The Three Clutter Hurdles, Cleared Like a Hero. Mrs Asaba's Kitchen revolution, and how you can have one too.

Can you handle a full-on Revolution?

'Are you willing to let go of 50 per cent of your kitchen stuff? I asked 'Yes!' said Mrs Asaba. '70 per cent is good too. I want a fresh start'. Her radiant smile lights up her face like the sun.

'Is your 'inner self' feeling safe enough to give up stashing food from the shops? 'Yes!' She said. I did a little victory dance inside.

Mrs Asaba was born during the war, hungry times. She always buys two of everything 'I don't like to run out' she used to say when I teased her about it. Double buying leads to not being able to find anything, buying even more. The clutter mounts, and so, she is realizing, does the waste.

The third question is so trivial, but its the action that many people can't bring themselves to do:

'Are you okay for us to buy a full set of clear matching containers? And throw away the mismatched ones?

'Yes!'

That's three 'Yes'es.

We can do it!

What will you do with the extra space once we've decluttered? I wanted to know. 'Have dinner parties. Feel free. Feel rewarded for all my years of working. Inspire my children.'

So Mrs Asaba and I then set about sending workshop invitations, for 'Candy Asaba's Kitchen Revolution', at Asaba Art Square. For 30 years Mrs Asabas 'realm' has been one of my second homes, and place I hold my permaculture design workshops.

Candy Asaba's Kitchen Revolution.

I'm going to share with you how we proceeded, in the hope it will start a revolution of your own.

Weekend Workshop, like a Long Party

We planned a 2-day series, Saturday and Sunday, with ten people paying to coming each day, just enough for me to manage in her kitchen. I ran my design slideshow and workshop in the morning. They shared why they were here, their wishes, dreams and struggles for their own decluttered homes. The best way to implement this new knowledge is to start on someone else's house and experience easy success there. It makes your own mountain of clutter look quite friendly when you get home. So Mrs Asaba's clutter wins, the students win, with a workshop like this.

See the group photographed in the garden? That's a garden created in one of my workshops, 14 years ago. Its constantly re-created, because Mrs Asaba builds thrillingly active communities around her projects. This kitchen will be one of them.

What did people do?

One group were given the cutlery draws to sort on the verandah. Then they came back for their next task. Another group chose only the most loveable-looking crokery, and put the rest in the 'charity' pile. Only one set of plates were kept for parties. All the oval dishes that don't stack nicely were sent to go annoy somebody else.

A big group sorted the packaged food, making an 'expired and unwanted' pile for Mrs Asaba to check, and decanting the rest into the 80 or so containers we had purchased.

'Tower of Power' Container System

The containers were from the 100 yen store, $1 each, yet high quality, because this is Japan. They fit all my requirements: Stackable, clear, shallow and long. All the round, opaque tins were full of forgotten things, some got rescued. The tins were sent to charity.

Sticktape, marker pens weak stickers were used to label everything. Not my usual method, but it will work. No permanent stickers. This is a flexible system. Big packets of things like flour get divided into two or three of these 'standard' containers, so there is very little 'Zombie' space. If you have big tall containers, they spend most of their life full of air, with a tiny bit of produce in the bottom. The goal is, to have 'Towers of Power' chock solid with food, inviting and visible in one glance, with no need to fossick around.  'Oftenest-closest' is the rule. Favourite things at eye level, party things up high. There are access aisles between, and even the rarely-used things at the back can be seen.

So that's what we did.

The 'Towers of Power' container stacks took up less than half the space of the original tangle of forgotten food and half-empty containers. That gave us lots of empty cupboards to play with. Cupboards got proper titles: Tea cupboard. Condiment cupboard. Drygoods cupboard.

Patterns that create harmony

The pattern is: nothing 'homeless' on the floor, or hanging around. This makes a home feel loved and stable, and makes the cook feel expansive, not compressed or oppressed.

The microwave was taken off the bench and tucked in beside the toaster oven on the easy-reach shelf. A family!

Window space is precious. Protect them by putting clear things only on the sills, so the light comes in. A vase of flowers is in its element with the light shining through it.

Someone suggested putting the spice rack on the shelf, so Candy-sensei can enjoy and use them more. They fit perfectly. All the 'pretty' round wicker baskets were banished, and their lollies and and old tea packets were given better homes. We got new rubbish bins that fit the space invisibly, as good infrastructure should.

Before, the shelf was full of things that got put on and around it, for no real reason. We re-homed or decluttered everything. Now people can sit on stools, help chop veggies and chat to the cook. I am, after all, a togetherness designer.

The workshop was held downstairs, in Mrs Asaba's cafe and party space. You can see the slide of my favourite 'Patterns', the design principles I find most helpful as I navigate my days. It's so funny. It's happened that I've visited someone and said 'This looks like my kitchen: it has guard flowers on the sink, Zones, the lot' and they said' Because I went to your workshop years ago'. The patterns stick.

Reasons Participants joined the workshops:

To get along better with their spouse.

To feel honoured in their home.

To one day create an intentional community, with harmony built in as far as possible.

To have a better Zen spiritual practice.

To make their AirBnB property more inspirational.

And more.

We shared a lunch of wonton soup and onigiri, under an umbrella by the lemon tree Mrs Asaba's dad had planted, years before. There were home-grown vegetable dishes participants brought to share, making it a potluck party.

This transformation took only 4 hours.

The actual declutter sessions were just two hours each. We were at peak chaos ten minutes before the finish line, so the countdown was thrilling, we cleared the decks, stuffed rubbish in bins, and made it amazing. When you have a life mission, good design principles, and practice it over many many years, it does start to look magical.

Here a photo of us gathering afterwards, for a shared prayer and breathwork, and an 'Oum'. Not lead by me. I've done enough! We shared reflections on how the day impacted us. That's the bit where I purr like a cat, and feel so glad I chose this design life.

If you are a designer and want to lead a decluttering revolution like this one, contact me and I'll give you encouragement and support. If you want to hire Cecilia to make magic happen for yourself or a friend, send that email request, and let's get the new realm happening.