I really do think organization is addictive. I started slowly, and gradually have gotten to the point that when things are in disarray I just hate it. But if you’re reading this and it’s not for you, that’s okay, too. I was a formerly messy underneath, but organized on the surface kinda girl, everything looked fine until you opened my drawers, and then it was chaos, everything was just shoved in drawers and I couldn’t find anything, but I didn’t know better, so I didn’t have a problem with it. But once I realized a few years ago that the key to organization is containment, I started by buying trays and dividers for drawers, and I quickly realized that my life was a lot easier when I could quickly find what I wanted without having to dig through piles of debris to find it.
This has been going on for some time now and a few years ago I organized my pantry and blogged about it, then hubby made me spice racks for my pantry doors for my anniversary, yeah, I was thrilled, and I know that’s nerdy, but that was a total game changer as well, so when we moved last winter, I duplicated my pantry space so that it’s similar to the way it was when we lived in Heavensville. And yes, I alphabetize my spices. ;-).
LC built-in my makeup table in my closet for me this spring, and I had everything in open acrylic containers, but it wasn’t enough. After a trip to the Container Store, where they have everything known to (wo)man and prices that are hideous, I went to HomeGood and bought acrylic storage drawer units for a fraction of the price of the Container Store and it works really well. I still have some of the open acrilic containers, I’m a makeup junkie who has a lot to store, but I’m really pleased at how efficient it is.
But the biggest game changer for me happened two years ago in August. I would often take my clothes off in the evening and just leave them in a pile by the side of my bed, and a couple of days would go by and the pile would grow and it was just stupid. I would make the bed and not pick up my clothes. Why??? Who knows, but for some reason I said to myself, “Jan, you are never going to leave you clothes by the side of the bed again” and it stuck! It’s the only resolution I’ve ever made and actually kept, but since that day the clothes either go on a hangar or in the hamper at the end of the day and I’ve never gotten into that mess again.
Now if I could just make the same resolution about my eating habits...
So that’s whats going on in my world, sometimes when I put actions to paper, it reaffirms the progress I’ve made in my life. But in all fairness, I do live with a neat freak, who never gets things in a mess and that helps a lot. And if you’re still with me, my friend Holly says this video has changed her life. It’s long, 40 minutes, the lady is Japanese and uses a translator so it’s a bit hard to follow, but she has a huge following and her techniques really are life changing. So maybe I need to implement some of this as well. One of the things she tells you to do is to put all of your clothes in a pile in the floor and as you pick up each piece, put it to your chest and if you feel the love, keep it, if you don’t, get rid of it.
Now go organize something, anything, just one drawer, just take five minutes and see if you don’t feel a sense of accomplishment. Double dawg dare ya to do it...
