Well, one of the questions
I get asked quite a bit is, how do I know how many to
keep? How many of each thing? How do I know if I go too
far? Get rid of too much? Or actually I think the worst part
would be to keep too much, right? To know you could go further safely,
but we just don't know, right? We don't know what we don't know. So today let's talk about this
idea of count or container. When I'm decluttering a
certain category of stuff, should I go by count or
should I go by container? It makes it a whole lot easier,
takes out the guesswork, takes out some of the emotion as
well. So let's talk about that today. [Music]. Adeline just finished some
really good-looking banana bread. I wish you could smell how good it
smells in our kitchen right now. You've become kind of an expert
at banana bread, haven't you? I really wish you could smell the
kitchen, but there's a whole nother loaf. If you want to come over for banana
bread later, just let me know. Alright, so let's talk about this idea of how do
we know how much stuff to keep and how we can use this idea of
count or container to decide. So here's what I'm talking about.
In some things in our kitchen, like pots and pans, I've said I kept three because
we have three burners that work. But when it comes to other things like
dish towels, I honestly don't care. Like I've never done the math
or the science to be like, well, we use 1.5 dish towels per day, and it takes two days to get through
the laundry, so therefore we need to, you know, whatever. Like I
don't care about that, right? So then I just say they
have to fit in this drawer. And the container method was coined
by Dana from A Slob Comes Clean. And she really used that to
declutter her whole house. So I'm a huge proponent
of the container method. I have another video called
Make the Boundaries the Bad
Guy that goes along with this, so I'll link to that down below. But this idea that for
some stuff in our house, we want to count it and go by
count. And for other things, we just want to set a container and
go by what comfortably fits in there. So what I want to do today is just take
you around some different spaces in our home and show you where I used count and
where I used container and how much of each of those things that we kept.
So as long as we're in the kitchen, we might as well get started here. So
like I said, when it comes to dish towels, I don't care. I do not care
how many dish towels we have. So I have assigned them
to this drawer here. Dish towels and dish cloths
just need to fit in here. If I ever have to do that thing where I
have to hold it down while I'm pushing in, then I know that we have too many and
I'll go through and I'll pull out a towel to be used as a rag, or I
will just get rid of it. And so another area where I've done that
is with the potholders in this drawer here next to the stove. I just keep
however many comfortably fit in there. Again, I don't actually care how
many potholders we have, right? I don't want to think of them like,
on a normal week, we use this many, but Thanksgiving week we need
many more. It's just like, what fits in the drawer is what we keep
and that has been working great for a very long time. One other example of that in here is we
keep our plastic bags in this drawer. I dunno, is that weird that we keep our
plastic bags in a drawer? I don't know. But it works well, and we just keep
what comfortably fits in there. If we start to get too many, then we
bring them to the store to be recycled. So for these types of items, I have just set a container and we keep
what comfortably fits in there. Again, I don't want to struggle
with the drawer, right? Like we need to be reasonable
with how much we keep in there, but I use those containers
as the limit. Now, on the other hand, like I
said, with our pots and pans, I could fit more pots and pans in
our kitchen. But I don't want to, because I don't want to ever have
a big stack of dishes next to the sink. So when it comes to pots and pans, and also our dishes that we use on
a regular basis, like cups, bowls, plates and that kind of
stuff, that I go by count. So I have three pots and pans because
we have three burners that work. For our plates and dishes, each member of our family has two cups
and then one bowl and one small plate and one big plate. Again, this
is just what works for us. You can do your own count or you could
just decide to use a container for this. It depends how you look
at it. For me, again, I look at it as I need
dishes to be self-limiting. I don't want them to get piled up by the
sink because then I don't do the dishes because I get overwhelmed. Right now,
how we have it by having so few dishes, they can all get used,
they can all get dirty, they can all be stacked up next to
the sink and it's not that many. We'd run the dishwasher once and
we're back to the beginning again. And so that's why I used
count for those things. But the things that it just
doesn't matter, I'm just like, throw it in a drawer and be done with
it. Because I don't care so much. So basically then as you look
around our whole kitchen, that's how I went about decluttering it.
Did I want to go by count or container? Is it something that just the
number does not matter? Okay, let's simplify it down to what comfortably
fits in here or is it something where I have an intention behind the
number, then let's go by a number. But both of those work very well
to help take the emotion out of it. I can't feel bad about decluttering dish
towels because they just don't all fit. So I'm putting in my favorites and
then usually the ones that are left, I'm not as attached to, so then it's not too hard to move
those out of the kitchen. Alright, why don't we head into the bathroom and
I'll give you a couple of examples in there. Okay, so now when it comes to this
bathroom, this is our full bathroom, I'll show you some things
in our other bathroom too. But this is actually our only
linen closet in our entire house. So this storage space is
actually fairly valuable. So when it comes to towels, I go by count. So we have one bath towel per person
and roughly about one washcloth too. So that I go by count, because we
just don't have a lot of space here. But then when it comes to
things like cold medicine, I go by container. So I know now that if this
container starts to get over full, it usually means there's some
empty bottles in here or expired. So I go with what comfortably
fits in here, and like I said, I know if it starts to
overflow, we have too many. So I don't want to keep inventory
of how many cough syrups we have, and what kind and what type. I
don't want to inventory that, like I don't care that much.
So this I go by container, but bath towels I go by
count. On the other hand, many of you actually have
really large linen cabinets, and so you could probably
keep a ton of towels. So if we went by what
fit in the container, you would probably have way too
many. But if we go by count, like one per adult or two
per adult or one per adult, plus two guest bath towels,
whatever works best for you, then we're gonna be able to pair down
further than what fits in the container. Likewise, we only have
one set of sheets per bed. We don't really have a
lot of space to store it. I do like the tip that if
you have extra sets per bed, that you store them in
the bedroom with it. So you don't even have to use your
linen closet for that. But for us, we've just decided one set works great. I don't even have to think about
anywhere else to store those sheets. So that's another example
where I went by count, not by what fits in the container. But you pick out what
works best for you, right? This has been working well for us
for like, I dunno, seven years now. So I feel very confident
about that decision, but you get to decide how many
of each thing that you keep. So let's talk about some kids'
stuff. When our kids were little, for their toys we went by container. So
we had our toy bins. They're from Ikea. They don't have them in black
anymore. We get asked that a lot, but it was just what
comfortably fits in those bins. And then now they've kind of been
growing out of toys, which is sad. We still have Legos, of course. So,
but now as they're getting older, we're playing more games with them. And so what we've decided is that when
it comes to board games, I go by count. So you'll always find three
games or boxed games here, and they'll rotate out. We have a
few more in our closet upstairs. But then this basket has all of our
card games and that I don't limit. They just have to fit in there.
And it's kind of nice too, because then if a random card or
piece is floating around the house, we just throw it back in there, and so eventually it gets back into
the set even if not immediately. So it's kind of nice that we
just have a home for those too. So as long as they fit in the
basket, then they're good. If the basket starts overflowing,
then I'll go through it. And I'll know by then that there's a game
or two in there that we're not playing anymore, and then we'll pass those on. But here's another instance
where we use count and container. Okay, so now we're in our other bathroom
and this is where I keep all my stuff. And still one of the hardest
things for me to get rid of is beauty products and hair products
that I've spent money on. Oh, it's just because usually
they're expensive, right? And so it's really hard
to get rid of them. So I'm going to show you how I
use count and container in here. So when it comes to my makeup bag,
like my everyday makeup, I go by count. I only want to have one of each thing
that I use in here. No more, no less, I want to just have the stuff
I use every day to get ready. Now I'll show you where I use container. Okay, so in this drawer, this is where I put my makeup
bag when I'm not using it. And then behind it, I've
designated my container, or my space, for random
beauty products that I'm just, I'm not sure. This is where I put the foundations that
Diana gets me that she really wants me to use, but I just still
don't like liquid foundation. So I'll put them in there.
She just got me this CC cream. It was a little bit too light. I need to
just give it back to her, but I'm like, well, but maybe in the winter it would
work. In the summer it's too light, but winter, it might be fine.
Another, this one's a BB cream. So I allow myself this, I don't know, in a way it's probably like quarantining
it because eventually most of the stuff ends up going. But it has to fit in
here. So any extra beauty products, skin products, makeup products, this
is where I put them. And I'm just like, I'm okay with that. That's my container
where they go, it can't be overflowing, I still need to fit my makeup bag in
here. But I just allow myself that space, and it kind of has worked. I mean, sometimes I'll go back and use
some of the products in there. Otherwise it kind of works
as a good detaching space
and then eventually I'll go on and donate them or get rid of them. So I am all about donating stuff
before it goes bad so someone else can use it, but it's still, like if you've
spent money on it, it's still hard, right? And then down here I've showed
you recently, again, I go by container. So what fits in these containers easily,
comfortably, I will keep. And I did, I had shown you a while back where I
created this bin for my hair products. So the outer bin was from Target and
then I just put a cutting board from the dollar store in the
middle with packing tape. But this has worked really well
because everything stands up in there. I wrap the cord around, put it in,
and that has worked really well. So this is my container for styling
tools and then the other two containers for products. And that has worked
great. If somebody doesn't fit, then I find something else that I want
to get rid of and take out. But again, you can look at it two ways. You
can be like, Oh, that's so limiting. Or what I've come to realize, but especially because I've
been doing this awhile, is that if I have more products
than what fit in these two bins, I'm not using them. There's
stuff that's gone bad, there's stuff I don't like that I'm just
keeping because I spent money on it. And so I would never possibly in my
life use more than what fits in here. So by just respecting those
boundaries or those limits, it really does cause me to
only keep stuff that I'm using. So the limits and the
containers aren't bad. It helps to make some of
these tough decisions for us. And of course, this is also helpful when it comes
to random things we like to keep, but we know we don't need
as many, but yet it's hard. Maybe like boxes or jars or padded envelopes, you're like, I could
use this again. It's useful. So instead of trying to
count how many we would keep, let's just set a container. So we set one space where we keep
these in a closet or a cabinet. That's our container and we
just keep what fits in there. So we just keep the nicest boxes. And the nicest padded envelopes.
And if I get a new one, I go to there and I take out a
different one or, you know what I mean. You switch them in and out as you'd
like, but that's the container, that's the limit, and that determines
how many I keep. Just so you know, this happens in my house. I just made a 10 minute lap around the
house and there's food containers out that didn't get put
away and anyways, okay. It's just constant, having
to put stuff away. Alright, so I hope this helps though, that as you're decluttering
and simplifying your house, to be able to ask yourself, okay, when
I'm trying to decide how many to keep, should I go by count or
should I go by container? And deciding what's the best fit for
you and that item and how you use it. Count or container. Either way, it's just helping to create a boundary
so that it takes some of the emotion out of this, some of the guesswork out of it. And it just gives us some kind
of guideline for decluttering. So I hope that helps.
I would love to know, have there been any areas in your
house where you've used this, where you've gone by count or container? If you would share some of
those examples down below, it's really helpful to others
too. And then, like I said, I do have that other video,
Make the Boundaries the Bad Guy, where I go through more
examples of it as well. So if you're looking for some more
ideas, you can check that out too. But thank you so much for watching,
if you haven't done so already, I hope you subscribe so we can spend
more time together. But I love you, have a great day and I'll look
forward to seeing you again soon.
