Organization Systems vs Organization Habits

I have tried to be organized for a long time. I found a book when that really helped me with the basics of logistics of organization called -- I can't remember! But if I remember I'll try to remember to add it :P Incidentally, it was not really approved of because it contained the devil psychology (ooooh!). Anyway, it had you make lists of what was working for you, as far as organization goes, and what was not working. Then the plan was to work on the non-working areas, and see why they didn't work and what solutions were best for you. This was great and I got a lot of new storage ideas and had my things pretty organized. But I'd still come to these massive, clothes-on-the-floor, nothing put away, it's-going-to-take-hours-to-clean days. Why, since I had everything very "organized" when I did finally clean up?

I have known people who spent a lot of time organizing but never really seemed satisfied with their organization. That has been me for a long time, until recently I haven't really had time to do even the organization part. I've discovered something new that at least holds true for me, and I imagine it does for you as well.

The only thing to keep a neat, tidy, organized home is habitual maintenance. THERE IS NO MAGIC SYSTEM! Stop buying books! Stop trying new methods! There is also no magic suddenly-clean-from-here-out method. You have to decide to habitually maintain and then just start putting things away. You don't have to do go on one huge organizing binge. If you start putting things away your house will become clean. The only way to keep a clean, organized bathroom shelf is to put everything away as soon as you are done using it. The only way to keep your clothes organized in your drawers is to put them away or in the hamper as soon as you are done using them, and they will only be stored as neatly as you fold them in the first place before you put them in the drawer.

Seems simple, eh? And I've been missing this my entire life, practically.

There are various methods that will make maintenance simpler and easier, and those are methods that you should work on. But it won't work without continual work! You can't just organize things in a drawer and then expect them to stay that way (unless you never use the stuff, in which case just throw it all out). You have to put each item back where it belongs as soon as possible. Otherwise your drawer will be disorganized again. Nothing is going to go back to its organized state (in its place) without you putting it there!

Since our lives are continually changing, you will probably have to do things that improve your organization system continually as well. Bought something new? Where are you going to put it? Take up a new hobby? How are you going to keep things up?

It's a little more difficult with children, I think, because they move your stuff. But you can teach them to put things back and try to make things very simple for them. For instance, while I haven't gotten Aftasie to put her books back each time on the shelf yet, they are just piled there in a way that would be easy for her to return them to when she gets the hang of it. I don't bother straightening the books every time I walk by because I would be straightening them every 5 minutes and that's a waste of time. Her toys don't have to be placed neatly on a shelf, they just go in bins.

NY Family Reunion

We left on the 1st at 7 pm and flew out at 10pm. Then we arrived at JFK (yep!) with our suitcase, carseat and bag about 5.5 hours later at 6:30am and had to figure out how to get from JFK to Penn Station to take the Amtrak to upstate. It should have been simple, but the shuttle (that was twice as costly as public transport, but promised to be simpler) only took us to Grand Central Station. So we walked around Grand Central Station for a bit. So many people! Poor Aftasie was getting tired of the constant hand holding but there was no way I was going to let her disappear in the crowd. And tired, too, because she'd only slept about 4 hours on the plane.

Anyway, to make this part of the story short, we rode multiple subways and had to walk up and down multiple, long staircases and lots of New Yorkers helped us out! One woman (who had an accent just like my relatives) walked us three blocks to the Amtrak station once we had gotten off the subway.

Then we had a lovely 2.5 hour train ride, during which Aftasie slept in our seats and I slept on the floor. I was soo tired that I didn't care how filthy dirty the rug must have been. Then a cousin picked us up at the station and we had a LOVELY time with relatives in upstate NY. Vincent and Peter my brothers came, too! That was so nice. It was so nice to be supported and have people around who like me, who are also related to me! :)

Then we did pretty much the same thing on the way back but it was a lot easier because a cousin told us about an easy way to get from Penn Station to JFK (only two stops!) and we started our journey at 9am instead of at 7pm, which made a huge difference. We got home at 1am EST, where we had come from, which made our trip about 16 hours. Aftasie slept in the plane and I just sat there until we arrived. Oh yeah, I played some game Peter put on the ipad we borrowed - mushroom wars? It was weird, but it did pass some of the time :) Thanks Pete.

It is SOOOO good to be home. I feel refreshed. I feel like I actually did something! I think I have a hard time during the summer because I don't have as much to do as during the school year. It really helps if I am pushing myself. Otherwise everything becomes "break time" and I get frustrated. While I was bored and not doing much to keep up the house before I left, I have done loads of cleaning and feel all ready to do practically anything!