Obsessive Compulsive Organizing

I love HGTV and all the magazines that have made professional organizing a familiar term. I don't think, however, that we need to hold these media makeovers as our standard.

In other words, make organizing work for you. If you're happy with your level of organization, that's what is important. You're never going to be inspected by the organizing police!

There is no need to go out and buy matching baskets or drawer organizers or color-coded files unless you want to. If your organization systems are working for you, and you can find what you need when you need it, hooray for you!!

Rather than spending more money on items to organize your stuff, I am a big proponent of using what you have to facilitate organizing. Use what you love! Take those keepsakes out of the boxes and use them, enjoy them!

I have a set of keepsake canning jars commemorating America's bicentennial in 1976 which I use to hold red hots, cinnamon sticks, raisins, etc. - items that normally come in bags and are hard to store. I still have some boxes I haven't gone through from our move and I want to look at those items from the perspective of using my cherished items rather than storing them.

Speaking of which, yes, I have a couple of rooms, a couple of closets, the garage, and the storage area which are not very well organized. And I'm a professional organizer!! Oh, my!

I'm okay with that. I have other priorities right now, and I'm emotionally done with organizing our move right now. I have given myself permission not to address these right now, and you can do the same thing with areas that haven't reached the top of the priority list! I know where everything is, it's just not pretty. :)

I imagine that between now and Thanksgiving or Christmas, when we will be having guests, I'll get motivated to do some more. Having company is so motivating, isn't it?

So, if you have a messy junk drawer or your shoes are piled on the closet floor or ... whatever ... if it works for you, don't feel like you must be obsessive compulsive to make it look like HGTV or Martha Stewart - unless it refreshes your soul. Life is too short for that!

More on keeping perspective as you organize:
5-Minute Stress Relievers - Organizing and Cleaning
Organizing "Messy" Toys
Get Organized Month 2009 - Family Five Minute Challenge