I have an opportunity to work on a project about organization (from the point of view of someone who will never be naturally organized, but has learned how to make it work.)
My question for you is this: If you are not naturally organized, what is your biggest challenge with staying on top of life – is it the house, your family, your schedule. If so, can you tell me what it is? It would be a big help to my project and it is always great to know that we don’t suffer alone…
Motivation! I have wonderful Ideas for being organized but am so easily distracted and easily overwhelmed that nothing gets done!!!!
Family and time management are pretty good – but the house…………….. oh, my, that’s another story. It seems as though if I were to take a few extra minutes to put things away right there and then things wouldn’t pile up……….
House cleaning and I mean all aspects of it (vacuuming, dusting, etc.) are my downfall. I would love to just have a Saturday that I didn’t have to do any of this. Better yet, have someone else come do it!
I rotate. If I get good and organized in one area…say laundry, then the dishes don’t get done. So I keep up with the dishes and the bills don’t get paid. While I catch up with the bills, the kids’ toys multiply and replenish my house. So we get on top of keeping the house picked up and the bedtime routine falls apart. I seem to be able to only have one part of my life in order at any given moment. But one is better than none, right 🙂
It’s the mountains of paper that piles up from the mail and the kids and the school. I can never seem to stay on top of it. It is a constant battle.
Oh man. It’s everything, Kathi. My busyness mostly I’d have to say. (and I’ve been so busy lately I was positive your name was Elsie, then knew it wasn’t right but could NOT think of the right name.) Why is it women think they have to prove to other women that they are productive members of society by their busyness?
I am not a detail person. I gave up stupid for lent last year and bought a planner to carry with me. I lost it. Its big and red and I lost it.
My family, I will in utter frustration organize something only to have my family completely undo it, not maliciously at all. I even undo it, because “I don’t have to put this away now I’ll leave it here and get to it later.”
The House for sure. I hate cleaning and I always feel overwhelmed when it comes to organizing a household. I wish I could be more like Martha Stewart in that way but I would probably have no time for family or friends or church! I’ve learned to “get by” but there’s still stress. My mom had a little plaque on the wall of our house with words that I live by, ” My house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy”
Paperwork, mail and bags and bags of shredding to do. I’m the only one that gets the mail from the mailbox, open it when I have time and rip out our names and address from all of the junk mail. Still haven’t found the time to stop the junk mail. Paperwork to sort through ends up on the kitchen counter for eons.
I WANT to be an organized person…the chaos stresses me out!
And yet, I am not a natural organizer. My biggest problem is all the stuff that doesn’t have a good “home”. For us, that’s electronics (chargers, cameras, computer cables….) and mail/magazines. We do have two little ones running around here, and a big toy chest and cloth toy bins make for nice, quick clutter reduction in that area at least! But I agree with someone else’s comment above: keeping on top of kids’ clothes with the changing sizes and seasons is a nightmare!
It depends on what area and what time of season of my life your are talking about. When the kids are involved in sports I’m on top of meal planning and in between season forget it. Clutter is an other area, but its organize clutter…lol
I can have the house cleaned but when It comes to my bedroom forget it. It seems to be the catch all room. It’s pretty bad when your husband asks you if you can pick up your side of the room…lol
The kitchen desk. How I love (and hate) having a kitchen desk. It’s magnetic in that everything finds its way there. My husband gets frustrated with the clutter and then “cleans”, leaving me in a panic, because while my messy desk was unsightly and disheveled, I knew what was there. We joke about his little interventions, but really, it’s annoying. I’ve even paid a professional organizer to help me win the battle of the (desk) bulge, but it keeps coming back.
Wow – have we hit on a nerve or what… It’s great that there is so much interest in this topic. Thanks for all the great feedback. I am making notes as I type (well, I guess just after I type.)
There are these little people called my children..that love to go through the house and destruy any chances I might have of being organized.. I f youare constantly picking up just tostay ahead of the game..you can never get the time to dig a little deeper..and actuallu organize. It is soooo very frustrating.. I always tell my husband I am on a hamster wheel.. I go around and around and run as fast as i can..but still end up in the same spot..UUUGGhHHHH!
I think everyone has some areas where they’re organized and others that they just aren’t. My computer is uber-organized. I have very consistent naming conventions for my files and all files are put in appropriate folders. But step outside my virtual world, and I have stacks of paper everywhere that I don’t know what to do with. That being said, I’ve been doing my own taxes for 16 years (which now includes 3 schedule C’s) and stacks of unorganized papers looming over me. This year we are going to use the services of a CPA – HALLELUJAH! Holding yourself accountable to someone else is a great motivater to get things in order. I have to say…Hiring or asking for help does NOT equal failure! My advice is to know your limits and spend your valuable time on the things you excel at instead.
To quote the Mary Engelbreit art: “Life is just so… DAILY!” It seems that the moment I have something organized, it’s a disheveled head the very next day. The staying on top of it is what buries me under it!
All. Of. The. Above. HELP!!
My biggest challenge is keeping the house clean. I have three little ones and they are always leaving little toys around the house. I feel I get things in order and then I fall over books, dolls or whatever else they bring into the house. I also have a hard time starting and finishing the laundry. I usually wash and fold and then have a hard time putting them away. I also have a hard time cutting and getting my coupons in order. Ok…Ill stop there oh wait one more thing. The kids cloths seem to also be a problem. I have their clothes sorted by season. The outdated season is in a tote under their bed or downstairs (or that is where I would like for it to be) 🙂 It never seems to get done before the season is over.
Clutter…magazines, mail and paperwork are a mess ! And my closet…! OH…that closet ! I organize it and get it the way I like…by color. Then…in a couple weeks…there are clothes to be hung up…nothing where it belongs…AGH ! I get too many magazines to read…love them…and keep adding books, too.
Paperwork – I am sure the paperwork on my counter gets more action then me! What happens to that stuff when nobody is looking?!
Kathi,
I am naturally unorganized and it has haunted me all of my grown-up life. My struggle has always been with my home. I must say, now that my children are grown and gone, keeping house is MUCH easier!! I am now able to keep the main areas clean and can welcome drop-by guests. But, I still have messy areas…such as a messy ROOM and a messy GARAGE etc! I am slowly but surely trying to dig through it and get it under control. Somehow I hope that if I can ever get it all under control at the same time, at this season of my life, I wll be able to keep it that way. I have chided myself for years over a messy house. I guess because I know that the Scripture calls me to be a ‘homemaker’ or ‘keeper of my home’ (Titus 2:5). But….some years ago God really dealt with me about it and gave me this Scripture…”There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). My messy house does not define me, and God does not condemn me over it, so I should not condemn myself. I feel like I did a great job in the areas that really mattered with my children. The house was not always clean but they always had good homemade food to eat and a Mom and Dad who loved them, loved the Lord, and loved each other.
Getting rid of clutter, especially paperwork and magazines, is my biggest challenge. I have a tendency to hold on to things.
TIME MANAGEMENT—pure and simple! If I only had better time management then I would have a cleaner house, folded laundry, sorted mail, filed bills, a skinnier body (thanks to all that extra gym time), a happier family, and a dog who would for once be current on all her vaccines!! 🙂