Good Organizing Means Good Sharing
We’ve all heard the classic organizing mantra “a place for everything and everything in its place.” That may be a good place to start, but to truly benefit from being organized, it’s necessary to push that goal a little further.
Too often, we tend to think of organizing as sewing things up, locking things down, and hiding things away. If everything has been organized, it tends to mean “out of sight, out of mind.” While it is true that the less we see, the more we are able to find calm and focus, this doesn’t always help us stay organized.
Organizing should be about three things:
- Taking the less important stuff out of the way, so that we can focus on the most important stuff.
- Finding what we want, when we want it.
- Living in the present and enjoying the moment.
A great way to measure all three results is to consider the share factor. How well are you able to share your things and your space? Here are three examples:
Photographs
When my team is organizing a home, the process often grinds to a halt when the photos are unearthed. The client is having a great time walking down memory lane when her old photos have been uncovered, but that seems to be the only time. Traditional albums are a good alternative, because they are more shareable, but they often get buried too, in closets and cabinets. By scanning photos and organizing them into slideshows and photo books, they become more shareable with friends and family, near and far. Why hide them away? Check out pictureperfections.com to learn more about shareable moments.
Space for Company
One of the common reasons people hire us is because of CHAOS, Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome. When your home is organized, you can share your space with friends and family. You also make it easier to help others help you. There is less stress in emergency situations, when you need to bring service people in, because vital areas of your home can be safely accessed.
Media
Perhaps you are streaming all your audio and visual entertainment these days, but if you do still use CDs, DVDs, and other media, then don’t hide them away. It is much easier to share music and movies with friends, family, and yourself, for that matter, if music and movie titles are visible on an open shelf at eye level than if they are hidden in the back of a lower closed cabinet.
What it comes down to is, organizing should be about solving problems, not hiding them. When you find it easy to share things, it probably means you are organized.
Do you agree? Is there something you find easy to share, with a good organizing system?
Matt,
Thanks for bringing Picture Perfections into the conversation about photos. With the two recent fires in Norwalk and Stamford yesterday, it’s a reminder to preserve and share your photos and home movies because they can never be replaced. And I love your comment about how great a time your clients have walking down memory lane when they uncover photos when organizing with your help. I find with my clients, too, that when they share their photos in photo books or video tributes their family joins them in celebrating and remembering good times. Good memories so often heal issues that some family members may have, also. It’s a freeing feeling to be organized for sure, and also to know your memories have been preserved, shared and celebrated.
Yes! A shoebox may be a good beginning for photo organizing, not an ending.
I am a member of the “hide it away so you cannot see it” club, and your approach makes much more sense. I have begun scanning photos and I will agree, it is liberating, and as I scanned them, it brought back wonderful memories!
Glad to hear it Marilyn. There’s definitely a time and place for keeping things out of sight, out of mind, but I firmly believe that if you’re going to make the effort to get organized, it should help you enjoy life, not just control it.
I like ‘sharing’ my boxes of memories by giving it to my kids( they toss 80%). With the extra space cleared out…they can visit more often!
Hey, THAT works!
I am guilty of sometimes experiencing CHAOS – with everyone so busy lately, nothing should prevent us from being able to spend quality time together!!
Right! Hopefully our friends are more important than our clutter. We just had our bedroom and bathroom painted and to empty those rooms, you better believe we had CHAOS. The point is, you need to have easy systems, so it’s easy to to return to a welcoming calm. Another of my favorite definitions of organizing, is “controlling the controllables.”
Great blog! “Can’t have anyone over syndrome” is the worst. Spending time with friends and family is a great way to relieve stress. If we’re too stressed about clutter, and can’t see those we love, then we are really missing out on a great way to feel better. My family has definitely experienced problem of wanting to walk down memory lane instead of organizing the photos. We will have to check out picture perfections!
Scanning photos is a MUST! It’s nice to have physical copies, but SO much better to have them preserved as digital files that can be shared and saved so much more easily… and with less mess!