“Organizing is a process, not an event.” – Laura Leist,
professional organizer
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggggggaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!! My apartment is a @!#%^! mess!!!” – Spinster Jane
I realize that there is some amusement to be found in my
sitting on the couch writing about what a cluttered, disorganized mess my
apartment has become when I could instead be up doing the dishes, sorting my
make-up, putting away clean laundry or some other organizational type
task. However, at the moment I’m not
only feeling overwhelmed enough by the state of things that I’ve no idea which
task I would actually choose first, BUT I’m also feeling supreme amounts of
frustration.
How frustrated am I?
Frustrated enough that I considered cancelling all social engagements
over the weekend in favor of taking the time to clean and this is my BIRTHDAY
WEEKEND. So, I need to let off some
steam about the state of my living space before going to the extreme of become
a cleaning obsessed introvert or simply dumping all I own into a giant trash
bin.
My view from where I sit includes a coffee table piled with
ongoing craft projects, three bags of costuming from shows this past weekend
that I’ve yet to put away and a basket of clean (and folded) laundry that can’t
be put away as there is no room in my dresser.
I also know that there is a giant mound of dirty laundry in my bedroom
and the sink is full of dishes. My
bathroom is a clutter of make-up, hair pins and empty contact lense cases. At this point I really only like my apartment
when the lights are off and my eyes are closed.
I’ve numerous excuses as to why my living space is in this
state…
…I’m a busy woman who works two jobs, attends school
full-time, performs on the stage regularly and has a busy, busy social life.
…I’ve been fighting exhaustion for the past two months for
which a solution was only recently diagnosed.
…I really just need one more bookshelf (which will solve all
my clutter problems) or closet organizer (which will solve all my clutter
problems), neither of which I can afford at the moment so why bother?
…it’s just such a big job and I don’t have the time to set
aside a few days (WEEKS?) to do it.
While the exhaustion might be plausible excuse for things
falling into a worse state than they have ever been before, this has been a
problem for several months and this isn’t the first time I’ve blogged about this
before (12/12/2011). In December I did a
large amount of sorting and culling of the STUFF in my apartment. I did get rid of
quite a bit of things and it did result in a higher level of organization, for
a time, but it wasn’t long before things fell back into a generally cluttered
state.
Something must be done and it isn’t just about making my
current space clean, it is about getting back into the habit of keeping it in
such a state (because really, despite what stories my parents may tell about my
being the messiest kid on the block, I don’t generally live like this). So I’ve signed up for Self.com’s** 30 Days to a More Organized You which will send me one ‘get organized’ type tip every day
for 30 days. My hope is that the daily
email with fill the role of nagging roommate.
I signed up on Friday and so far I’ve received two emails the first of
which told me to make the bed (done!) and spend 20 minutes on one
organizational task (I cleared off the dinner table…trust me, it took the whole
20 minutes). If all of the tips are that
easy then by the end of thirty days I should know where every pin, sock or
cookie in my apartment is located.
…or at least I’ll know where to begin looking to for them.
**please note I am not endorsing Self or
any other Conde Nast publication or product.
I chose to sign up for this particular service because it also allows me
to check off when I have completed one of the suggested tasks which allows me
to see that I’m actually making some sort of progress.
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