I have found a few sites that can be very helpful on the Organizing Journey.
One caution: Organizing is more about changing your habits than changing your environment. It can be VERY expensive as well. Going out and purchasing, containers and tubs, closet organizers and systems, is useless if you haven't put the habits in place to use them properly. You will just have a bunch of new clutter in the form of plastic containers.
Before you try to implement any of the ideas that you see here, think about them. Use them in your mind as you declutter. Then only purchase the components of the system that will work in your environment. Put it together a little at a time.
That said, have fun looking around these places and use them to discover how much fun it can be to get organized!
The Organizing Junkie
Get Organized
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
I should be going to bed, but I had a few thoughts after work last night.
We moved SO much stuff out of the kitchen area in the M's basement. They are trying so hard to make the progress needed to start the work on the living area. They are giving up a lot of space that they are currently using to store things that they plan to keep. Every time I go and work with them, we just go through so much collected flotsam and jetsam from years of acquiring/storing. This cycle has to eventually catch up with people. If you don't purge and simplify occasionally, you are going to fill every empty space with as much stuff as you can pack into it.
The only way to avoid the trap of acquisition is to train yourself to think before you purchase anything, "Do I really need this? Where will I put it? Do I have one that works well enough and if I do, why am I getting another? Am I willing to give up something else to make room?"
When there are closets full of clothes that have been outdated or outgrown for 10 years, when there are hobbies and collections gathering dust because they are no longer interesting, when there are gifts that were received years ago, that well, just weren't the right thing...
When this stuff has been piling up for twenty years, it's not going to be easy to move it out! It's been gradually encroaching on your space over time, it's hardly noticeable while there are still closets with room left in them.
Why wait until you have filled your home up, literally to the rafters, with stuff you don't want/need? Why let possessions control you instead of the other way around?
Things are weighing us down and we just don't realize how cumbersome they are. We have to provide for them, we have to protect them, we have to insure them, we have to make space for them.
This seems to be a simple problem to solve, and yet I am working several hours a week trying to free people from the clutches of STUFF!
First, they want a professional to tell them how to arrange their space so that they can keep it all. Then when they realize that there is no possible way, short of moving into a bigger home, to store it all in an organized fashion, they begin to take the steps to letting go.
The Ms are very good at letting go. I think they are just totally surprised at all the things they have accumulated over the years. They just plug away at each room and they always send away a van load of donations. Their home is becoming more and more usable.
I am very satisfied at the progress they are making, I just feel bad that they got buried this deep.
I would like to be able to help young people start out right by choosing to keep it simple from the beginning.
Buy as little as you have to. Make the most of it when people ask you what you want for Christmas or birthdays. Yes, babies and children require equipment and supplies, but where ever possible, shop at thrift stores and sales. As soon as you are finished with an item, take it in for consignment and you will have the money you need to buy the next used item you need. Let kids share as much as possible! It's good for them!
Keep your personal items as simple as you can live with.
Make the most of the things you do choose to have around you. Use them! If you find you are not using something, or the kids have outgrown an interest, gift it! Someone else may love the treasure!
Don't hold on to things, hold on to people. Do THAT everyday.
We moved SO much stuff out of the kitchen area in the M's basement. They are trying so hard to make the progress needed to start the work on the living area. They are giving up a lot of space that they are currently using to store things that they plan to keep. Every time I go and work with them, we just go through so much collected flotsam and jetsam from years of acquiring/storing. This cycle has to eventually catch up with people. If you don't purge and simplify occasionally, you are going to fill every empty space with as much stuff as you can pack into it.
The only way to avoid the trap of acquisition is to train yourself to think before you purchase anything, "Do I really need this? Where will I put it? Do I have one that works well enough and if I do, why am I getting another? Am I willing to give up something else to make room?"
When there are closets full of clothes that have been outdated or outgrown for 10 years, when there are hobbies and collections gathering dust because they are no longer interesting, when there are gifts that were received years ago, that well, just weren't the right thing...
When this stuff has been piling up for twenty years, it's not going to be easy to move it out! It's been gradually encroaching on your space over time, it's hardly noticeable while there are still closets with room left in them.
Why wait until you have filled your home up, literally to the rafters, with stuff you don't want/need? Why let possessions control you instead of the other way around?
Things are weighing us down and we just don't realize how cumbersome they are. We have to provide for them, we have to protect them, we have to insure them, we have to make space for them.
This seems to be a simple problem to solve, and yet I am working several hours a week trying to free people from the clutches of STUFF!
First, they want a professional to tell them how to arrange their space so that they can keep it all. Then when they realize that there is no possible way, short of moving into a bigger home, to store it all in an organized fashion, they begin to take the steps to letting go.
The Ms are very good at letting go. I think they are just totally surprised at all the things they have accumulated over the years. They just plug away at each room and they always send away a van load of donations. Their home is becoming more and more usable.
I am very satisfied at the progress they are making, I just feel bad that they got buried this deep.
I would like to be able to help young people start out right by choosing to keep it simple from the beginning.
Buy as little as you have to. Make the most of it when people ask you what you want for Christmas or birthdays. Yes, babies and children require equipment and supplies, but where ever possible, shop at thrift stores and sales. As soon as you are finished with an item, take it in for consignment and you will have the money you need to buy the next used item you need. Let kids share as much as possible! It's good for them!
Keep your personal items as simple as you can live with.
Make the most of the things you do choose to have around you. Use them! If you find you are not using something, or the kids have outgrown an interest, gift it! Someone else may love the treasure!
Don't hold on to things, hold on to people. Do THAT everyday.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Should I even try to get this back up and running?
I have pretty much abandoned this blog and it is a shame because I have a lot to contribute to it.
I have been organizing professionally for a year and a half now and I have learned as much from my clients as any of them could ever have learned from me.
I have learned never to judge a person based on their appearance or the appearance of their home. So many people try so hard to find a balance or to conquer mental health issues that make being organized almost impossible.
I can no longer look at someone and say that they should dress better or keep their house neater, or just be more self disciplined or parent better.
These are things that need to be fostered and grown. These are also areas where obstacles, such as mental illness or chronic organizational challenges can become walls that cannot be brought down with simple self discipline.
I have also learned to be patient. It is difficult to go back to someone after a couple of weeks and see that all of what we did and discussed has been undone, or is worse than it was when I started. It is very hard to look around a room that is obviously out of control, and have the client say that they really can't think of anything that needs doing. And yet, I love working with the people! I love the effort more than the results.
I am amazed at the way that people just keep going amidst chaos. I am amazed at the way families can keep going and stick together when there is such a total mismatch in the organizational needs among the members. It testifies to the love and patience that goes with living in a family. I can't imagine living under those circumstances myself, and I would like to help develop ways that the disorganized person can become more organized and solve some of the issues.
Parenting is another area that I have learned to be more generous about. I have very definite ideas about parenting and child behavior. I am pretty much set in my ways and I have always had a hard time with seeing parents pushed around and walked on by the little darlings. So I have to see these relationships in a different light, or I have a very hard time working with the family. Parents have their own views on what works with their kids and on their goals for behavior. While I may not agree with their methods, the professional capacity of my work keeps my from voicing my opinions. That is good for me because I have a bad habit of giving unwanted advice.
All this isn't to say that when I am asked, as of course I am, I don't try to give the best advice and provide the best systems possible for the families or individuals that call on us for help.
I just have to bend the methods to fit the people, not vice versa.
The classes that I have taught at the college have also provided me with so many great insights into what people need. To spend a couple of hours with a group of people, just going over proven methods and discussing their particular needs, has been very enjoyable and enlightening to me.
I find myself wanting to go home with them and show them exactly how to follow through with the ideas I have tried to get across.
I have also done some "virtual" organizing over the phone, and that has been so much more workable than I could have imagined. It doesn't seem possible to really help someone get something in order when you can't even see it yourself. But by asking the right questions, and guiding the conversation, it really does work!
I have been organizing professionally for a year and a half now and I have learned as much from my clients as any of them could ever have learned from me.
I have learned never to judge a person based on their appearance or the appearance of their home. So many people try so hard to find a balance or to conquer mental health issues that make being organized almost impossible.
I can no longer look at someone and say that they should dress better or keep their house neater, or just be more self disciplined or parent better.
These are things that need to be fostered and grown. These are also areas where obstacles, such as mental illness or chronic organizational challenges can become walls that cannot be brought down with simple self discipline.
I have also learned to be patient. It is difficult to go back to someone after a couple of weeks and see that all of what we did and discussed has been undone, or is worse than it was when I started. It is very hard to look around a room that is obviously out of control, and have the client say that they really can't think of anything that needs doing. And yet, I love working with the people! I love the effort more than the results.
I am amazed at the way that people just keep going amidst chaos. I am amazed at the way families can keep going and stick together when there is such a total mismatch in the organizational needs among the members. It testifies to the love and patience that goes with living in a family. I can't imagine living under those circumstances myself, and I would like to help develop ways that the disorganized person can become more organized and solve some of the issues.
Parenting is another area that I have learned to be more generous about. I have very definite ideas about parenting and child behavior. I am pretty much set in my ways and I have always had a hard time with seeing parents pushed around and walked on by the little darlings. So I have to see these relationships in a different light, or I have a very hard time working with the family. Parents have their own views on what works with their kids and on their goals for behavior. While I may not agree with their methods, the professional capacity of my work keeps my from voicing my opinions. That is good for me because I have a bad habit of giving unwanted advice.
All this isn't to say that when I am asked, as of course I am, I don't try to give the best advice and provide the best systems possible for the families or individuals that call on us for help.
I just have to bend the methods to fit the people, not vice versa.
The classes that I have taught at the college have also provided me with so many great insights into what people need. To spend a couple of hours with a group of people, just going over proven methods and discussing their particular needs, has been very enjoyable and enlightening to me.
I find myself wanting to go home with them and show them exactly how to follow through with the ideas I have tried to get across.
I have also done some "virtual" organizing over the phone, and that has been so much more workable than I could have imagined. It doesn't seem possible to really help someone get something in order when you can't even see it yourself. But by asking the right questions, and guiding the conversation, it really does work!
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