Homeostasis is a medical term that refers to the tendency of the human body to seek and maintain balance. What is your house’s “HOME-eostasis?” What is that balanced condition of your home to which you would always like to return?
Homeostasis n. [hoh-mee-oh-stay-sis] The tendency of the body to seek and maintain a condition of balance or equilibrium within its internal environment, even when faced with external changes. A simple example of homeostasis is the body's ability to maintain an internal temperature around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, whatever the temperature outside. (definition from The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.)
Your house’s homeostasis results from preventing clutter, reducing the clutter you have to a manageable and acceptable level, and consistently maintaining your home with systems and routines. It's a state of balance and readiness—the kind of feeling you have when you've just straightened up the house for company to come over for dinner. It’s a state of satisfaction, pride, and comfort. Homeostasis is your definition of success!
There might be different levels of homeostasis depending upon the formality of your current needs. If you need to be ready for your boss to visit, or a local dignitary, or even a camera crew, that is certainly the highest level of readiness! Being ready for a dinner party with friends is another level and being ready for a relaxed weekend is yet another.
We are not talking about perfection, as we’ve often emphasized. Homeostasis is a flexible state that adjusts to transitional times and periods of less or more activity in your lives. The definition will change as your family and situations change.
I have my own checklist for the rooms of my house that is my homeostasis, my definition of success. It’s the level at which I feel most comfortable inviting someone over to visit. Your list will be different, because your home and your family are different. This is your ultimate organizing goal: To know what homeostasis means for your home and have the education, motivation and support to easily and confidently achieve it when things get out of balance (as they surely will).
Make your list today-- take 10-15 minutes to go by each room and note what needs to happen to make you feel balanced and ready. An example: My guest bathroom needs to be clean enough for people to use without my being embarrassed, and have plenty of toilet paper, a fresh hand towel, and soap. Share in the comments any revelations you had while making your list, or just share your thoughts about what a balanced state of readiness means to you.
(This post is partially excerpted from my book, The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life, which contains my personal homeostasis checklist! Click here to read a sample chapter. Available on Amazon.com, at all major bookstores, on our own website, and on the Amazon Kindle.)
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That's an interesting point. As a clean freak, my home is never as clean as I would ultiamtely like it, but it is clean enough to keep my sanity and not be embarrassed if someone is coming over. It you give me 10 minutes notice, I can have things pretty well spiffed up.
We all have overly busy lives, and there needs to be a line somewhere between perfection and sanity.
Posted by: Carole | June 14, 2009 at 11:31 PM
I always love for company to come because I clean just a bit better than a normal day--I like the idea of balance, our homes don't have to look like a picture in a magazine for us to live comfortably and peacefully.
Posted by: Marilyn Bohn | June 18, 2009 at 05:10 PM
I love the suggestion of spending a few minutes to focus on a few items in a room that will make it "feel balanced and ready." While we can often see dozens of things that need to be addressed, narrow it down to three or four specific things, to keep it manageable, and then do them. Nothing succeeds like success!
Posted by: Moira | June 19, 2009 at 09:09 AM
Brilliant!
Was up in the mountains this weekend and had the opportunity to go through a spectacular home with a friend. Everything was in its place including the closets that the Realtor opened up for us. We walked out of there and both said "Do we want to be this woman, keeping the home this perfect (which we were told is how it always is)?" After a nice lunch and much discussion we concluded that we just want our homes to be friend ready, not boss or TV Crew ready as you pointed out as the highest level of readiness. You are absolutely correct, a comfort level is extremely personal and individualized.
Genny Esterline
www.connectionsforwomen.com
Posted by: Genny Esterline | June 22, 2009 at 01:11 PM