Avoid clutter by avoiding covetousness

One of the 10 commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai is very helpful for avoiding clutter.

“Thou shalt not covet…” (Exodus 20:17)

The opposite of covetousness is contentment.

In the age of Moses, societies that coveted would go on conquests and try to take what they wanted with violence.  People who envied the Jones family wouldn’t work to have what the Jones family had; they would attack and loot the Jones family instead.  (I’m really glad I don’t live back then..)

In modern times, covetousness traps us in acquisitiveness and prevents us from enjoying what we have.  It traps us in a hostile envious state of mind that gets in the way of us realizing the work we need to put in to be blessed the same way.

Covetousness sees any reduction in the amount of goods one has as a threat, rather than a blessing, no matter the reason, no matter the goods.  Covetousness sees more as better, no matter what.  Covetousness has no conception of priorities or stewardship, no idea of consecration, no way to tell how much is enough, and no enjoyment of security.  Security is always just out of reach.

Now, let’s look at the full verse. 

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. (Exodus 20:17)

If you notice, these are all tangible things listed.   What about spiritual things?  Is it okay to covet our neighbor’s spiritual gifts?   Perhaps, if it provokes us to pray and seek for obtain those gifts ourselves in order to bless others as our neighbor does.   And the cool thing about spiritual gifts is that they can’t be taken away and they don’t clutter the house!  J

Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!

Product Analysis for ADD: The hanging toiletry bag

http://www.ikou.com.au/contents/en-us/p784_Product_510.html

Hanging toiletry bags like this one from iKOU seem to promise us AD/HD people that we can attain organization.  After all, look at all those pockets!  This is when we dearly need to analyze the product to see if it really will work with our unique needs.  One of the best ways to do this is to actually go through the motions of using the product and notice where you start to get annoyed with it and notice where you begin to think of avoiding using part of it.  (Playing with it requires that you be at a store, rather than buying it online.)  Here's what I found when I analyzed a folding travel bag that was very similar to this one.

Good points

• The pockets are see-through.  AD/HD people are very visual, so we need to be able to see what we have.  

Bad points

• It takes more effort to put toiletries back into its bag than it does to just leave toiletries on the bathroom counter.  
• You have to remember which pocket each toiletry goes in once you take it out.
• No matter where you hang this in the bathroom, some part of it will be awkward to get to.  Hanging it from the shower bar (up high) will make it awkward to reach into the top compartments.  Hanging it from the towel bar (chest level) will require you to stoop to reach the bottom compartments.  This ensures putting toiletries back every day will hassle an AD/HD person.

 With more bad points than good points, this product will probably not serve an AD/HD person as well as, say, something with one compartment that you can just throw things in.  

The only time this might actually be a good idea is if you travel a lot and change hotels every night.  Another situation in which it might be helpful is if you share a bathroom with a lot of people and there's not room for everyone to store their toiletries there. (But in that situation a caddy would probably work better than this.)

Thinking about what you will have to do to use an organizing product is an important part of shopping for organizing supplies.  A product can look like the coolest thing in the world, but if it doesn't make life easier for you and doesn't fit into the way you do things, it's just a waste of money.

Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!