Organizing Realities vs. Perfection

Oh so pretty, this picture. Yes? Why can’t my pantry look like that. I’ll be gentle – it is unlikely you will find a pantry like that in any active, multi-person household. I don’t want to burst any bubbles here, but to be sure, this is very likely a staged photo in a property for sale. It’s not to say you can’t have a pantry that looks like this but it will take a great deal of time, every day. I expect you get the realities that this is a photo to aim for and that it’s perfection is not likely possible.

In both of these photos, though, getting closer to there would require changing out all your food into separate matching containers. There is nothing like that for an uncluttered uniform look, but don’t forget the time. Begin by doing this for the food you purchase in bulk or in giant economy sizes. For these items, it makes (dare I say) perfect sense. Indeed, if this motivates you to purchase more bulk/eco-sized/un-packaged food, the planet smiles on that, as do I. Claro que si!  For many of your food purchases where pre-packaged containers are the reality, if you want your cereal in it’s own pretty matching container, it takes time to open it’s packaging, discard and put the food into that container (60 seconds?, more) rather than putting it directly on the shelf (3 seconds?).  There’s a balance there.

In an article about perfection, Deep Patel sums up the flaws of perfection with these historical quotes: Voltaire, the French writer, said, “The best is the enemy of the good.” Confucius said, “Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.” And, of course, there’s Shakespeare: “Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.”.  It’s true in life and it’s true in any household too. You can flow with productivity and with little clutter, but not perfectly. Keep in mind what makes sense for your reality and be happy with less than perfect.  You have my permission.