O is for Organizational Wannabe ~ Yes that’s me

I know that some people think I am organized.   I think I’m fairly organized with a few things but I long for being more organized or rather to be organized in more areas. I’m currently reading yet another book about organizing your home: Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. She even has a website with some free downloadable forms.

I started reading the book, because I needed some inspiration and motivation. I do really know what needs to be done and how to do it but . . . well sometimes I get stuck and I need to have my hand held.  The book didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know, but she did get my creative juices flowing.  I’m evaluating and pondering and finding some solutions.  Some seem so obvious and simple now but they’ve plagued me for ages. {Think of the catch all drawer where all those kitchen gadgets like apple corer thing.  How on earth do you keep that thing organized???!!! Read on and I’ll share what I’ve been doing!}

Ms. Oxenreider is in a different place in life than I am (or she was in a different place when she first wrote the book.).  I no longer have small children. I no longer have to deal with bath toys or organizing a play room.  So I skimmed over many parts of the book.  One thing that she suggested, that matches my approach and style, is to empty out everything from the room and then you put back only what is supposed to go in that room.

A friend shared a tip with me from a book she is reading.  It’s the same concept but on a smaller scale and the tip offers a way to decide what to keep and what to get rid of.  I emptied out the drawer plus the caddy and the orange canister that holds my wooden spoons.  Dumped it ALL in a box.  The idea is that over the course of 30 days as you use something you put it back.  At the end of 30 Days you, in theory, get rid of all those things you didn’t use.  There are some things that I might not use in 30 days that I refuse to get rid of such as my brand new cheese slicer, or my julienne peeler. I don’t use them frequently, but I use them enough and love them enough that they get to stay.

Unfortunately, the white handled tongs that I dislike and wouldn’t mind getting rid of have found their way back into the drawer.  Apparently some member of my family who helps with the cooking really likes them and chose them over my favorite pair of tongs. I guess we’ll keep both.

As I read through this book though the organizing that I really need to do is within myself. I could write a book on how to get your kitchen organized or how to organize your pantry or linen closet.  I’ve even written a few posts about that as part of a Review Crew 5 Day Hop:  5 days of Home Organization.  It takes self-discipline to create good habits and develop solid routines so that once you’ve cleaned, de-cluttered and organized something you can keep up with the regular day-to-day cleaning.

I’m also learning that there is no end to organizing the house. What works when the children are very small, might not work as well when they’re a little older and when they’re teens it doesn’t just not work, it creates more problems!

I have a horrible feeling that I’ll finally get done with this round of de-cluttering and organizing just to discover we’ve entered another season of life and have to start all over again.  In the meantime, I guess I’m going to just go with flow and work on getting some routines in place so that when I manage to get rid of so much stuff, I can keep the house as clean as I like.

Check out this week’s letter!