Applying Broken Windows Theory to Home Organization

Spent most of the day Saturday with Mindy organizing the basement. How do we let it slip into such such disarray?

Actually, I do know how.

I had the epiphany on Saturday night as Mindy and I were relaxing from all our hard work by enjoying a $1 DVD rental.  We watched The Whackness a movie set in NYC in the summer of 1994 (warning: do not mistake my reference to movie as a recommendation...it ain't for everyone).

The characters in the movie make several under-their-breath utterances of "Giuliani", signifying their disapproval of the new mayor's crackdown on minor crimes in the city.  Of course, this is in reference to Rudy Giuliani's application of the "Broken Windows" theory of policing, where cracking down on all crimes--no matter how small--leads to a reduction in more serious crime.

There have been plenty of changes in our daily lives since Edwin has graced us with his presence, especially in terms of home organization. 2 major changes in this area: 1) increased laundry & 2) constant furniture rearranging.

Since Edwin's always spitting up on someone's article of clothing, we've developed the habit of just opening the basement door and tossing down the soiled garment to deal with later.  And due to the non-stop furniture rearranging, the basement has become the overflow zone, where we just stick random objects until we can figure out what to do with them.

Well, these things scattered all over the basement become just like the broken windows in NYC. First, there's a pile of dirty bibs at the bottom of the stairs, next there's a random end table in the middle of the room, pretty soon kids are dealing weed behind the furnace (you get the idea).

So we're now inspired to keep the broken windows in the basement to a minimum. Sure, we still toss squash-stained onesies down the basement stairs, but next time one of us goes down there, we move it to the designated dirty laundry area.

Jury's still out on trying to keep the basement from being the furniture overflow zone, but that's where I hope establishing a "nothing new is brought into the house until something old is removed from the house" rule, and that's a post (and a compromise with Mindy) for another day.