BunsenBurner, I have definitely seen the conditions that you are describing. My two “favorites” are the peroxide-encrusted reagent bottles in the hood of one group’s “Safety” officer, and the small vials of chemicals in the inverted eyewash caps (which go over the eyewash spray sections). But that is–knock on wood–mostly in the past for my department. These were not in my lab, I hasten to add! Generally, I think that the women in the building have better safety records than the men.
PG, the advice to discard broken things that are not going to be fixed (realistically) did work for me.
PG–I have an intermediate level of organization with regard to the paper items you list. Taxes–100% in order. Passports–ditto. Warranties–uh, yeah, I was planning to take care of that. Buying multiples? I probably have 7 pairs of scissors, but otherwise not too many duplicates of anything.
Was there advice that struck you as interesting/good/useful that you had a hard time putting into action?
I know sometimes I spend so much conceptualizing a structure or solution that I don’t get around to implementing it.
Nothing stands out immediately, PG, but I will think about it and get back to you.
That’s because scissors consistently disappear into the black hole that also eats socks. You can never have too many scissors.
I loved the Kondo books–no, they weren’t life changing, but they provided me with some helpful tips to create a better system of organizing/folding things (especially clothing). I tend toward minimalism anyway and am always giving away/recycling stuff/throwing away clothes/household goods/furnishings that are no longer useful.
I definitely have a personality quirk that requires orderliness–all of the Kondo stuff appeals to me. I have two things on my counters: a coffee machine and a pottery crock of kitchen tools (primarily tongs of different sizes). Everything else has a place in a pantry.
The quasi-Mondrian of your user icon is kind of a give-away about your tendency toward minimalism, Bromfield2.
I didn’t find Kondo life-changing, and I’m not going to fold stuff the way she does, but the concept of not holding onto something that doesn’t spark joy speaks to me. Seriously, my H leaves for a week on Sat and I am going to declutter like crazy! First job - going through the Tupperware type containers and ensuring everything has a match - if it doesn’t, it’s gone.
^^Report all your progress on the “bag a week” thread!!! 
Your work = our inspiration!
Quant–It isn’t a quasi-Mondrian. It is a photo of a Mondrian that’s in one of the Harvard University museums. You’re right; it is a give-away.
If you google “spark joy funny meme” or “konmari funny meme” there are dozens of hilarious ones about giving away teenage kids, spouses, etc.
That is extremely interesting, Bromfield2. I don’t know that I have seen a Mondrian before where the black bars did no extend fully alongside the red and blue sections. Is that an effect of the photograph, or is the one in the Harvard museum just like that? Oddly, I must have some order-fanatic part of my personality, because I would like to extend the black sections to make them end flush with the frame!
Now if I could remember to take the scissors and knives to the sharpening guy at the Sat farmers market. I borrowed scissors where I was, the other day, and had that moment of rush as I felt the clean, crisp cut.
I didn’t find Kondo said anything new, not even the appreciation thing. (Though I did say goodbye and thank you to some old clothes before they went away.)
Cleaned off my counters this am. (Enough to look organized.) Only because I thought the handyman friend was coming. But in that burst, also repotted plants, tidied in the refrig, made croutons, folded laundry.
［quote]“don’t know that I have seen a Mondrian before where the black bars did no extend fully alongside the red and blue sections. Is that an effect of the photograph, or is the one in the Harvard museum just like that”［/quote］
Sorry for continuing with the digression, but that’s a KEY component of Mondrian’s work! The lines are never perfect; they are often different widths from each other; they may not go all the way to the end; some of them may go beyond the frame while others stop at the edge of the frame; they may not be perfectly perpendicular to each other ( hence the resulting squares and rectangles are not perfectly square). That’s a key part of the game he’s playing! Each of these imperfections leads to another move to create balance.
Anyway, carry on.
That’s a particularly good Mondrian and it is the imperfections of the black bars that makes it so!
That is very interesting, nottelling. It’s different from all of the Google images for Mondrian that show up near the top when I search for them.
Follow-up:
I ran a quick check of the Mondrians at http://www.piet-mondrian.org/piet-mondrian-paintings.jsp
Of those, Composition 2 from 1922 had the same feature that is seen in the painting at Harvard, but the other ones I saw had the color blocks “square off.” I agree that the widths of the bars differ.
(Yes, I have been avoiding work. Back to that.)
You need to look a little more closely. That’s the famous thing about many of the paintings; some of the lines don’t go all the way to the edge. But whatever.
To bring it back to the thread, it’s a metaphor. Too much order is just as stulifying as total chaos.
And to continue off topic with the Mondrian, there’s a painting we saw at the contemporary art museum in San Francisco of a Mondrian that had a first version and then he jazzed it up after coming to New York and getting inspired by boogie-woogie music. It’s this one: https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/98.294
I did look again, nottelling. From a quick survey of 5 works, I found one more where the lines are not flush:
Composition a 1923, one grey area on the left
(Sheesh, Piet, finish your work!)
But I found 4 where the lines look to me as though they go to the edge, and block off the section.
Composition c, 1935
Composition ii Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930
Composition iii with blue, yellow and white, 1936
Composition n i with red and blue, 1931
I see the point about the absence of true perpendiculars. That is very interesting, and something I had not realized about Mondrian’s work before.
I might still be missing something on the 4 above. I am pretty bad at spotting the 6 differences between two pictures. Also, the computer is at an awkward position for both my reading glasses and my blended bifocals. (Yeah, that’s the ticket, I am sure it’s my glasses!)
Soooo… Bathroom counters. Lots of “products” or a lonely bottle of Aveeno? I’m in between. There are two bamboo trays, on for Mr., one for me. What does not fit into the tray, goes either into the trash or the cabinet below.
Medicine cabinets - yes or no? I say NO.
Just peeked into the niece’s (temporary) bathroom. OMG!!! 12 thousand bottles of things I never knew existed. Neither of the kiddos have amassed such an army of beauty necessities. LOL