonizing

OK!  Equipped with this intuitive tool, you are ready to change the world.  Too grand a goal you say?  Not really.  Each time you change a little portion of your immediate space your approach toward living becomes happier, more positive, more creative and productive.   These small steps are life changing and empowering. In effecting change in a portion of your life, you mastermind change all around you.  If that’s a little esoteric,  you’ll like the next step.  You get to gather “tools” and get ready. 

Gather Your Weapons/Supplies

Before you start, don’t forget to charge your light saber.  In other words, be prepared.  What you’ll need:

• You’ll need at least three boxes (labeled KEEP, THROW, and HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW), rubber gloves for avoiding paper cuts and bites of small animals that may be hiding in your piles (just kidding), markers, adhesive notes, snacks and water.  You’re going to sort everything in your drawer/closet/ etc. into these three boxes.  This is a quick sort – don’t start agonizing!  That’s why you have the “don’t know” box. 

Start Small

Next, select a s-m-a-l-l project to get started.  Instead of attacking the whole craft room at one time, start with one drawer.

Start sorting.  Just sort.  Do not “pass Go, “  do not collect $200 (it’ll take too long to find it). In fact do not GO anywhere.  Many a project has been derailed by taking just this one thing to another room, only to be ambushed by another drawer in need. Just say no …and stay put.  That’s also why you have all your materials and food right there. Later, you can take your KEEP box and deliver objects to rooms, saving yourself hours of time.

Imagine the Result

Finally, imagine the project finished – how it will   look, feel, smell.  Every successful designer, artist, marathon runner I know sees the project at completion before they start.  It helps. If you need someone to help give you a “jump-start,” you might trade time with a friend willing to sign a blood-oath to keep you on track and not suggest you go to the movies instead – later, perhaps, as a reward, but not instead of!

The office to he left was total chaos, lacking even a path into the room. The mental vision of it completed, helped us start.

If all of your friends tell you they’d rather go through a tax audit, there is still help.  There are actual humans who will come to your home,  help you go through your clutter in a non-traumatic way, and assist you in developing an organization system that works for YOU.  I’m one of those people and I like it.  It’s fun for me.  I know it’s perverse, but truly it makes me happy.  Clients say “ gee, I didn’t know this would be so much fun and look what we accomplished!”  I hear these stories from other professional organizers.  Why?  Because we are not emotionally attached to your stuff and that’s exactly what makes it so hard for you, the owner, to deal with it.

Hiring a Pro

If you’re going to hire a Professional Organizer, find out how they work, how much input they want from you and establish firm guidelines about criteria for “getting rid of.”  Check credentials and references and determine if they have a specialty.  I’m a member of an association called National Association of Professional Organizers, and I recommend you make that a requirement of anyone you select.    An ethical professional will not get rid of belongings/paperwork etc. without your supervision and thorough guidance regarding what is permissible to throw away.  Finally, find someone you like (you’ll be spending a lot of time together).  In order for a system to work over the long haul, it must be an intuitive fit for the client.  You must also communicate what approaches have worked or NOT worked in the past.

Remember, “The moment one definitely commits oneself, the Providence moves too.  All sorts of things occur to help one.  A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”  (The Scottish Himalayan Expedition, by W.H. Murray)

Happy Clutter Busting!!      And stop that muttering!

The post What’s All This Muttering About Cluttering? appeared first on Nancy Wesson Consulting.