The Art of Good Disguise

This defies the logic and purpose of organizing as you know it. I'm pretty sure you're not going to read this on any other blog. But it's the truth.

Sometimes organizing is not about organizing, it's about disguising messiness. And sometimes the best organizational systems are simply the ones that hide the mess best. This principle is WHY there is a Container Store.

Do you have a "mud room?" I rest my case.

How do you hide your mess? Come on. I know you've put your dirty dishes in the oven when you got a call saying your mother-in-law was dropping by unexpectedly. Admit it! Some of you have even forgotten to take them out and done permanent damage to your tupperware. No. What makes you think I'm talking about me? Good heavens. I'd never make that kind of mistake.

There are so many ways to hide a mess. Cupboards are my favorite. Baskets are a close second. Take a gander at some of the messes my cupboards and baskets are disguising:

The kitchen cupboard hides my son's school and craft supplies. The basket hides my Christmas receipts.

I won't post a picture of it but I love the way a cute cap hides messy hair. Wait. Is that off topic? Or is washing 'n styling your hair really just organizing it? Hmmm.

I have a friend who is fanatical about closing her pantry door. She's constantly reminding/nagging her kids and husband to keep it closed. I think she's hiding a mess in there. I'm all for it. It's easier to "remind" than to organize sometimes right?

Happy Hiding!

New Year's Reso..pbbbt

My husband is big on New Year's Resolutions. He makes 'em and he sticks to 'em. He pulled out his list of last year's resolutions and check! check! check! That made him very enthusiastic about setting this year's resolutions so he got right to work on them and started asking about mine and my son's.

My eight-year-old son loved how excited his dad was so he cranked out a list too. Here's a preview:
Never fight
Never kill
Feed the hamster
Earn money

Any predictions which ones he'll accomplish? I like that "Never kill" one. I'll have to add it to my list.

Resolutions depress me because they imply I'm falling short in some way - which is TRUE - but depressing. I believe in goal setting but sometimes you just need to be okay with the messiness of life and accept your shortcomings so my resolutions this year are three - one of which is "smile everyday." I think I can handle that.

A word about organizing goals. Okay, more than one word. Don't make them without knowing your priorities first. Your goals should align with your priorities. If my first priority is spirituality and all of my goals are about exercising, does that make sense?

My priorities in order of importance:

1. Spirituality
2. Relationships
3. Personal Health and Sanity
4. Professional
5. Home Improvement
   

Your list may be different or in a different order but you can see how my goals should fall into those categories so I'm not forgetting to work on the things that are most important to me. By the way, my other two resolutions fall into the relationship category so I think I'm on track.

How do you organize your goals?

Organize Your Bling

My sis started making jewelry and my collection of bling has outgrown my old organized system. YAY! Time for a new system! How I love a reason to reorganize - just ask my husband's ties.

Thing is... I already had a system I liked. Here it is:

I liked that I could see everything at a glance and that things didn't get tangled up but I started to get too many necklaces to fit.

So. The new system has all of the elements I liked with one huge bonus - it's a MAGNETIC cork board. I didn't even know such things existed. Did you?

I had these groovy see-through lidded, magnetic containers that were perfect for my bracelets. I also had some stackable, twist-on see-through containers perfect for earrings and rings and ta da!

The best part of the system is that it's all in my closet - totally accessible and helpful for matching to outfits in the morning. Love it!

Organize It!

If you want to get organized there are some basic rules to follow. These are my rules otherwise known as "organizing it's":

• Leave It

• Love It

• Lid It

• Loose It

• Lean into It

You'll hear a lot about these if you visit my blog often. This is a short overview for each "it."

Leave It
One of the biggest barriers to getting organized is that you keep buying stuff. Quit it. If you see something at the store you really like, ask yourself these questions: Do I already have a place for this? Do I want this more than I want the money it will cost? Do I want it enough to dust/launder/clean/maintain it?

Think of every purchase as a commitment. If you buy it, you are committed to caring for it. Are you really up to that kind of commitment for that particular item? If not, leave it at the store and you can go back and visit it any time.

Love It
Because everything you own comes with a commitment, it's okay to keep the stuff you're really committed to. LOVE your stuff. If you don't love it, you don't need it. How do you know if you love it? Think of the thing and see if you can insert it into this sentence, "You can have my _____, when you can pry it from my cold, dead hands." Now that's love!

You love it if you can think of creative ways to use and/or store it. One client of mine loved a green, sequined skirt she wore in her high school show choir days. She could not part with it (despite my pleading). So the skirt is now her Christmas Tree Skirt.

Little tip: if your thing has been in a box in the garage for six months, you don't love it.

Lid It
To be organized, you need boundaries. Where they aren't naturally, create them. You have some boundaries you must stay within, the top, bottom, and four walls of your house for example. Your stuff must fit within these boundaries. Technically, you can spill over and put your couch on your front lawn, your stuff in a storage shed. But don't. You'll be surprised how effectively a simple boundary will keep you organized. Look around. Where there is a trouble spot, see if you can use a lid to solve the problem.

Loose It
Ah, the fun part. This is the It everyone thinks of when they think of getting organized, the It where you sort and get rid of stuff. There are so many ways to make this a fun process like using a friend or having a purge party. It boils down to this: You can simplify. You don't need everything you have. Getting rid of it will make you feel like a new person.

Lean into It
Have you ever noticed things that seem magical almost always seem magical because someone has put A LOT of behind-the-scenes work into them? Organizing is hard work. You need to know that and lean into it the way you would when walking in a hurricane.

Lean into it is also about putting systems into place that work for you and not the other way around. This will require some trial and error so stick with it.

So that's my philosophy in a nutshell. What do you think? Have the "it's" worked for you?