Easy Organizer

To answer this, I came up with the acronym PAST. Why have you not been able to get organized in the PAST?

1. P stands for Personality

a. Clutter Personality Types- (adapted from Organizedhome.com)

-Sentimentalist- “Oh, the little darling. Isn’t that cute? I saved every single drawing each of my 16 children made from preschool up through college.” A sentimentalist needs to become more selective with the mementos they choose to save. Select the very best photos or trip souvenirs. Take a picture of the rest. Remember, memories are intangible. You will remember that trip to Hawaii, you don’t need to save the napkin, key chain, etc.

-Hoarder-“I might need this someday”. If your cabinets are stuffed with egg cartons, margarine tubs, and many duplicate items, you may have Hoarding tendencies. Hoarding comes from feeling like you may not have the resources to buy what you need when you’ll need it-even for the littlest item. These feelings may show up in a household that grew up poor or during a financial depression. Hoarders need to remind themselves that they can always get what they need if and when they need it. There is soooo much stuff everywhere-yard sales, antique shops, the library. You will be able to replace the item, so take the plunge and dump it.

-Procrastinator-“I’ll do it tomorrow.” Procrastinators and perfectionists often go together. A Perfectionist wants to do everything perfectly. So if you haven’t thought of the perfect organizing system yet, then you don’t organize at all. Perfectionists and Procrastinators need to think about just doing 20% to start with. Tomorrow is not going to bring any more energy or perfection. Start today.

-Rebel- “I don’t want to and you can’t make me!” It’s our parent’s fault right? We had to tidy up all of our lives so now we don’t want to do it anymore. Not only that, it’s an internal war! Rebels have to tell themselves, “Your parents don’t live here anymore. This is your house and you deserve to live in a nice house. The war is over, no one is MAKING you do anything you do not want to do.”

b. Right Brain/Left Brain-creative person- some people are more artsy and creative than others. This is often misinterpreted as ADD. Maybe you didn’t “do well” in school because you couldn’t adhere to the guidelines, “Keep your notebook organized. Write legibly. Hand in your homework on time. Don’t get up until recess.” You may not be able to follow traditional organizing methods, and that’s okay. We just need to find you some ways to work with your creativity, not against it.

2. A-Attitudes and ADD

1. Attitudes that work against us. More reasons why we have not yet learned how to stay organized.
a. All or nothing- the systems has got to work, be perfectly functional, NOW.
b. Guilt- I feel so bad my family has to live like this. “I feel so bad…” Guilt keeps you stuck.
c. fear of success/failure- how can I be more organized than my parents? Won’t that make them look bad?
d. unrealistic expectations-You feel like you “should” be doing something and you’re not. You then get totally overwhelmed and paralyzed from feeling this way.
e. competition-some are naturally good at organizing and think everyone should be good at it. They do not realize how difficult it can be for others, since it is not at all difficult for them.
f. anxiety-clutter often reflects what you are feeling inside. If you’re feeling anxiety, your home may reflect how you are currently feeling.
g. depression-you may be focusing on what is bothering you rather than what needs to get done.
h. other’s expectations-you feel others judge your lack of organization so you start doubting yourself and then get stuck.
i. Overwhelm- you are feeling overwhelmed and don’t know how or where to start.
j. creator of chaos-You love coming in at the last minute, sweeping down and saving the day!
k. don’t want to lose creativity-You want to be spontaneous, not tied down to any list or planner.
l. need for distraction- You don’t want to stop and think about how unhappy you are so you keep yourself distracted.
m. perfection-if it is not perfect, forget it! You’re not even going to try.
n. need to retreat- What if all of a sudden, EVERYONE wanted to come over to my house because it looks so good!
o. Excuses. Do you start off almost every sentence with, “Yes, but…”

2. ADD, OCD, Chronic Disorganization, Depression and the other “Ds”- These conditions are indeed real and do make it more of a challenge to get organized. There are a lot of resources out there- the National Council on Chronic Disorganization, and professional organizers trained to work with ADD clients. Do a search on the web if you are interested in getting more information on these conditions.

3. S stands for Sociology and Society

The modern world places a HUGE emphasis on goal setting, organizing, a clear desk, and time management. Just remember when you were in school. If you are a creative thinker or more right-brain dominant, these skills are much more difficult for you to learn than the left-brainer.

If you were the child in school that couldn’t seem to organize yourself the way you “should” have, you may be still defining yourself as the “child that couldn’t get it right.” That inner child hears a lot of “shoulds” and feels a lot of guilt.

The word “should” only serves to increase guilt. “Oh, I should have done that by now.” And if you haven’t? You feel guilty!

Guilt does not move you forward or backward.

It’s clear, society’s strong emphasis on success and how to achieve it could be another factor in having yet to learn organizing skills.

Our society also places a HUGE emphasis on materialism and “stuff”. This emphasis also permeates our homes. We acquire more and more things. The more stuff you have, the more worries. If you have a lot of clutter, boy do you know this to be true!

We’ve got to retrain our thinking. As I mentioned previously, memories are intangible. You don’t need to keep “things” to hold onto your memories or onto yourself. It’s a challenge to break the typical mentality of today’s society regarding possessions. (I find that a good way to deal with this is, if you just HAVE to have that new pair of brown shoes, get rid of the same or double the amount of the new you are bringing in. You buy 1 pair of new shoes, get rid of 2 pairs.)

4. Technical Difficulties.

This last letter in the acronym is my passion. Often, clutter collects because of various technical difficulties in your home and in your space. It requires thought and creative solutions for storing your things better.

I offer a Free Organizing from A-Z Design Pak on my website at http://www.best-organizing-products-superstore.com. Some of these tips on integrating organizing and design may inspire you to fix some of the problems you may be facing.

-not enough storage/inconvenient storage
-no place to put things
-not enough lighting
-organizing bores you
-in transition-you just had a baby or are moving
-family members have yet to assist you!
-limited space
-you don’t like the space so it clutters up
-no time to organize
-too much work

All of these hindrances to organizing, beginning with the Clutter Personality types down to the technical space or time challenges in your life, can be combated and solved. There is not enough room in this article for me to tell you how to combat each challenge specifically.

I can tell you that you’ve completed the first step to conquering your specific challenge. You now have an awareness you did not have prior to reading this article. You may not have realized that because your parents were war survivors or impoverished, is perhaps why your cabinets are overloaded with clutter. Or the fact that you want to retreat and maintain privacy in your home so it is full of clutter, preventing surprise visitors.

Think about what it is that may be holding you back from getting organized, and then ask yourself- “What could I do to solve this problem? If I _____________________ (fill in the blank) would I still maintain my privacy? Or if I paint this room my favorite color would I like this room more?”

You have all the answers that you need inside of yourself.

By Rebekah Slatkin