Compatibility of Consumables

Some time ago, at Unclutterer I found a post by Jacki Hollywood Brown on how she employs "Modified Principles of Sanitary Design" from the food industry as a guide for personal purchases. I enjoyed this post because the principles can greatly reduce clutter and hassle at home. I found that many of these practices (such as avoiding things requiring special cleaners) were similar to things I already did, but carried over into areas I had not thought of:

Hygienic compatibility: We tend not to purchase items that require special cleaners or special cleaning processes. This saves us time and effort, as well as money since we do not have to purchase special cleaners. [bold in original]

Also, you don't have to store the special cleaners. Or remember to use them.

This reminds as me of a practice I borrowed from Southwest Airlines: using only one kind of item when possible, much as the airline does with its 737-only aircraft fleet. (e.g., We use one brand of baby bottles and one brand of training cups for the kids. This makes cleaning, storage, and assembly for use much simpler.) Brown shows me that I can extend this principle to include consumables like cleaners that many kinds of items have in common.

The whole thing is worth reading as a source of both new ideas and new applications of old ones.

--CAV