Do you know that frustrating feeling of looking for some tiny object, and thinking “Darn it! I just saw that yesterday!” Sure you do! Homeless objects floundering in some drawer are the problem, Micro-Zen is the cure.

Let’s say for the sake of argument that every object in your home (after finishing your major Zen Cleaning) has a reason for being there, and thus deserves a place to “live.” Your first step in Micro-Zen is to decide where that place will be for each particular object. I will use for an example my favorite clutter category: MAKEUP!
I am a makeup hound. I adore the stuff. I even sell the stuff. My makeup used to like to live everywhere. Not any more! Makeup, I decided, will reside in two places only: my bathroom drawer and my bedroom desk, two places where it will be convenient for me to grab whatever I need in whichever place I’m getting ready. Most people would need only one makeup station but I need two, because I never know when my teenage daughter will be locked in the bathroom doing HER makeup! So for me, it will be one main place and one emergency place.
That being settled, what will contain the items in a way that makes sense for me? Let’s focus on pencils. I tend to have trouble finding them in drawers, so I will put a pretty cup on the bathroom counter which will hold all makeup pencils of every kind.
Now we do a scavenger hunt – the mission is to find every makeup pencil I own and relocate it to the cup on the bathroom counter!
So now you get the Micro-Zen picture: 1) Assign a place; 2) Design a “home” for the object; and 3) Locate all the similar objects and move them to their new home!
This works with everything from batteries to brooms. Think about where the object will be most accessible for you at a moment’s notice, If you have trouble with short-term memory like I do, a list of where you put the new items may be helpful. We put indexes in books – why not make one for our possessions so we can find them quickly when we need them! It feels fabulous to be able to put your hands on something you need, fast.
You will be amazed at how organized you can become by tackling one drawer at a time, one rat hole, one cupboard. Once you start doing this, to maintain your new state of order you must simply tell the objects to “go home” after they are used. It sounds silly, but it is working for me!
Written by: Sheila Talley © 2005