Owning Less

“A spoonful of decluttering keeps the stress and chaos down.”  Mary Poppins may not have said this, but surely she thought it.  After all she was all about tidiness.

Articles and books are everywhere on the topic of throwing out the excess “things” in your life.  The methods they propose may be different, but all of the authors seem to agree that owning less is better.  When we own less, they maintain, we are able to see what we need and put it to better use.

This isn’t just true for our homes, cars, or garages.  It applies to our classrooms, too.  How many times have we looked for files, manipulatives, or that pesky form that was due yesterday?  Most of the time we either end up remaking what was in the file, using other manipulatives, or asking for the form again.  Even when we do find the item, we’ve wasted valuable time.

Maybe these suggestions from the pros can help us not just to organize but to toss what we don’t need.

1. Clear our minds.  Cynthia Kyriazis says, “Clutter is symptomatic of delayed decision making.”  Before we can begin to declutter, we must be able to focus on the task.  We must be ready to make decisions.
2. Organization alone doesn’t help with clutter.  Putting hanging files in alphabetical order helps to locate papers more quickly and easily.  However, it doesn’t result in less paper unless we toss at the same time.  How many copies of the multiplication tables do we need?  How long are we going to keep that cute worksheet we haven’t used in the last 5 years?  If we didn’t remember we had it, we won’t miss it.
3. Leave fear behind.  The “what ifs” can get into our heads and make us doubt ourselves.  What if I need fifth coffee mug?  What if I need those faded bulletin board pictures?  What if I ever teach that again?  Coffee mugs can be found everywhere.  Bulletin board pictures are easy to come by.  The teacher who is teaching it now would greatly appreciate the loan.
4. Enlist students’ help.  Ask students what they think of what we have displayed around the room.  They’re most likely to love any bit of their work that’s up.  Putting their work up pleases them, shows their learning, and ultimately goes home with them.  We may be surprised to find what they don’t find useful on the classroom walls.  Posters may just be taking up space.  i.e. They’re displayed clutter.
5. Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Remember that anything worth doing will take time.  Start in one section of your classroom.  Dedicate a certain amount of time per day or week to weeding out what you don’t need.

Don’t become discouraged.  Decluttering is an ongoing process.  The good news is that it becomes easier each time!

Happiness is a place between too little and too much.-Finnish Proverb