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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Overcoming A Weakness

"Know your weaknesses, but don't be defined by them."

I lack organizational skills. It's a fact. I've tried to change it, over the years, but the reality of it creeps up time and time again.

Take my files....
I try to organize, they are indeed color coded and ready to be used, but my paper work sits in piles on top of the file cabinet.

My closet....
It was once organized by category. Pants with pants, dress shirts with dress shirts, you get the idea. Now the shirts are scattered amongst my husbands suits, and the pants are 1/2 unfolded and in the corner.

My bookshelves....
Briefly resembled order, but within a week the kids books were shoved in with the fly fishing books, and my health food books were mixed in with my Chocolate cookbooks...

My fridge....
Oh never-mind, just don't look at the date on the sour cream.

I know that I struggle in this area, but will I embrace it? Heck no. I find joy and peace in an organized home. While it doesn't come naturally, I will continue to "try" to be something I'm not.
I've found help in playing little games with myself. Flylady's timer has been great. I also try to invite guests over on a regular basis to keep things from falling too far behind.
I love it when people let me see their lack of organization... and if I really like someone... I'll show them my junk drawer "scandalous!"
What works for you? How do you keep organized? Does it come naturally? Or do you, like me have to work at it?

10 comments:

Cindy-Still His Girl said...

I'm a mix... I can do it and can keep it up fairly well for a while, but if I get lazy and behind then I kind of give up until it is desperate. I also just started FlyLady, and I've done well with the timer and keeping hotspots cleaned up. But my closet-scary. Mudroom, scarier. They are both on my list for this week. We'll see! I'm just too lazy.

javamamma said...

Funny thing about the fridge. I decided to make eggs and pancakes for my family the other day. I knew I had a whole dozen eggs plus another partial container. Then I pulled them out - expirations of mid-May and end of May. Yikes. So when's the last time I baked anything or we ate eggs...uh, evidently Easter.

Chelle said...

I am not organized by nature, but I am so much more content when I am organized. Flylady has worked for me in the past, though after I couple of months I want to throw something at the computer whenever another stupid reminder comes in. But the principle of routine really is what I learned from her, and it really works. It's just that I keep falling off my routines...like right now. I think I would die of embarassment if anybody saw my laundry room.

Halfmoon Girl said...

I am the same as you- not organized and structured, but I like cleanliness and order. I have trouble sticking to systems, but listened to someone speak at the homeschool conference who is the same way. She has a book called If I am Diapering the Watermelon, Where Did i Put the Baby? Her name eludes me at the moment, but she had some good tips. If you are interested, let me know, and I will give you her name. I bought her book, but haven't really read it yet. Her main thing was to accept that we will never be that organized, together looking person, but to develop strategies that work for us.

Trina said...

I lack organization too. I have a "HOME" for everything, but does it always end up there or stay there?...no! My house is clean, but organized? Not so much! I can completely relate to you...lol

Anonymous said...

If you were to walk into my home, you'd say, Wow! what an organized lady! yeah, because you don't know where I hide my junk.
The things that "clutter" me are the monster paper piles, the "this might be useful sometime" piles and the "is this an ebay, goodwill, garage sale item" pile. These three types of piles SLAY me.

Now, on a more organized note... I have four big three-ringed notebooks. One is a dayrunner type with all my addresses and dates and Flylady notes, one is a huge one for my recipes, one for my house ideas, notes, and paint samples for all the paints I've done in every home, and the third is useful articles, emails and encouragement for my life as a mom, teacher, Christian, and homemaker. All my notebooks are filled with those plastic page protectors. Without these four notebooks I'd be lost!
~Katherine

ConservaChick said...

Katherine,
Do you have a blog? I like your comments and would love to check out your blog if you have one. ~Karlie

Anonymous said...

Thanks! I'm going to create a blog sometime this summer. I'll post a link once I get it going... I'm just trying to decide which one to go with. I used to have one on Homeschoolblogger, but most of the time I couldn't connect and found it to be WAY too frustrating.
SO glad I found your REAL blog. Breath of fresh air...
~Katherine

EE said...

I'm always in the midst of getting organized, but never there.

Anonymous said...

Ok, you are scaring me. Do you only have one junk drawer?

I love to be organized and I am so not organized.

Everything in my home does not have a home yet. Still working on it.

My husband is a neat freak. I am clean. He is immaculate.

I am having my kids clean and organize my kitchen even as I write. I will tell you later if that was a good plan or not.

Flylady is a great resource but I lack the discipline to stick with it. Sorry not much help here. I do like her idea of focusing on one area of the house at a time. I do get more organized during the summer but I tend to be more in survival mode during the school year.

Shari