Purgatory Zones

Purgatory Zones, AKA corners-where-junk-piles-up, are one of Pilo’s core realms of power. Behind the door, on your dresser, under that one shelf, etc etc etc. We all have them, its just a natural part of not being Marie Kondo. Yet, even us sad not-marie-kondos can learn how to tame these zones of chaos!

We just have to understand them. Why do they come into being, and how can we sooth them?

Purgatory Zones exist for two reasons:

• A space’s purpose isn’t well defined
• A category of your belongings doesn’t have a defined home

Purposeless spaces

Intention, or doing things on purpose, is one of the core tenants of creating a beautiful home. When we don’t know exactly why a space in our house exists, we abuse it. Since we don’t know what its for, we’ll put ANYTHING there.

Homeless objects

Mostly, we put things that don’t have a home in those purposeless spaces. After all, if they don’t have a home, where else could we possibly put them?

Fixing the problems:

Now that we understand the problems, finding the solutions is easy: Both of these problems come down to intention, and putting these two problems together like puzzle pieces.

1. Look at your Purgatory Zones. What are the actual items that are piled there? The first question to ask is, does this type of item have a home? If its piles of paper, put them on the desk, if its dirty mugs, put them in the sink, if its trash, put it in the trash. But maybe its something else, something that you just don’t know where to put it!
2. This is a homeless item. Collect all your homeless items and categorize them. Some that I found in my Zones were sewing supplies and worn-once-but-still-clean clothes. The sewing supplies were easy: I found a nice little box they fit inside and put them in there. The box now sits on my coffee table and looks extremely cute. The clothes were harder.
3. If you can’t make a home for all of those items immediately, make a plan (and do it!!!) and take care of those at a later date. (tomorrow!!!)
4. Now we look at the Purgatory Zones themselves. Some will resolve themselves once your items all have a home, like your coffee table, but some need some real thinking. One of mine was a little side table that was super cute, but I didn’t really have a use for it. I solved this by putting a lamp and a coaster on it, and putting it next to my couch. Now its useful! Another Zone was the space behind my door. I put a box on the floor to hold some assorted items, and put some hooks on the wall. Now I keep my hats and scarves on the hooks!

Now, don’t forget to actually go out and get whatever you need (new furniture, wall hooks, a little box) and actually give your homeless items a new home! Its worth it. Simply having those new spaces where your stuff actually belongs makes it easier to motivate and clean your house! Once you take the time to look at your spaces and make some improvements, you will literally become happier and less stressed in your home. A happy house is a happy you.

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