Then Again, Maybe I Shouldn't

This isn't the planner in question :-)
Photo: Melinda257 via Pixabay

 There are many obstacles to organizing. Time. Habits. Lack of confidence.

The shoulds.

You know -- I should do this or that. I should do it the way someone/everyone else does. I should be able to make this tool work.

Each of these thoughts is a great big mountain between us and our organization destination. If you've been reading these posts for a while, I hope you've found some ammunition for fighting back against the first three.

This post is about the last one. 

Maybe you have some ammunition against that one, as well. As for me, I've been writing these posts for a long time but somehow, last week, I found myself running squarely into that mountainside.

The thing is, I didn't realize I'd run into the mountain. I thought I'd taken a wrong turn.

Life has been busy and so, when I missed a scheduled appointment, I blamed busyness and interruptions to the routine that kept me moving forward. To be fair, those were contributing factors. 

But there was another, more insidious factor at play. It was small enough to fit into my purse and was masquerading as an ally.

My portable planner.

I don't typically have a small planner in addition to my main planner and weekly planner because, well, that's a bit redundant. But in order to stem the tide of appointment cards that are small enough to get lost in the recesses of my bag, or end up on the floor of my car, I thought I'd give it a try.

It's useful. Except when it's not. You see, in my hurry to find a cheap and easy tool, I purchased a planner where the weeks begin on a Monday. In every other planner and calendar I own, the weekly layout begins on Sunday.

I didn't realize this discrepancy until I'd already gotten the planner home. Even then, I brushed it off. I'd adjusted to this set-up in another planner a few years back and I thought I could do it again. 

One might even say I should be able to do this. 

But the issue here isn't whether I should or shouldn't, or even whether I can or can't. The issue is that this is the wrong tool for the job because it puts an unnecessary obstacle in my path.

It was only when I went to schedule the follow-up appointment to the one that I'd missed that I realized the sneaky role this allegedly innocent planner had played in my predicament. Only then did I hear my own voice, captured here on the page more times than I can count, telling me that if the tool didn't work, I wasn't the problem. 

I simply needed another tool.

At this point, it's easy to fall prey to the sunk cost fallacy -- I'd already spent money on the planner, so I had to make it work. But the financial cost was only one potential cost, and the possibility -- or probability -- of writing down the wrong date was a cost I was unwilling to incur. I'm someone who has an I need to see it personal style, which means that how things look on the page is a key factor as to whether that view will hinder or facilitate my planning. And, honestly, I'm a bit greedy. I prefer to hold out for a tool that will go one step further: one that enhances my planning and eases my mind.

This floral traitor was not the best tool. 

Within a week, I'd replaced the planner in question with a freebie whose layout was a better match for the way my mind works. Although neither planner came with an ironclad guarantee that I'll show up where I'm supposed to when I'm supposed to, the replacement planner has an edge.

Its layout makes it less likely I'll run face first into a mountainside.

What Does Creativity Have to Do With Organization?

 Over the past several years, I've been working on balancing productivity with creativity. An interesting byproduct of these pursuits has been the expansion of my definition of creativity. 

As a writer, musician, and sometime actress, I feel as though I possess some creativity in the traditional sense. Still, I've never really thought of myself as artistic. Trying out sketchnoting helped me to loosen my grip on a standard definition of creativity, as did exploring the topic of perfectionism. 

These days, I find myself viewing creativity more broadly and I'm in constant pursuit of activities that enhance it in any form. Toward this end, I bought a book called 1001 Ways to Be Creative, which I'm perusing a few pages at a time, looking for ideas and further reshaping my already dynamic definition.

When I look back, though, I realize that what I've been viewing as a recent quest was sparked more than a decade ago when I began to look at organizing through a new lens. In a quest for self-improvement, reading about organizing helped me to validate a long-held belief that we all organize differently. In addition, it helped me to stop beating myself up about my own "disorganization." The concept of personal and organizational styles arose from all of that exploration, and I began actively pursuing non-traditional, creative ways of bringing order to my surroundings.

At its core, creativity includes looking at the world differently, seeing beauty in the ordinary, and coming up with new uses for old things. It's thinking outside the box, or bin, or drawer. Creativity and organization converge when we look beyond traditional tools like binders and file cabinets, and not only use the tools that work with our styles, but learn to seek them out. 

One of my favorite organizing hacks is the round bin with plentiful holes that I use to hold plastic kitchen items like measuring cups and measuring spoons. I'm certain this tool was meant for different uses and spaces but, as a five foot tall person, it's a perfect fit; all those holes provide multiple ways for me to grab the bin and access its contents. Had I used more traditional storage, I'd need a step stool every time I needed to pull out the measuring cups, an additional step (no pun intended) that quickly grows old on busy days.

Learning to look at traditional tools in new ways is a great way to turn things we already own into storage. A year or so ago, my daughter began cleaning out her spent jar candles, draining the melted wax and using the jars to store small items. (Storing food in these repurposed jars is not recommended). 

Thanks to her example, I've begun to do the same, adding an empty candle jar collection to my cleaned-out jelly jar collection. One of those candle jars sits under my sink, holding dishwasher pods, while a jar that once held jelly now holds cosmetic brushes. The white plastic bins my prescription eye drops come in can be made prettier with washi tape and pressed into service to hold other things (refill heads for my electric toothbrush, for example). Because these bins can't be recycled, they would otherwise have been consigned to a landfill. Or worse. Repurposing them saves time, money, and resources.

Whether you're a Type A organizer, or someone who has begun to embrace her personal and organizational styles, you probably have some idea of what works for you. Analyzing the attributes of a container that's earning its keep can be the first step to identifying other containers you already have on hand that can be pressed into service. Some may work well as is, while others may need adaptations (draining the wax from candle jars, for example). Or, if you're feeling creative, you can dress up these repurposed containers with fabric, washi tape, glitter glue, or whatever else you might have on hand. 

Sprinkling a little creativity into your organization can make it more fun. And, if you've made a New Year's resolution to de-clutter and spruce things up, you might just be able to accomplish both of these tasks in one step.

An Influx of Lazy Susans

 Lately, I've been on a lazy Susan kick. If I could recapture all the time I spent on websites comparing one lazy Susan to another, then comparing one cabinet organizer to another, I could...

I don't know. I just know I could do something more productive.

It all started with the Christmas baking, when I had to pull out half the contents of a shelf in the pantry cabinet to get to the ingredients I needed. Being neither an enthusiastic nor a frequent baker, this wasn't a big deal at the time. It was only when my daughter was baking a couple days later, and I had to explain to her how to access those same ingredients that it suddenly seemed like a ridiculous set-up.

I knew immediately that a lazy Susan was the solution. What I didn't know was how many there were! Luckily, armed with my cabinet measurements, I was able to find what I wanted fairly quickly and place my order.

Problem solved. Except...

Bitten by the organizing bug (who knows I'm an easy target), I started exploring options for improving the state of my other cabinets. I decided that the under-sink cupboard in the kitchen was in even greater need of reorganizing than the baking ingredients shelf, so I went online again. Once more, I found what looked like a good tool pretty quickly and placed the order.

Christmas came and went and I followed the tracking for my lazy Susan. When it came, I spent an evening reorganizing the cabinet, which now not only looks so much better, but also affords much easier access to all of my ingredients. 

And this is when I went down the rabbit hole.

Enthralled by the improvement, I started thinking about other spots that could benefit from a lazy Susan, including the lazy Susan cupboard in my kitchen. Several hours and many comparisons later, I went to bed. The next day, I finalized the order.

A few days later, three different lazy Susans arrived on my doorstep. I can now report that my suspicions that a lazy Susan might not the best tool for my lazy Susan were confirmed. I did, however, reorganize the space in question,  repurposing containers I already had and using them to improve that space.

Which items, you may ask? First, a cardboard magazine holder (of which I have an abundance), cut to fit the height of the cabinet. Second, a baby wipes container (The "baby" in question is 27. Don't judge. Those containers are so perfect it's almost worth buying the wipes to get the container. Almost.)

As for the lazy Susans...one replaced a basket on my countertop that held spices. One is slated to go below the first one that started me on this kick. The third one is on my dining room table, awaiting its assignment. And there will be an assignment. Those tools are not going back.

And neither am I.

Bite-Sized Resolutions

 The New Year is just around the corner, which leaves many of us thinking about New Year's resolutions. Should we make them? Will we keep them? What should they be?

Whether your resolutions revolve around organization or something else entirely, here are a few ideas to keep in mind.

Keep it simple. Choose one thing, one space, or one habit. A laundry list of resolutions is overwhelming and difficult to keep up with. If you have multiple things, spaces, or habits you want to work on, consider splitting them up, choosing one for January, one for February, and so on.

Define your why. Why do you want to make this change? Why does it matter to you and/or how will it improve your life? If you can't answer at least one of these questions, is it really worth investing your energy in this change? 

Adopt a strategy and keep it simple. Big, fat, hairy plans can be intimidating and hard to keep track of. Better to choose one simple strategy that's easy to implement into your existing routine -- a baby step that's not too time-consuming -- than to attempt a complete overhaul of anything. If the first strategy you choose doesn't work, you can always modify your plan.

Describe your desired outcome. Keep it clear. What does "clean out my closet" mean? What will it look like when you're finished? How will you know you've succeeded?

Confused? Frustrated? Annoyed by my interference in your plans to make your world better? Feel free to ignore me and proceed as usual. 

Interested in giving this a try? Let's take the "clean out my closet" example and go step by step. 

Simple: Get rid of clothes I no longer wear.

Why: Because my closet is overstuffed and/or I can't find what I need when I need it and/or I'm tired of putting on clothes that don't fit or flatter every time I get dressed. Removing clothes that don't work for me will, in the end, make me feel better about myself because everything in my closet fits me and makes me feel good when I wear it. 

Strategy: Here are three ideas (choose ONE):

• I'll spend 15 minutes to an hour each weekend pulling all the clothes of one color or one category (e.g. dresses) out of the closet and going through them, keeping only those that fit and flatter and donating the rest. (Why only one color or category? It's an easy way to remember where you left off from one session to the next). OR...
• I'll keep a box in the bottom of the closet. Every time I put on something that doesn't fit and flatter, it goes into the box instead of being returned to the closet. When the box is full, I'll donate its contents. OR...
• I'll hang questionable clothes (we all have them) on a different colored hanger (or turn the hanger backwards) and make a rule for how long to keep the item. 2 weeks? A month? Until the next time I put it on and am unhappy with it? When I reach that deadline, I'll make a final decision based on how it fits and how it makes me feel.

Outcome: A closet with contents that make it easy for me to get dressed with minimal frustration because I can find what I need when I need it and I'm happy with everything I put on.

Your answers may be very different from mine because our circumstances are likely to be different. If, for example, you're a young mom considering a future pregnancy, your goal might be to remove all the maternity clothes from your closet now but, rather than donating them, you might relocate the box to a more out-of-the way location. If you're downsizing or pressed for space, you might take a more ruthless approach, or determine a plan for seasonal rotation of your clothing.

Whatever you decide to do, keep it simple and give yourself grace. Planning to tackle that closet every Saturday, but finding that you get there once a month instead of once a week? That's still a step in the right direction. Accept that life intervened and move on, adapting your plan to fit your life.

Finally, if your New Year's resolutions are organization-related, don't forget to factor in your styles. They might fit into any of the steps (simple, why, strategy, outcome) above, depending on where you are in your journey, but they can play a key role in the success of your plan.

Whatever you decide, good luck! And remember: it's a process.

Style Habits

 Do you have a specific home for your car keys? Are they there now?

How about your phone? Does it have a home? Or do you, like me, make all-too-frequent use of the "find my phone" feature on another device, or ask someone to call you so you can figure out where you set your phone down?

Creating habits, routines, and homes is at the heart of organizing. If your keys have a home, and putting them there is part of a habit you practice every time you come home, this creates a sort of organizing automaticity -- not to mention making it much easier to find them when you need them.

This same automaticity can work against us. If we have a drop and run organizing style, we might have developed the habit of just dropping everything onto the nearest surface when we walk in the door, especially if we've had a long day or are in a hurry. Those with an I know I put it somewhere organizing style might have developed the enviable habit of clearing off cluttered spaces, but if they've paired that habit with stashing the clutter in whatever space is available at the moment, the clear space they've gained comes at a cost. The next time they need those items, they may spend a lot of time trying to retrieve them from whatever home seemed to make sense when clearing the clutter was priority one. And cram and jammers? Their impulse to put everything into one place might make it easier to know where to look for their stuff, but it often gets mashed and smashed in the process. 

To organize sustainably, we need to create habits that are easy to do (even when we're tired or in a rush) and easy to remember. And, we need to match the new routine to the habits we already have.

Wait. What? Why would we match a new routine to an unsuccessful old habit?

We wouldn't because that wouldn't be helpful at all. What we need to do is to match is the impulse behind the old habit to a new routine with a better end result. 

Those with a drop and run style need to create a new habit that makes it as easy to put something down as it is to put it away. We can still drop and run but, by simply changing our drop-off destination from the nearest surface to a designated bin, basket, hook, or drawer, we can keep the automaticity of the old habit and create a more organized space.

The same idea works for the I know I put it somewhere example above. Clearing the counters is a great impulse, as is putting things away. But the system breaks down when there's no logic or consistency to where the items go. By finding consistent homes (back to those bins, baskets, hooks, drawers, etc.) for the items we're clearing away, we can upgrade our existing habit to one that's more helpful in the long run.

The shift for those with a cram and jam organizational style, then, is merely one of size and shape. Cram and jammers can still put everything into one container; it just needs to be the right size and shape for what it's storing. 

When we feel as though our living spaces are disorganized, it's easy to label our habits as "bad" when, in reality, all we need is a simple tweak to move from a routine that isn't working to one that is effortless. 

When we build on what comes naturally to us, we can learn to view our habits as incomplete instead of simply wrong. And the beauty of that simple switch is that not only do we move from clutter to organization, we're able to feel better about ourselves in the process.  

Containing Christmas Clutter

Alexas_Fotos via Pixabay

 'Tis the season for tons of clutter! (Fa la la la la?) Between the decorations and the presents (that we inevitably put in a "safe place," away from curious eyes), we’re in the midst of a season that can stretch our organizational systems to their limits.

Not an issue at your house? That's wonderful! But, if you're feeling the crunch, here are a few ideas to keep in mind.

Keep it simple. Now is not the time to try fancy new plans. If it's not broken, don't change it. If it can wait, let it. If it can't wait, replace the strategy that's not working with one that's proven more successful elsewhere. Trying to do it all (particularly on top of holiday preparations) is overrated, not to mention counterproductive.

Keep it consistent. ’Tis also the season for the same things to be put (away) in the same places -- time wise and stuff wise. Although predictability can be boring, it can be a lifesaver when life is overwhelming. And for many of us, there's something comforting about a routine we can count on when both the calendar and the house are more crowded than usual.

Keep your styles in mind. With more people in and out of our homes, not to mention more goodies to put in “safe places,” it’s not only those with an I know I put it somewhere organizational style who find it easy to stash stuff now only to need it later and not be able to locate it. Keep one big bin behind closed doors to use as a container for all the half-finished holiday preparations you need to grab and stash when company’s coming, and decide on one location for hiding Santa’s inventory (preferably in a drab-looking container unlikely to attract anyone’s attention or interest). That way, you know where to look once the company has gone home and you want to wrap presents.

Try to avoid making a contribution. To the pile-up, that is. While it seems like putting one more thing on the pile won't make that much difference, that one more thing you set down now becomes one more thing you have to put away later. Strategies like give it five (minutes) and don't put it down, put it away! can help keep clutter manageable.

Manage the little things to enjoy the big things. If you’re thinking that these ideas sound like temporary solutions, you may be right. Then again, many of the organizational challenges we face at this time of year are temporary as well, and it’s silly to spend precious holiday time working out long-term solutions to short-term problems. In this busy time of year, it’s okay to do what works now. Then, after all the cookies have been eaten, the gifts have been unwrapped, and the decorations have been put away, we can nail down the strategies that keep things running smoothly the other eleven months of the year. That said, if these temporary solutions work now, there’s no reason not to continue to use them once the holiday glitter has settled. 

Until then, deck the halls, trim the tree, and then sit down and watch a Christmas movie. Or pile the family in the car, and drive around the neighborhood to take in the light displays. Or gather in the kitchen and make cookies (or a meal) together. Make a mess, share some joy, or revel in time spent with people you love.

The clutter can wait. That is, after all, what New Year’s resolutions are for.

3 Keys Thursday: Setting Some Guidelines

 Right around the time my daughter left for college, I ordered a clothing subscription box. While clothing on my doorstep wouldn't fill the massive silence that emerged in the wake of the departure of an eighteen-year old, it did make me smile. And it was fun trying everything on.

Eight years later, I'm still subscribing. I've swapped the first company for another one, and I still love getting that box of clothes on my doorstep.

Lately, I've been rethinking this plan, and toying with the idea of unsubscribing. Not only is my closet full, but my dresses and jackets have taken over the closet in my now young-adult daughter's old bedroom. (To be fair, I've had most of these clothes for over a year and some of them for much, much longer. And these are small closets in a 1950s-era house). 

Rationalizations? I prefer to think of it as putting things into perspective ;-)

Still, I don't need new clothes. Even worse, I know my affinity for these boxes is contributing to the excessive waste that runs rampant in the fashion industry (not to mention enlarging my carbon footprint thanks to that oh-so-convenient free shipping). 

But adding a new piece here and there is fun. Plus, I like getting them delivered -- it's like a little gift on my doorstep. 

Fun or not, I knew it was time to do some reckoning when I accidentally purchased the same sweater a second time. Even worse, the original purchase hung in my closet with the tags still on it! In my defense, I thought the sweater looked familiar, but when I checked my closet, I didn't see its twin.

Another red flag.

Spoiler alert: I'm not dropping the subscription. But I am establishing a few rules. 

1. One box per month. They love to tempt me with an additional offering at the end of the checkout process. I need to say no (and I usually do).

2. Judicious purchases. What this means has changed over time but, given my current clothing situation, the following rules apply:

• It's different from what I already have. There are possible exceptions to this rule (staples like black pants or neutral tops), but they should be just that -- exceptions. 
• The item fills a "hole" in my wardrobe (a sweater that matches those pants that nothing else matches, for example) or replaces something worn.
• I feel great in it. It doesn't just fit, it flatters. It's soft with no itchy tags, and moves when I do. I can imagine myself wearing it all day. Comfortably.
• The price is right. The last box had a pair of pants I loved that fit me better than almost anything else in my closet, but they were twice the price I usually pay. It was hard to pass, but a few minutes of thinking about what else I could do with that money did the trick.

3. Practice one in/one out whenever possible. The last box had a plum blouse with a scalloped neckline that fit perfectly, including sleeves that hit at the wrist without needing to be rolled up (a serious fashion win when you're five feet tall). But...didn't I already have a blouse that was similar in color? I checked the closet, found the blouse, and tried it on. Not nearly as flattering. Keep the new one, donate the old one (which was purple, not plum, for you color fashionistas out there).

If you think these sound like logical guidelines I should have set at the beginning, you're right. All I can say in my defense is that those first boxes were like free play -- all exploration and no rules -- because I was all about a surprise that made me smile. I also weighed about 40 lbs more then, and was having a lot of trouble finding clothes that fit and flattered. Then, as I lost the weight, I needed new clothes that -- you guessed it -- fit and flattered.

And a purchasing cycle was born.

If you're wondering what any of this has to do with organizing, it all ties back to the E in STYLE: Easy Upkeep. If we keep purchasing things -- even necessary things -- with no regard for where we're going to put them or how much space we have, upkeep quickly becomes anything but easy. If I run out of space for even my "judicious" purchases, not only have I gone too far, but I'm probably not using what I already have, at least not very well.

While none of us can single-handedly solve the issue of waste generated by an entire industry, we can minimize it in our own little corner of the world by making sure we know what we have, making sure whatever we bring into our homes has somewhere to go, and making sure to store our things in a way that makes sense, so we can quickly find them when we need them.

The time to stop buying is before we overrun our homes with stuff because that stuff becomes clutter that we have to somehow store and/or eliminate.

It's okay to indulge ourselves a little. We just need to make sure that, in the long run, the indulgence doesn’t cost us more time or money than we meant to spend.