I’m a hack.
I’m living a lie. I’m a person who claims to have all her ducks in a row, everything put away in a clean manner that’s easy to find. I’ll put things in my planner and have everything figured out. But I don’t.
I grew up in a home that was always clean. Scratch that – spotless. My mom cleaned for eight hours every single Saturday. Now that she’s retired (well deserved!) she keeps the house up during the week and assigns different jobs to different days. All of her paperwork is in one spot. Her closets are neat. Basically, my mom is Monica from Friends, but there is no hidden mess.
I like a clean house, a picked up house. I see memes all the time about how life shouldn’t be about keeping your home tidy and your kids won’t remember that — they’ll remember the memories. True. But that doesn’t mean I want to live in a home where I can’t walk or where I hold seven years of paper on the counter. I remember a clean home and therefore, I keep one as well.
But I got off track here. This isn’t about cleaning. It’s about organization.
I get confused, I think. Clean and tidy does not mean organized. Boy, have I learned this.
I can shove all the toys in containers, stack them, vacuum and tada! The playroom is clean. Looking for a specific toy? I haven’t a clue where I put it. I can put all my loose papers in my bin in the kitchen. Need a receipt from last week? Don’t look at me. I have eight registration forms for activities this summer and all the paperwork shoved in my planner. When is tennis? Don’t ask me because I didn’t write it down. Let me search through all the paperwork.
Isn’t this pretty? I would love to be this organized.
See, I’ll be honest and tell you all of my organization skills are a front. They’re a mask hiding a procrastinator, sometimes lazy, person. Don’t even get me started on my side of the closet (THAT is a MESS).
I love a picked up home. I don’t like an unvacuumed floor or dog hair all over the kitchen. I like things stacked nicely. I want the pillows on the couch and not the floor.
Organization though? I’m clueless. I have a thousand pins saved on Pinterest on organization. I haven’t used one.
Any tips to stay organized? Leave them here, though I probably won’t do any of them! 🙂