Easy Ways to Get Organized and Change Your Life

A couple of weeks ago, I came across a charming little book that helped me fulfill a third wish on my home improvement Wish List—coming up with a comprehensive organization and speed-cleaning plan. It’s called 27 Things to Feng Shui Your Home (Trade Paper Press) by Tisha Morris, a feng shui consultant, life coach and interior designer, and its helpful tips on getting organized are so pleasantly written that I actually had fun clearing out some excess stuff in anticipation of the arrival of a few new organizing systems that I’d ordered from Ikea.

The book opens with a Chinese proverb—”If you want to change your life, move 27 things in your home.” The author then proceeds to simply describe 27 moves you can make to create the change you want in your life and explain the reasons why you should do them. Some of the steps Morris describes are expected, like cleaning out a closet, clearing a basement or painting a room. But other tips in this refreshing mini-manifesto are surprising and unconventional, like creating a sacred space, ringing bells to change the energy of a room, or “space clearing” by burning a little sage—a tradition borrowed from Native Americans, who use the technique to symbolically purify a space. Only a few of the ideas are actually about getting organized—though those were the ones I tuned into at the start.

Among the simple tips that I appreciated while I was getting my stuff in order were:

1. Getting rid of unwanted gifts

2. Clearing out old pictures

3. Eliminating “just-in-case” items

I hadn’t really thought much about why I hang onto gifts I don’t want or photos that don’t mean anything to me anymore, but once I read Morris’s uplifting reasons for tossing them or giving them away, I happily embraced these easy-to-avoid chores. Essentially, she sees objects and colors as energy, and if you move or change them, you can unblock stagnant energy and allow new opportunities to flow into your life.

I haven’t tried every idea in the book, but I’m sure I’ll follow through on at least a few more, and I’ll make a point of moving 27 things as I go along just to see what kind of changes might happen in my life. If you need a little shot in the arm to get you motivated to improve your home or change your life, this delightful, helpful and easy-to-read book is a good place to start.