I am sure that all of you read books about organizing. I have read lots of them over the years (decades?). One of the reasons I started this blog is that circumstances and problems in the books seem so remote from our situation and I am guessing that others feel this way also.
For the past couple of decades husband and I go to a chain book store (which one we go to has changed several times due to store openings and closing) on Friday nights after dinner for someplace to go. I tended to wander around while he looked at what he wanted to look at. I found the section of cartoon books and started reading them - I read quickly and would read while we were there, mark the page where I left off in my small, pocket notebook and pick up again the following week. Then I was wandering around in the book store one night and found a book on a subject I did not know existed - organizing! I started reading that book - one thing it did was tell me that there were people whose homes were much worse than mine. I finished it after a couple of weeks and found another - and another, etc. Every now and then I would have read all the books on organizing and decluttering in whichever book store we were in and I would have to wait until new books were written and arrived. I did this year after year after year. I found that while that while I did not necessarily get a lot of actual help from the books - every now then and idea worked or helped me figure out what would work - it did give me the impetus to keep working on clearing up our house.
Then something else caught my attention. Remember we are reenactors (or living historians which is the classier name). I found “BBC History” magazine. I loved it and decided to subscribe. The US price was $75 and there was no electronic version available in the US. (Yes, I liked it that much. I read nothing in the electronic version, but to get a subscription to this I was willing to.) So instead of reading books on organizing I would instead read the magazine when we at the book store. After several years of doing this, a $45 US subscription was offered this past fall and I can now read the magazine - slowly and savoring every article not rushing through reading what was of the most interest and hoping I made it to the articles of lesser interest as I had to do before at home. (And yes, I did repurpose one of the plastic magazine holders which was leftover when I convinced husband to get rid of the collected issues of a magazine we no longer subscribe to - I am scanning in the articles he is interested in, into the computer for this magazine, but we ended up with a couple of empty magazine holders.)
Also during this period the book store we go to cut their hours back so Friday nights they close an hour earlier than before, so we don’t always get there on Fridays any longer - with the crazy weather we have had, we have not gotten there much at all this year so far. I suggested to husband that we go there once a week in the afternoon for something to do and we did so this past weekend.
I checked the list in my mobile phone and found which books I was in the midst of reading when I switched to reading the BBC magazine and found that one of the books was still on the shelf and I settled into a chair to continue reading from where I left off.
Now I know that our life is different as we have no children and are together and home almost the time. Also we each have a small professional practice which is run from home (which takes much less space since I scanned all of client’s tax returns and papers other than the most recent year into the computer and he has few files) as well as small craft business we also run from home (and none of these make money). But when I started reading this book I was reminded of how the authors tend to think that everyone’s life is the same - or very similar - in what they tell one to do.
Have you found your life to be the same as the lives being organized in books about same?
In the past I attributed the fact that we have no children and much of our “stuff” is work related to what made the books seem lacking in universality to me.
Everyone has sooooo much clothing. Get rid of the excess! Get rid of clothes you have not worn in a year (umm, warm winter, no snow - get rid of my coat and boots that I will need next year? no party this year - dump the party dress I will need again sometime?)! Store your sports equipment like this. Food shop like this. Make separate areas in your kitchen for each type of cooking! Set up your children’s stuff like this! Have a lovely neat walk in area around your door with a mirror and table (room for neither in our entry)! Keep track of all those things you have to do - parties, work events, children’s events like this (if we have one event a year it is a lot)!
I suddenly had an epiphany reading this book as to why what the professional organizers write is so unrelated to reality as husband and I live it - they are dealing with the homes of people rich enough to pay them to come in and organize it for them!! They are not dealing with the homes of people who could never think of paying them as they need their money to pay for the food and house and other items they need.
What made me suddenly realize this?
The author of the book I am currently reading states that one should not buy cheap clothing as it does not last even a year. Surprises me. I have tee shirts that I bought for $8 more than 20 years ago - some have holes or stains and have been made into nightwear, but the others are going strong in my wardrobe. She seems to feel that if that if one “only” spends $100 a piece of clothing it is junk. Do any of you feel this way or spend that much on a piece of clothing? We don’t, well I guess I did, my wedding gown (with hat) was $275 custom made for me - and I thought it a waste of money at the time, but had to make my mother in law to be, happyish. (I wanted to elope.)
Along the same lines as clothing, the author in talking about finding the furniture and storage that one needs in their home says to buy “good quality furniture” and that the sort of furniture Ikea sells will not last at all - not even a year. About half of our furniture is knock down (the sort of furniture, like Ikea’s, that one buys flat and assembles themselves), especially in the office and our studio, as well as storage pieces. I know that some of the “kd” furniture is better quality than others and would rate Ikea’s pretty good. When husband quit his job and we switched to trying support ourselves with our craft business and my tiny accounting practice he constantly complained that his computer desk was not enough space. After a lot of convincing him to change - we bought our first purchases at Ikea - a small computer stand desk and a long table to put next to him (they make and L shape) so he could deal with orders and such easily. (Desk was easy to assemble - table involved much screaming and arguing as more complicated.) 11 years on they are still in great condition. But along with my idea that the professionals are used to working with people able to afford their services, the idea that something reasonably priced - or what I would think is reasonably priced and she would consider cheap, would work well, would not occur to her.
So, I now know why the information in the books seems to not be realistic to me. It is based on a life style and budget beyond ours.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
If you read a book or article about organizing, take into account that the people the professional organizers work with and their problems are probably those of wealthier people. Use the information to help you decide what will work for you, but if it makes no sense for you - remember that it may not be aimed at someone like you (or me). We all have common sense - it is in us somewhere, think about what makes sense to YOU in how to do something.
I know even within our house, what works for me does not work for husband. I like a small work space in our office - he likes a large space to spread out (as per the work table he needed from Ikea). I like to have papers that I am likely to need oftenish in folders in a stack of folder holder trays next to me - he likes all the papers laid out so he can see all of them all the time. It took me decades to convince him to let me sort his shirts by color, now he likes them that way.
What works for you that is not something that works for others? I would love it if some of you would reply to the blog with your thoughts - I know you are out there.
I wish you a Happy Easter or a Happy Passover if either applies to you.
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