Monday, January 16, 2012

Organization . . . Can it be taught?

WHY can't I be Samantha from Bewitched?  I can do the nose wiggle, and no doubt I have the nosey neighbor. I'm a stay at home mom and he goes off to work.  My husband is tall with dark hair, I am blond and our first born is a blond also.  See - I am a perfect fit for her life!

Samantha could fix any situation, Darren's meeting going bad - wiggle wiggle- everything is great!  Nosey neighbor Glady, thinks she sees something that is out of place - wiggle wiggle - nothing out of place.  Darren calls to say he is bringing home clients - wiggle wiggle - dinner in a flash! How I wish I was Samantha.

I wish it for all those silly things but if I was given just one - wiggle wiggle - ability it would be the clean up/organize wiggle wiggle!  House spic and span in a nano-second.  Everything just perfect!

Everywhere you look this time of year people are getting organized.
There are just about a million tutorials on "HOW TO GET ORGANIZED."  From your belts, to bras, craft rooms, garage, pantry, kid's closet, mudroom, dog area, pool supplies on and on.  I will confess I need the Samantha - wiggle wiggle - more than you might know.  I would much rather be onto the next mess or having fun than cleaning something up and putting everything back where it belongs.

My office is the hub for everything that doesn't have a place in our home or someone can't bother to put it away.  Right now on my desk I have the following:  goo be gone, ribbon, magazines, legos, nerf bullets, stickers for my son's camp trunk, a Cade Bane nerf blaster, jewelry, cough drops and that is just the stuff I can see.  I didn't lift one finger to identify the items, these were all on the top layer.

So imagine me trying to teach our son, who got my disorganization - hold onto everything gene, how to edit, throw away, keep and organization. 

It is so easy to edit someone elses life - I could walk in there - remove anything I don't feel fits well and move on.  But should someone do that to me . . .  HOLD UP!   So, I must enter with a 10 year old boy mindset.  I am certain that 10 year old boy mind set is - leave it all alone!

My husband thinks he is super organized.  My mother, not sure if it is organization or she is a constant editor - getting rid of stuff.  My sister is so controlled, rarely home and doesn't accumulate tons of stuff.  My MIL - huge house, lots of stuff but maybe the more organized  by pile type.  My FIL - pushes everything to the last minute - structured but in a messy sort of way.  All of these people think they are very organized but since I don't understand their organization, I don't see the organization in what they do.  This might explain why they thinks I am disorganized, they just don't get me!

So, my son comes, OH so willingly, from the game room (another source of disorganization.)  I had already started editing his room - toys, legos, drawings, money - all into the floor.  One big pile.  I cannot say get rid of the legos because, as we know with most men, he cannot see all the legos I see.  If I said pick up you clothes - see mom here is 1 sock - ok they are all picked up, he doesn't see the clothes in the floor of his bathroom. I use generalizations and  he needs specifics - you can see this is going well!

Amazingly - he embraces the center pile, maybe because it was limited in nature - not the whole room needing to be pickup but just this stuff.  To speed the process up he says, "I don't want this", I assume to have a fight with me about it so I will take over.  I don't take the bait - I say "fine, throw it away."  He sorts most of it and throws lots of misc paper away.

I swear I am going to stay on him, but in all reality it isn't that easy.  Nor is it easy to read all those stupid tips on how to organize, or go buy all the products.  Who has the time - I might as well save that time spent getting organized for when I really need it - to find that receipt we collected 10 months ago, while traveling, that we used cash on. 

So root canal or afternoon of organizing . . . whats your choice?

Happy Pinning




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