This is the second post in a series on our N.E.A.T.E.R. definition of what it means to be organized. For the next few weeks I will talk more in depth about what each one of these words means.
Not Perfect, but…
Effective- doing what works best
Always improving
True to your style
Efficient- not wasting time and energy
Ready for anything- being prepared for life
(NEATER acronym © 2006-2009, Clutter Diet, Inc.)
Effective means doing what works. Being organized means that things generally run well in your home, and that is going to look different for everyone and be very personalized to your family and your situation.
I once spoke to a single man who lived in a small apartment with minimal kitchen cabinet space. He simply stored all of his everyday dishes in the dishwasher and ran it every night, clean or dirty! He fixed the storage problem and also kept himself from having to put all of the dishes away after washing. It was a very "bachelor" kind of solution, but it worked. Do whatever reasonably produces the intended effect!
Many moms out there will relate to having a child that goes through a peculiar eating phase, such as wanting to have the same, exact peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day for lunch for weeks on end. It may be lacking in nutritional excellence, but it is a temporary phase and he won't starve. So go with it– IT WORKS for your family for the moment. It's okay.
So go ahead and use a Velveeta box for a drawer divider, let the kids wear mismatched pajamas if they really want to, and hand-write the labels for your file folders instead of printing them from your computer. Use what you have…don't sweat the small stuff… and bloom where you're planted! It's good enough and so are you.
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One thing that works for me, someone with a severe filing disability, is one box for the year. Anything that’s an important piece of paper (something that the DO part has already been handled but we need to keep the paper for taxes or filing) goes into a box. At the end of the year, all the tax paperwork gets pulled out and the taxes completed. Those papers then go into a file for supporting materials for the taxes, the tax return goes in a different file, and all other papers go into an expandable legal file.
I have 10 of the files, so each year I empty the oldest file and shred the contents. This keeps me from retaining a bunch of stuff I don’t really need, but gives me the peace of mind that I have what I do need.
It may drive others crazy and it’s not necessarily a pretty solution, but it certainly works for me!
I use cardboard pop flats to organize stuff (incoming mail, like food items on a pantry shelf), etc. It may not be pretty but it works (and is affordable 😉 This prevents me from having random stacks of stuff everywhere…
I immediately started crying when I read this: “Use what you have…don’t sweat the small stuff… and bloom where you’re planted! It’s good enough and so are you.” The idea of “good enough” continues to be the lifeline in our sea of chaos. My need for organizing has to be balanced with: helping husband set-up & run new biz out of our home, taking care of 4-mo baby, studying for my licensing exams, prepping for holidays & getting ready for next yr’s deadlines, as well as keeping house (close to) clean. We’re both so tired, we’ve started fighting quite a bit & that’s big trouble, since we are relying on each other to make recent life changes work. This website has been a god-send for me, esp. the acronyms that I can share with husband as I “recruit” him into new routines. I’m hoping that “NEATER” concepts can give me (us) the extra help I (we) need. I think that both of us actively reminding the other that “works for now” IS “good enough” can get us thru the rest of the year & we can improve our systems as we revisit them. “Always Improving” is a beautiful founding principle for a great life & just the sort of affirmative thinking that I want to surround my daughter. 😀