What does it mean to be organized?

Basically, it means being able to find things when you need them. It means that when you’re looking for a rubber band or a bottle opener, you know which drawer or cabinet to go to, and can locate it without much fuss. It means that you have a pretty good idea of what’s in your closet.

What being organized actually looks like varies greatly from person to person. Spices congregating in the same general area on a shelf, or decanted into uniform containers, alphabetized and placed in a dedicated drawer? It’s up to you!

A former co-worker of mine kept stacks and stacks and stacks of papers, folders and books on his desk, next to his desk and even on a small table pulled up behind his desk. This is the opposite of my own organizational style, so it made me kind of anxious just to look at it. But it worked for him! He pretty much knew where everything was in all those piles. We also had an interesting conversation one day about there being two types of people -- those who clean as the cook, and those who wait to clean everything at the end – and how to have a harmonious home when both types live under the same roof.

I like this quote from Nietzsche: “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” I was reminded of it recently as I was reading “How to Keep House While Drowning,” by KC Davis. She reminds us that we don’t work for our homes; our homes should work for us. We can rethink “rules” to fit our own needs (like having a laundry basket in every room). I loved her example of how she maintains the function of the kitchen sink. Instead of stacking dirty dishes in it, she uses a separate dish rack. This keeps the sink clear and usable, so she can clean dishes on her own timeline. “Organization,” she said, “doesn’t have to be pretty.”

Do you need help figuring out how to organize something? Let’s talk about it, and find a way that works for you!