Hi friends!
I have been in a state of decluttering for, well, maybe a decade? Maybe all my life. Clutter makes me bonkers, and when things are tidy, edited, and purposeful, I feel like I can breathe easier. I often wonder what makes someone want to become a minimalist. Living in a stark environment with no charm or character. And on the other spectrum, what makes someone a maximalist? Living in an overabundance of acquired whims and rabbit trails. I wonder, is there a happy middle?
Honestly, does it matter?
Yes, decluttering matters.
A quick internet search on why decluttering matters turned up a wealth of research at my fingertips. Here it goes: it reduces stress, calms anxiety, makes us less distracted and irritable, and makes us more productive, more focused, more creative, and the list goes on and on.
So true.
So true.
Apparently, clutter is a major source of stress for many of us. And it’s not always the expected areas that people want to focus on, such as closets, pantries, basements, attics, and garages that are so full that the only place to park ends up being outside the garage. Sometimes, oh yes, sometimes decluttering matters even in the smallest, most insignificant spaces.
I was drowning in a sea of recipes.
I was talking to a friend last week about how I was currently combing through my abundance of printed recipes tucked away throughout my home. Embarrassingly, they were all over the place. Such as,
- File folders for favorite recipes as well as ones that “look interesting.”
- A container full of long-forgotten recipes torn from magazines and from who knows where on the internet.
- Handwritten family recipes stuffed in old-fashioned recipe boxes and inherited folders.
- Index cards from friends, highlighting recipes I know I will never recreate.
Truthfully, I was drowning in this small puddle.
Recipe clutter.
And yet, life has so much happening and legitimate fires to put out. Recipes aren’t that important to spend time on, right? Oh! And I gotta keep those plates spinning, so who cares about my food-stained and wrinkled stashes of printed papers?
Therefore, I’ve ignored them.
Until I couldn’t anymore.
I was drowning in a sea of recipes.
Recipe cleanup on aisle 1.
One place. One location.
You’ve heard the saying, “A place for everything and everything in its place?”
Legend has it that Benjamin Franklin penned this quote, and he certainly advocated order and efficiency in all areas of life. Which makes you wonder… What was going on with old Ben that made him stress the importance of organization? There were no Amazon, Temu, Pinterest boards, printers, or Container Stores at the time.
What gives?
The principle is to have a spot that makes sense. Use what you have. Return said item to the spot. A place for everything and everything in its place.
What good is a stash if you don’t use it?
So, I decided to tackle my printed-off recipes from the internet, recipes gifted to me when I asked, “Can I have the recipe?”, recipes from my mom, my aunt, my grandpa, my other aunt, and magazines read and ripped over the years.
One file, one box, one old metal tin at a time.
Now, recipes I love are three-hole punched and in a bright blue notebook gifted to me by my dear friend Linda. It sits proudly on the shelf with my favorite cookbooks.
You can’t organize clutter.
Clutter can’t be solved with a cute container from the Container Store. Or even a bright blue notebook gifted from a dear friend. Because it’s still clutter. Fun fact, that adrenaline rush from a cute printed label attached to a container isn’t solving anything in the long run.
Want my advice?
Organizing MUST start with eliminating.
This, my friends, is the secret sauce to everything organization.
Eliminate first.
Start small.
Think like an editor.
What’s the storyline? What are you trying to achieve?
Does this cardboard box of 1935 ladies’ gloves inherited from your Aunt Peggy fit your narrative? (Asking for a friend.)
Are the recipes handed down from your mom/grandma/Aunt Peggy fit your story arc? Let’s face it, margarine and all those recipes cut from the sugar package aren’t making a comeback for me personally.
Start small.
If it’s overwhelming to gather all your recipe papers and stashes in one area, then just tackle one at a time. Don’t stop until it’s done, even if you only have 20 minutes a day. Because in three days, that is an hour. And in a week, that is two hours. It snowballs, and before you know it, it’s done.
Ahhhh, now you can breathe again.
The moral of the story.
No lives were saved because I eliminated, edited, and then stored my recipe stash in a bright blue notebook. Like, seriously, no fireworks were lit in my honor because of this great grand achievement. No ceremonial medal was placed around my neck while our great national anthem boomed in the background.
But…
I gotta admit…
…my drive, creativity, and meal planning enthusiasm have GREATLY improved.
Who knew?
Who knew something so small could make a significant difference in my life?
Every single meal.
May you conquer those piles and live abundantly.
Eat well, my friends.
Lyndi
P.S. If you’re an app lover, check out REciMe Plus to store all your recipes digitally and organized by customized categories. There are in-app purchases, so there’s that. Lyndi, out.
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