Organizing Sparks Joy
Does your household spark joy? As more people stay at home during the pandemic, they invest more in building their homes. One way is that they look towards organization methods to keep the house tidy.
These methods aim to systemize cleanliness and reduce overall clutter through removal of excess supplies, reorganization of essentials, and building cleanliness habits. These techniques are often taught in offices for companies who want to improve their management. Because of this, the opportunity to learn such techniques come at a hefty price and is often illusive.
However in partnership with ESME Philippines, Maan Cayabyab brings one of these methods in an online setting. In a webinar entitled Introduction to 5S: A Japanese Way of Efficient Organizing with Maan Cayabyab last April 27, she discusses the effects of utilizing a workplace organization method called 5S.
In 2011, Maan Cayabyab learned about 5S, one of the modules under total quality management. Since then, she made it a career to master the technique and share it with others so that their lives can be easier, more effective and cost friendly.
One of the experiences Maan shares about 5S is that she used to do management training for offices before the pandemic, she had the office divided into teams, and she placed them in their respective areas. The teams then decluttered their desk spaces by removing non-functioning supplies such as dried-up pens and finished tape rolls as well as certain sentimental objects which serve only to take up desk space. From her story, we learn that clutter creates confusion. That does not sound like an easy life.
Fast forward to 2021, as a 42 year old mother of three daughters, Mommy Maan uses 5S in her household to systemize the cleaning by distributing the chores among the family members as well as organizing the pantry and kitchen through labels. By doing so, the question, “Ma, nasaan na yung ganito?” is uttered less. According to her, everything can be found in thirty seconds or less because in 5S, there is a place for everything and everything in its place.
She includes her family in implementing the technique because for her, they all live in the same space, so they should be working together in making it work. That being said, one of the more notable feats of 5S as an organizing technique is its flexibility. We can apply it in a home office or in a handbag. Maan shares how organizing the car keys, parking tickets, and the other essentials in a handbag can already reduce the stress and anxiety of misplaced objects. This saves us time and energy that would have been spent to deal with our emotions. In using 5S, we can spend more time on ourselves, allowing us to rest.
For all of us who are eager to declutter and organize the messes we may have neglected, where do we start? Like the story she shared, begin in which area you are responsible for, Maan says. Go forth and be free from clutter with 5S: Efficient Organizing and Home Management.
To watch more of our webinars, click here.
