The Buttoned-Up Way to Get Organized and Let Go of Perfection
I am far from organized.
This has never been more obvious since marrying my husband.
He’s an organizational junkie.
I drive him bonkers.
Take the master closet for example.
His side of the closet is organized.
The hangers all the same color.
The clothing faces the same way and is organized by color and long-sleeved, short-sleeved, etc.
It’s a beauty to behold!
My side of the closet is a portrait of dysfunction.
My hangers are shoved in there.
My clothing crammed to the max.
There is no rhyme or reason to it, everything is just there.
I tell my husband I am blessed to have time to put anything on a hanger so “deal with it”.
The truth is his side of the closet makes me cry.
It’s so beautiful.
His clothes aren’t wrinkled when he takes them out and I have never seen him rummaging through the bottom of the closet to find his favorite shirt–something I confess I do too often.
Our entire house reflects the incompatibility of the two of us.
I’m busy and tend to just set things down and keep on going.
Hubby on the other hand lectures me as he discovers my path.
To be fair, our house is clean.
I can find things but it’s not the home portrayed in those 1950s television shows.
It leaves much to be desired.
Let’s face it, I have children and we have a busy schedule.
My aunt has a model home.
She has no children.
She has tried to give me tips, but there were too many rules.
Now, Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch embrace women like me with their book Pretty Neat.
Their approach is “get organized and let go of perfection the buttoned-up way.”
That’s something I can understand.
Pretty Neat understands that it’s not that I don’t want to be organized, it’s that finding the time to get everything in order is a huge challenge.
Pretty Neat offers the tips and tools to start setting up my life to complete tasks accurately and efficiently.
I appreciate that.
My children have taken over the family room downstairs as a playroom.
It’s a disaster area.
The floor is a war zone with toy shrapnel and coloring book land mines.
I try and keep a path cleared so I can make it to the laundry room.
My energy level is not equipped to engage in the battle to clean it.
Pretty Neat has an awesome chapter called “Temper Those Toy Tsunamis”.
I loved it so much that as we embarked on our move, I took the opportunity to put into practice some of the tips.
We dumped all the toys into the center of the room.
We went through them getting rid of anything broken and placing those too young for us into a donation pile.
We labeled Rubbermaid Bins with a title for the toys going in: Barbie, Race Cars, Super Heroes, Dress Up, etc.
Then the children had the task of putting the proper toys in the appropriate bins.
I found an old bookshelf that works well for holding their books and we used clear bins to organize our Creation Station–paints, play-dough, pens, markers, paper, etc.
This organizational help made our move very easy and while I still have to battle the twice-a-day clean-up, the room is far more adult friendly.
Another favorite chapter of mine is “Learn to Just Say No”.
This is a step in my life I’ve been working on but not making much progress.
Pretty Neat really helped me understand with their techniques that I can politely say “NO” to those things I don’t have time for and without guilt!
My side of the closet is still a portrait of disaster.
I’ve given up and now just keep the doors closed and warn anyone near them that opening them may be hazardous.
I’m hopeful that as I continue to implement the lessons in Pretty Neat into my life, the closet will become a place of beauty–just like my husband’s side.