Organization for the Naturally Unorganized (part 1)

Introduction

 

I believe there are only two kinds of people in the world when it comes to organization. There are the naturally organized people, and everyone else. The naturally organized (the NOs) have cute little mottos like, "A place for everything and everything in its place," while the rest of us, those that I think of as the naturally unorganized (the NUs), can't even find the place for our things, let alone find our things to put them there.

So, how do you know which group you belong in? Well, most of us know in our hearts, but if you are unsure take this little quiz:

1. Have you ever spent more time setting up an organization system than you spent using said system?  
2. If I were to ask you to tell me the specific location of at least one pen, your keys, a pair of scissors, and last month's water bill, would you be unsure or doubtful of where all these items are?
3. Do you want to knit/sew/scrapbook/whatever but the time it would take to set it up would be more than the crafting time you have available?
4. Have you ever missed an activity that you wanted to go to, because you totally forgot about it or remembered the date and time wrong?
5. Have you had to dig through clean, but not folded and put away, laundry in order to get dressed more than twice in a week?

If you answered "yes" to most of these questions, you're in good company. I can answer "yes" to all of them; I am the queen of the NUs. 

But, is there hope for us? Yes, but it's not in the way the NOs would lead you to think. We cannot just do things their way and hope to suddenly become like them. Think about it, you know exactly what I mean. Most of us NUs, if we've been adults for more than a couple of years, have spent time and money on some wonderful, beautiful organization system that will fix all of our problems, only to find that it just becomes something else that doesn't have a place and doesn't get dusted.

The problem with all of the organization systems out there is that they were developed by.... not you. "Huh?," you say. In order for a system to work, I mean really work, it needs to take your individual home, activities, and preferences in mind. For example, I hate to write by hand, so any system that has me setting up a paper calendar that I have to write appointments on is not going to be kept up to date by me. I'll put it off until the calendar is so out of date that it's useless. So, my calendar system is totally digital, and I find keeping it up to date almost effortless.

Anyway, this post is the first of what I plan to be a series on how to organize your home, homeschool, crafts, appointments, and more with your own needs and preferences as your guide. I will be giving lots of examples of how I do things, but only as ways to spark your own creativity to think outside the color-coded, labeled, and shelved box.