Happiness: Putting the Flashlight on the Second Shelf of My Coat Closet.

Something that always cheers me up – when I can muster the energy to do it – is to tidy up. I find it relaxing to put things away, and the resulting order calms my mind. Chucking junk mail, putting dirty clothes in the hamper, arranging everything to fit in the medicine cabinet…these kinds of activities never fail me. When I'm feeling blue, to take action to make an improvement, no matter how insignificant that improvement may be, is a tonic.

Over the past few years, I’ve thought a lot about the happiness power of clutter-clearing, and I discovered something surprising. Although I would have thought it would be easier to put things away in general areas — the coat closet, any kitchen drawer — it’s actually much more satisfying to return item to a highly specific location.

One of life’s small pleasures is to return something to its proper and precise place; putting the flashlight on the second shelf in the coat closet gives me the archer’s satisfaction of hitting a mark. Have you ever seen those peg boards where people have outlined their tools or their kitchen implements, to show where each thing belongs? (I think Julia Child had one.) That’s exactly what I’m talking about.

Now I strive to have an exact place for everything in my whole apartment (except toys – I just throw Polly Pockets and stuffed animals into whatever box, drawer, or shelf is closest, or else I would never have time to do anything else). Obviously, this system makes it easier to find the things I need, which boosts my happiness, but it also boosts my happiness to have that deep sense of placement.

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A friend set me a link to the blog Inchmark, where Brooke Reynolds has a great idea: every time one of her children says something funny, she writes it on a piece of paper and puts it in a jar. When she's feeling blue, she reaches into the jar to pull out a quotation. I write those funny things in my one-sentence journal, but putting them in a jar is much more colorful and accessible.

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Interested in starting your own happiness project? If you’d like to take a look at my personal Resolutions Chart, for inspiration, just email me at grubin, then the “at” sign, then gretchenrubin dot com. (Sorry about writing it in that roundabout way; I’m trying to thwart spammers.) Just write “Resolutions Chart” in the subject line.

Comments

[Karen]

I cannot agree more! I can still feel this weird but very pleasant sense of satisfaction from having fixed the bedroom dresser 3 days ago. There's nothing like knowing EXACTLY where my lip balm is whenever I need it.

[Johnny]

It's definitely satisfying to have items in known places. Having stuff in specified place means I know where to find things, which is much less stressful than having to hunt around. I get a certain satisfaction out of returning things to their designated locations.

[Christopher]

Another great post. I'm wondering how in the world you find time to put together a book, because every post each day is pretty awesome. Is the book going to be a collection of these wonderful gems...or are you actually somehow putting together a parallel compendium/narrative of happiness?

[MikeB]

Great post!

It's funny you mention a special place for your flashlight. I do the same thing with mine. It's not only satisfying but I can easily find it when the power goes out. My garden tool shed is the same way. Shovels, rakes, all hung in the same spot each time.

[Catica]

Yup! I know exactly where my flashlight is, too! The windup kind that I don't need to remember to put batteries in, for our next Big Blackout!

I chuckled about the toys. Guess the girls don't have the happiness-boosting strategy of putting them away, yet, eh? I will never forget walking into my sister's place when we both had small children, and there were no toys on the floor. She had made it part of her routine to have her kids put them in the toybox before reading time. Great idea, I thought, so I did it, too. And now, 18 years later, I have had a 50% success rate. One of my two boys puts things away. THAT boosts my happiness level!

[Helen]

I've painted funny kid sayings on the inside of a couple of our kitchen cabinets. It's easy with painting pens. And we all get a kick out of viewing these sayings as we reach for a glass or whatever.

[Heather]

You sound like me. I'm especially that way with clothes. I can tell you where in my closet a specific shirt is, or on which side of the drawer my purple sweater is.

[Gretchen Rubin]

Christopher, I appreciate your kind words so much -- I fear that people will think that you are my sock puppet! Nope, folks, Christopher is real.

Thanks for giving me a great opportunity to do a little book promotion. The book is quite different from the blog - much more like a long story; a memoir. A blog is great for focusing on one, very specific idea. A book is great for discussing an idea at greater length, telling longer stories, explaining how different ideas link up to each other.

Each chapter of the book covers one month of my happiness experiment, when I focus on a specific area (energy, marriage, work, etc.). So I go into greater depth about the science, the resolutions I tried, what happened to me in that area.

I reveal a lot more about my actual family (e.g., I refer to my family members by their actual names). Somehow, this seems OK in a book but not online -- though I realize that's irrational.

Coming in January! Ok, no more self-promotion.

[FupDuckTV]

I think this sort of advice works well for Type-A Personality Types, but I think the rest of the world see's this sort of obsessing over "everything in it's place" as a mental disorder. Where is the flexibility in your life? This type of behavior is precursory toward obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). If you have more than ten different types of cleaners under your sink ALL exactly in a predestinated place, you are not "organized", you have a problem. "Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"

[Christopher]

A-ha! Thanks for the information Gretchen. I was curious about it since your posts are so good - looking forward to the book!

[Rose]

I used to live in a very small beach apartment with nearly no storage space. Everything in that place was stuff that I used regularly; nothing extra. So I always knew where things were and how much I had on hand. Now that I have a bigger place and a garage, I find it harder to find things. Having a place for everything and then returning it that place is simply logical. It saves time the next time you want it, it saves money because you know what you have and don't buy duplicates. Searching high and low for something is frustrating and doesn't add to happiness.

I love the idea of writing down children's words and putting them in a jar!

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Thank you!
I like very much the writings and pictures and explanations in your adress so I look forward to see your next writings.

[Rose Caplan]

Always a good reminder to clear the clutter. It definitely helps to work in a clutter free environment, and always nice to come home to a neat and tidy house. Thanks for the reminder!