For some people, organization gets a bad rap. We think being organized means being rigid and inflexible, barking at our kids for making kid-size messes and constantly cleaning to maintain a perfect house. The truth is getting organized does not have to mean embracing perfectionism. Far from it! Here are 3 common myths about organization:
Myth 1: Organized people live in perfect houses.
Truth: Wow, I wish you could see the dirty dishes heaped in my kitchen sink right now and the five piles of laundry waiting to be put away (obviously, I would rather write these blog posts than do housework!) Organized homes get messy on a daily basis too, especially when there are kids at home. But in an organized home, the mess is easy to clean up because everyone knows where everything goes.
Myth 2: Being organized means constantly doing housework to keep the space pristine.
Truth: Actually, the more organized you are, the less housework you have to do because you don’t own as many things to clean and put away. You do less laundry because everyone owns fewer clothes. You can clean up the playroom in 10 minutes, because there aren’t mountains of toys. You can also clean up the bathroom in about 10 minutes, because there aren’t 30 bottles of product sitting on the counter that have to be cleaned around, sorted and put away. I hate housework, so I manage to do only about an hour of it a day (no, you can’t completely escape it!)
Myth 3: Being organized means you are always nagging at your kids to put their stuff away, because you have no tolerance for little kid messes.
Truth: Being organized means you can tolerate the mess because you know it will be a snap to clean up. This is because when you are organized, items such as art and craft supplies are all stored together in easily accessible locations so putting it all away takes mere minutes. Furthermore, when older kids are taught organization skills, they can put their stuff away themselves in just minutes, so you don’t have to lift a finger!
Bottomline: Being organized means having the time and space to do what we want to do in our own homes. It means less time spent on boring, annoying tasks like housework and searching for lost items, and more free time for us. It never involves perfectionism, only a willingness to be liberated from the stranglehold having too much stuff can place on us. Are you ready to embrace a more organized lifestyle?
Feel like you are drowning in your stuff? There is hope, and it doesn’t involve becoming a perfectionist! Image by Perfecto Insecto at Flickr.