For those of you who don’t know me very well yet, let me tell you a bit about myself. I can appear to be full of contradictions.
I am, for instance:
- Untidy but organized;
- Calm yet intense;
- An avid procrastinator and and equally big perfectionist
When I was a child (and a teen…and a young adult still living at my parents’ house), the state of my room would drive my mom nuts. Like seriously nuts. I still remember one instance in which my room was so untidy that even my dad came downstairs to help me regain control over it. Eventually, my mom decided that in order to save her own sanity, she’d ask me to keep the door to my room closed.
But you know what? I could find anything in my room. It was an organized mess. My mom once told me that she had trouble organizing her thoughts if the physical things around her weren’t in order. In my case, I had to organize what ever was going on in my head to be able to organize the things around me. Since I can be kind of intense and get into a whole bunch of projects at once, it would take quite a bit of time before my head was organized enough to be able to tackle my room.
I’ve never had trouble living in an untidy environment. If you were to come into my house without previously announcing your visit, you’d probably wonder how I can find anything (or walk around without stepping on any toys, or sit on the couch without sitting on any clothes, or, or, or…).
I’ve always been able to totally chill even if there were some dirty dishes (or clean ones that had to be put away). I’ve never had a problem with seeing loads of clean laundry sitting in the hamper, waiting to be folded and put away. Floors needed to be swept (or vacuumed, or mopped)? Bah! It can wait. Table needed to be wiped down? Meh, I’ll take care of it later. Bed not made? Who cares, I’m going to sleep in it tonight anyways! Clothes littering the floor (right beside the hamper, I might add)? Not a problem, I mean, I’m going to pile them on the floor on Saturday to wash them anyways.
You get the picture, right?
But you see, lately, I’ve come to realize that I’m not as zen in an untidy environment as I used to. I’m feeling myself being slowly but surely pulled towards needing my immediate environment to be tidy in order to function better. I realized that this change has kind of creeped up on me since having my first child. I mean, it’s not just me that I have to organize now, I need to organize my days with the kids as well.
But, you know, I think I’ve found a solution and I’m going to share it with you…in part 2.
Are you a tidy person or do you live in an organized mess? Have you always been that way?
mommytrainingwheels 
Up until you started talking about a desire to tidy up – I would have sworn that maybe we were twins that had been separated at birth – I looked around my house and was nodding with every sentence! I’m not quite ready to tidy yet – I tell myself that I don’t have the storage space to organize and for now, I’m still happy with that lie. 😀 Excited to see how you get organized though, maybe I’ll get inspired!
Oh Tami, where have you been all my life? So glad to know that I’m not alone! Now, as far as my desire to become tidy goes, I’m still unsure whether it’s due to hormones or a real desire to change. Only time will tell! But I figured there was no harm on acting on the impulse 😀
If you lose your motivation don’t sweat it – blame Spring fever, grab your crochet hook, pour a glass of wine, push those clean clothes onto the ground (you can refold them later) and plop down on your couch – sit back and enjoy your perfectly untidy creative kingdom!!
Oh gosh! I just pictured myself perfectly acting out that scene.
I don’t want to be a bad influence – YOU CAN DO IT!! Now I’m singing the Barney “clean up clean up” song! Is Barney even on tv anymore? My kids used to love that weird creepy dinosaur!
I’m looking forward to part two!!
I am very organized and tidy. It bothers me (and always has) to have busy, cluttered, and/or dirty space around me. It’s increased since having kids. 😉
That is one of the things that I admire about you. Among other things, your ability to homeschool whilst taking care of a baby and keeping the house under control (not to mention the fact that you love to clean) has always inspired me.
Toi, tu fais plusieurs projets en même temps? Que c’est donc vrai! Je me souviens de t’avoir montré à organiser ta chambre à quelques reprises! Pour que ton père vienne nous aider… Ça en disait long sur l’état de ta chambre. Ce n’est qu’un détail. Tu es une femme extraordinaire avec plein de qualités!
C’est peut-être un détail, mais il est mémorable! Tous tes efforts n’ont pourtant pas étés en vain, je suis quand même organisée malgré tout ;).
Quel beau souvenir tu as eu de penser que je puisse aider à ranger! La chambre devait être vraiment à l’envers :p . Mais tu as aussi de très belles qualités . xxx
C’était assez mémorable! Hahaha. Je pense que maman devait être ultra-découragée (et moi aussi, sans doute) cette fois-là. J’essaie d’utiliser mes forces pour travailler mes points à améliorer. C’est le temps de sortir la tête de cochon et la détermination!
I have a feeling having kids brings on the urge to keep things more tidy, maybe because they add to the volume of things and it just gets to be too much?
Yeah, I hear you on being relaxed in a mess … to a point. I find myself making piles of things all over the house. There aren’t many clean surfaces! It bothers me because I’d love to have a perfectly neat house, but it doesn’t bother me enough to change it! I do keep up with the mess, but it never seems to fully go away. Ugh.
We started yesterday to go through my 3yo’s art (as you know) to declutter, and it’s motivated me to go through my things as well! Never a dull moment in life, eh? HA!
I’m excited for part 2!
Yeah, I think you’re probably right. Since kids add to the volume of things, it can get a bit overwhelming. I’m a big fan of piles too.
Oh my goodness I could have written this. I used to call my teenage room “organized chaos” to my mom who also complained and couldn’t believe I could find anything (but I always could). But ever since I had 2 kiddos and even more now that I have 3, I’m sweeping the floors daily, wiping down the table, getting the kitchen clean at night and tidying up during the day so it doesn’t build up. This was so NOT ME even 5 years ago. I would have been like “whatever”… I’ll do it later. Not anymore! I feel like a pod person has taken over… especially since I’m actually taking enjoyment in these acts of domesticity! Who would have thunk it?
But it’s necessary… it would get out of control so fast if I didn’t keep up. Plus I now live in a home where I can see my kitchen from the couch… a constant reminder if it needs cleaning. And I live in a friendly neighborhood now… anyone could stop by at anytime. I look around and think “would I be embarrassed if someone saw the house like this?” and if the answer is yes, I take care of it.
I guess kids really do change us, right? I have to admit that having the kitchen in the line of sight helps. I can’t see mine from the living room, but it’s the first thing I see when I enter my house and I always get kind of discouraged when I come in and see a pile of dishes on the counter.