This week's entry was written by Elaine:
Some people are naturally organized. I'm not.
As a kid, I shared a room with two sisters. It was always easy to tell which third of the room was mine. Their beds & desks were always neat & orderly. My area was always a mess!
I liked to think that I was too busy with more important things (sports, studying) that I just did not have the time to clean & organize. This pattern followed me through life. My college roommate complained that I was messy. When I lived in Japan, the Japanese family I lived with made fun of me for being so messy. And when I got married, I nearly drove my husband crazy with my messiness.
Finally, I realized I needed help!
One of our BootCamp members, Beth Ziegler, is a professional organizer, so I decided to hire her about a year ago to help me shape up. What I loved about her was that she made it very easy, moving step by step as we cleared out the clutter and set up new systems.
With anyone else, I would have been embarrassed to allow them to see my messy home, but Beth was so non-judgmental and easy-going that I felt relaxed and open to her suggestions.
As we went through the clutter, we set up boxes labeled: KEEP, TRASH, RECYCLE, DONATE. This made it simple to quickly go through a lot of "stuff" and separate what I really needed or wanted to keep from everything else. It was amazing how much stuff we got rid of and how much lighter I felt afterwards.
Beth used to compare getting organized with losing weight. You can't look for a quick fix. It's a process to retrain yourself to develop new habits. You may slip up every once in a while, but the key is to get back on track and keep working towards your goal.
I'm definitely not 100% organized yet. BUT, I'm much better than I used to be, and now I understand the POWER that being organized gives you. You have more time and peace of mind to choose to do the things you WANT to do, and not just feel overwhelmed by how much you HAVE to do.
Staying organized does not come naturally for me. It's something I have to think about and work on daily. If you have any tips you use for keeping your home, office, or life organized, please post a comment here so that I (and maybe some of our other BootCampers who need help) can learn from you.
I too was disorganized and I hired Beth to help me out this past year. I too was embarrassed so it took a while, but she made me feel very comfortable and we got a system going. I recently went to Beth's Sat. organizing bootcamp for a "refresher" she got me back on track after having "backslid". Thanks for recommending her, Elaine.
ReplyDeleteMichele
I have always been an organized person, in fact in college my roomates called me "the organizer" and i was, and still am, the queen of post-it notes...however, living with my fiance who is not as organized was really hard at first, but I have learned to compromise and teach him in a subtle ways to be more organized. It's all about setting a good example. Having a shredder in your home is a good idea to shred junk mail and/or bills you don't need anymore so that they do not pile up. I also keep a nondisposable shopper bag by my regular trash for recycleables since I live in Glendale and we have recycle trash bins.
ReplyDeleteGood ideas, thanks for the tips Lisa!
ReplyDeleteThanks Elaine and Michele for the kind words:) You guys are great!
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