I've never been very organized. Don't get me wrong I can organize. As a child I would occasionally organize books on my bookshelf. As a teen I would occasionally organize my closet, or my dresser drawers, my room, etc.. The problem is staying organized. And routine has never been a close friend of mine. Obviously this shows in my home, my purse and my car most of the time.
I have kids now. Organization has started to become a necessity. I find myself craving the sanity it can bring to my life, but it always seems so difficult to implement... and maintain. I find myself doing the madwoman cleaning binge every now and again... usually when company is due, but recently I have discovered methods that are working for me. Methods that are helping me keep my home more presentable, more sane, and more liveable.
I'm working in routines. Sometimes they are tedious. Sometimes they are just flat boring. But I'm doing what any good adventurer does and persevering. In books and movies you never see what the adventurers are doing probably most of the time. For example, the best I can tell the Lord of the Rings trilogy shows us what happens over a period of 3 years (though I've seen argument that it spans more like 21 years: http://preview.tinyurl.com/8459jbs). Yet you can watch the entire trilogy in just under 11 and a half hours (according to wikipedia). What don't you see? Well sure, they have to cut out some of the adventure just to make it a reasonable watching length, but you also don't see a lot of boring stuff. Routine. Walking and walking and walking. Sleeping. Cooking. Eating. Resting. But you know all of that stuff had to happen to get them to all the big adventurous plot twists and turns.
So, for now, I'm working on all the boring stuff so that our adventures can be more fun! An impromptu wrestling match in the living room floor is much more fun when there aren't toys scattered all over the living room, after all. And it's fun to have friends over to play without having to do a mad dash through the apartment to clean it first. And maybe it's not fun but it is certainly a lot easier to go check on your kids at night, or comfort a crying child, or even sleep on the floor of their room occasionally when you don't have to worry about stepping, sitting or laying on toys. OUCH!
And that is kind of where it started to click for me. There had to be a solution. We don't have a room that can be used as a play room, so that wasn't an option. We had already gotten tired of having all the toys in our living room, so that wasn't an option anymore. So I got creative (we sorta). I got three large bins with lids (that the boys have not yet figured out how to remove) and I organized. I got rid of toys they didn't play with anymore. I put all of the cars and trucks and other automobiles in a box. I put all of the trains, train tracks, and train cars in another box. I put all of the "other" toys that didn't belong in either category in the third box. Now, when the boys get up in the morning I ask them which box they want to play with. They get ONE box. If they decide that want to play with different toys, that's fine! They just have to put all the other toys away first. Before naptime AND before bedtime we clean up the toys that are out (which is less of a big deal since only one type of toy is out in the first place) and put the lid on the box. Voila! One less bedtime struggle! Since there are no toys out I don't have to worry about them playing with toys all through naptime/nighttime! And if I need to go in there for some reason there are no toys in the floor to worry about.
Now, every once in a while I let them have two boxes open at once. Usually the cars and trains. Then, when it's time to clean up we also get to work on sorting. And you know what one really big bonus is? Their Sunday School teachers are always bragging about how well my kids clean up when it's time. Picture me, one beaming Mama!
Now it's finally starting to catch on in my brain. I'm getting routines down in the rest of our place. I'm getting dishes done on a daily basis (never before have I done this... yeah... I know). I'm doing at least a load of laundry every day that I'm home. I'm making my bed every day. There just isn't a feeling quite like climbing into a made bed at the end of the day. I'm even "cleaning" my bathroom daily. And all of this doesn't take long at all. It's all very simple and relatively quick, but it keeps me from having a chaotic and messy home.
We'll get there. And hopefully I'll be able to help my children learn to be a little more organized than their mother has historically been!
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