Where are your boundaries?

A surprisingly nag-free approach that can rescue your countertops from clutter.

This week’s hack comes courtesy of urban planning theory. Here’s the quick and dirty: when you notice that clutter in your home is starting to sprawl out, create an arbitrary growth boundary to contain it.

For this post I’m borrowing the framework of Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs), which is something my city (Portland, OR) is renowned for. Portland has a boundary outside of which it simply can’t grow. This both protects the rural and forested land outside the city and forces the city to thoughtfully develop the land inside the boundary. UGBs are thought to result in increased density, more infrastructure, cleaner air, faster access to nature, and generally enhanced livability.

Portland’s growth boundary — eerily similar to my kitchen countertop, as you’ll soon see.

UGBs work basically the same in cities as they do in my house (kidding/not kidding).

In places where items “live” on my countertops, I’ve enacted growth boundaries so clutter doesn’t take over the entire countertop. Stuff begets stuff, so sprawl is often inevitable without a clear strategy.

Exhibit 1a: supplements on the kitchen counter (before)

Don’t worry about our health, we have a cabinet full of more supplements up above. These are just the most commonly-forgotten ones, so there’s been a request to have them in plain sight. But they just stretch out and take up as much space as they want!

Exhibit 1b: supplements on my kitchen counter (after)