Wednesday, January 27, 2010

A skill I don't have

I'm feeling a little, blah. It happens about every other week lately. I can't quite pin down the cause.

I suspect it has to do with wanting my house to look and feel something like this



And instead it feels (and kind of looks) like this


It's not THAT bad, but it's not nearly as good as the first picture. The main rooms that are bugging me......well actually it might be easier to list the rooms that aren't bugging me.

The rooms on the acceptable list are:

Tennyson's room
Dinning room

(although there are still design elements in there I want to add and some furniture painting I want to do---but other than that it feels mostly organized)
Kitchen
(again, design elements missing, but I can get it organized quickly----I must point out this does NOT include the pantry.)
Main Floor Bathroom
(design elements.....yada yada yada)

Basement floor Bathroom



Aaaaaaaaand we're done. Depressing right?

The unacceptable rooms are:

Master bed room
Master bathroom
Sander's room
Family room
Office
Karaia's room
Beckham's room
Sewing room
Playroom
Pantry
Hallway closet
Laundry room
Garage

Sigh.

Now we're not just talking decorating, we are talking functionality; i.e organization.

I've surrounded myself with friends and family very skilled in this area for years, hoping that a glimmer of their talent to organize everyday life would rub off on me. And it has, a very little. But when my whole house feels like a big ball of Christmas lights tangled up the year before it's a bit daunting to even come up with a game plan as to how to get them all nice, neat, and presentable.

I have managed to add to my list of talents "Keeping up with the laundry". A skill I struggled with for years. Now, there is a nice little schedule that keeps things rolling along.

Beyond the massive amount of space and stuff that seems to paralyze me from even starting is my frugal-ness. (I'm sure Kevin is laughing his head off at that statement......)

I am always on the look out for containers and other organizing paraphernalia but I have a hard time actually buying them. It never feels like a necessity. I understand you usually don't have to spend a ton to get organized, but when I don't have a clear end picture in mind I have trouble spending ANYTHING. Or I have a amazing end picture in mind, but it would cost a ton to achieve and I would rather wait until I have the funding rather that settle. I'm stubborn like that....which doesn't help my cause, I know.

What ends up happening is me waking up determined to get something organized only to end up walking around my house thinking, "Ok, well I've got to do this, this, and this first before I can do this room....."

Perfect. (please note the well placed sarcasm)

I'm full of excuses. It's a super annoying and super hard habit to kick. My excuses feel so valid and yet logically I understand they are just excuses.

Something has got to change. There are only two options people.

A) I change my expectations of how I want my home

B) I change my skill level by actually doing something about it and try to minimize my use of excuses.

I keep trying option A and I keep coming back to feeling blah.

They saying knowing is half the battle.

The other half is actually doing something about it.

4 comments:

Chrissy said...

Okay, just one thought for you. Why do you have to have a clear end picture? Maybe just shift that expectation. Organization is something that needs to be flexible and ongoing. What works in our playroom right now will be totally different in 6-8 months as we have birthdays and get new toys and get rid of old ones. This is going to sound counterintuitive, but I find it really helps me to tackle the room I am dreading the most. (Last time it was 7+ hours on my sewing room. yuck) But by doing the worst one first, it makes the rest seem really easy by comparison. Give me a call if you want some help. :) I like cleaning and organizing other peoples spaces...

Tobi said...

I feel your pain (especially since my house looks just like that second picture). When you perfect your skill will you come help me? Perhaps seeing the chaos in other's homes will make yours look perfect (no sarcasm!).

Marge said...

good luck, it is a hard thing. I love this website unclutterer.com, daily tips and funny/humor aimed ideas to help you in your journey to getting it the way you want it. I just want to recommend that you go room by room instead of tackling it all at once, also realize that not everyone else in your home as the same expectations/skillz as you and so therefore it is going to be harder for you to get others to follow. We try to follow the rule at our house of putting something away before you get something else out - Chris never follows it - but Elizabeth is pretty good at it and of course kids always do better when they have an example. (I'm one for purging, I know it seems harsh but really if you have too much stuff for your space, you'll never get it organized)

Lyndi Daly said...

I wish I could come over and organize everything for you!!! I could spend hours in the container store:) When we move back to Utah we will look at building some storage units and get buff and tough together and organize our houses! I know that's not what you want to hear, but I am telling you this to let you know that it can be fun:) Then we can post sexy pictures of us on the beach cause we are carpenters:) DId you see her picture on Knockoff wood? So funny:) Anyway, that is totally off the subject. I don't really think you have organization problems really...look at your command station. You are just hard on yourself:) Buck up lady, it'll happen:)