Okay, so I'm not that organized. Before I had kids I never needed to be. Once I actually had a couple of kids I realized that I couldn't just know where everything was, I actually needed to have some systems in place that gave the things somewhere to be. The problem was that I never really knew how to create those systems. When I was growing up in a family with six kids we just never had enough "stuff" to be categorized into systems. Books went on the shelf, crayons went into the boxes my dad made for us, and toys...well, I think we had maybe a total of two boxes worth of toys and they lived in a closet somewhere.
After the twins were born, well, after I could breathe again, I realized that the systemless state of my house was actually causing me stress. Have I changed that much? My sister Ness and I have had loads of discussions about this as I have processed through kids clothes and have begun to figure out what our daily and monthly needs are in terms of stuff. After listening to me and supporting me for the past year of slowly going through my house decluttering as I went, she organized an organization gift for me for Christmas from friends and family. What it is going to turn out to be is a weekend with a professional organization company, cleaning out and setting up systems. I'm both excited and terrified.
Today I had the first consultation meeting with one of the four companies on the list. It was very interesting. I really liked the owner and the employee she brought with her. I was showing them the garage and my problem sewing area and realized for perhaps the first time how my house must look to those who have a knack for this organization thing. At some point in the conversation I came to another realization; no matter how hard I try to get myself and my house organized, without the knowledge of "systems" I can only make so much headway. There will always be an element of dissarray, of scrambling to clean, of fighting the clutter and the mess...unless I can somehow grab hold of this stuff that they seem to know intrinsically. How do people get that? Are they born with it? Is it drilled into them in childhood? I'm sure there are classes on it now somewhere!
2 comments:
wow I need someone to come organize my house too! I am not a natural at organization either. I recently attacked my boys room (ages 2 & 4) I "stole" ideas from my son's preschool and bought 6 large tupaware boxes. I sorted their toys and everyday we take out only 1 box to play with. They are excited about their "new" toys or activities that day. Less is more.
What an awesome gift. I would love for someone to come help me organize my room. It seems like the rest of the house gets cleaned into my room and then I don't know what to do with it from there. I can organize the kids' rooms and the rest of the house...but my room always seems a mess, even after I clean it gets so bad so fast because there is no organization system. If those people teach you anything then please pass it on.
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