Pockets of Mess in an Organized Home
plus master the midweek with these organizing quick tips
This is Real Life
This is my office. It’s the view just on the other side of my computer that I work at everyday.
I have a point.
An organized home has pockets of mess. It just does. When you are living life, your home will look like you are.
My pocket of mess is from working with a group of 3 other moms to coordinate a 48 team 2 day volleyball tournament. That tournament ended over a week ago now, and this bin is still sitting in the same spot!
It’s OK, though, because it’s not been a priority and because I’ve been tired!
I wonder if you can feel this way? See a pocket of mess in your home and feel OK about it. Realize that perhaps it hasn’t been a priority?
When my kids were young, I couldn’t. I was riddled with guilt and frustration that I couldn’t do what all the other moms seemed to be able to do. Even when, in the back of my mind, I knew that what I saw on social media or in a friends home wasn’t necessarily reality or what I was thinking their reality was.
I knew that pictures could be curated to leave out the mess. I knew that some friends might be throwing things in a box to shove in a closet before I got there. The problem was that I still held myself to those imagined realities.
Do you do the same? Hold yourself to expectations that may not be realistic for you in your current season of life?
Midweek Organizing Quick Tips
Actionable tips that you can do quickly on a busy day that help your home be more organized and functional.
Quick Tip 1 - Contain your clutter
When life is busy (when isn’t it?) your home can get slammed with stuff laying all over the place. You’ve just not had time to put things away and now you feel overwhelmed. Take a few minutes and contain the clutter.
Papers laying all over all the flat surfaces? Grab a box and scoop up the papers and put them in it.
Shoes causing a tripping hazard in the entryway? Grab a box and put the shoes in it.
Containing things like this that make your home feel completely out of control cause overwhelm. Overwhelm causes procrastination. The thought of tackling the project of de-cluttering the whole house seems to be more than the time you have available.
These feelings and reactions are completely normal. When it’s like this you just need to take one small step to feel a sense of relief.
Grab a container. Set a timer for10 minutes or less. Contain your clutter.
Quick Tip 2 - Shuffle the clothes in your closet or drawers
Are you spending too much time looking for something to wear everyday? I’ve had this problem too. Lots of clothes from every stage, before kids, after kids, and beyond for me! It can be a lot to go through everything in your closet and commit to never wearing some of the clothes again. If you’re not ready for that, you can shuffle some of your clothes around to simply have in the front what you were most often. At least for right now.
Be honest with yourself about the clothes you wear right now. Move those to an easy to get at space, front of closet, top dresser drawer. Box up or push to the back what you’re not wearing right now.
This fairly small task will make your morning run more smoothly.
Containers, transparent ones, have been a sanity saver for this ADHD/autist. Still have heaps of heaps, but most stuff is contained in boxes. Labeled ones. Otherwise my ADHD'er never knows where to put/find stuff, though my autist can get its knickers in a twist when there doesn't seem to be a box for whatever I need to put away. My autist then wants to reorganize everything, my ADHD'er doesn't like the tedium of that, which is how I still end up with heaps of heaps. Although they're much fewer and smaller than they were.
I have just started moving the clothes I wear regularly so I have easy access to them. Good article 👍🏿