When I was a kid, my room was pretty messy. I remember when I was perhaps eight or nine and my room was so messy, it needed "walking trails" to get around. I think this was partly because I had inherited a lot from three older brothers, I had a small room, and I also had very little parental oversight - so I had to learn to take care of myself.
This has pros and cons.
One of the pros is that I can indeed take care of myself and not rely on anyone. One of the cons is that I am very bad at asking for help from people when I am unable to manage something, and instead just struggle through or go without. However, through experience, I have at least learned how to keep my life relatively tidy, because I just don't have the time to be messy anymore.
Some take the "method to the madness" approach to organization, but what I have found by observing these people is that there is a lot more madness than method. They spend their time looking for things, rather than using those things, and this is particularly noticeable when something is needed, especially when there is a rush. At these times the "I always put it here" comments come up, only for it to be found at a later date in a completely different place that it doesn't belong, but was convenient to put it into at the time with a self-assuring, "I will remember I put it here" voice in the head.
While not overly fastidious, I do like it when things are organized for two reasons. First is of course that when I need something I know where to find it. And secondly, because organized spaces take up less room, which means that minimal space is taken.
It requires maintenance.
As evidenced from the pictures above of our towel cupboards, things get used and it is very easy to put them back in the wrong place, or not put them back properly folded. Unless just balling them up, the time it takes to fold towels poorly or properly, is the same. But folded properly they all fit nicely in together, one atop the other, taking less room.
I wish I was this organized with everything.
Unfortunately, I am not organized in many ways and struggle to find the motivation to do a whole range of things that would provide me the same kind of satisfaction, or at least peace of mind that an organized linen cupboard gives. I wish I was more organized with the way I pay my bills, and the way I bill my customers. I wish I was more organized with my financial strategies, and how I spend my time dealing with them at a practical level. And, I wish I was more organized in how I structured my activities in general.
Will I ever learn?
A little personal order goes a long way. It is an investment into the future so that when it is needed, it is there, easy to find, available to use, ready to go to work.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
