Do you ever stop to wonder, why is organizing so hard today? It was never easy, but there are developments in the 21st century that have made it harder. Here are some of those developments:

1.The Global Economy

Yes, I know this goes back decades, but the global economy has exploded in the 21st century. This has made goods significantly cheaper There was a time, where if an item broke you would get it repaired. Now it’s cheaper and easier to replace an item even if 95% is still fine. And do you ever find it hard to get rid of the one that’s still 95% OK? With online shopping and free shipping, it’s no wonder we are accumulating at an alarming rate.

2. Accelerated Obsolescence

Again, I know the idea of planned obsolescence is nothing new, but this is a little different.  With technology there is an accelerated pressure to upgrade. This happens well before an item has ceased to work. Are you unable to part with DVDs, CDs, VCR tapes and records? Then you know what I mean. Again, the result is more comes in, less goes out, so more accumulates, making it harder to organize.

3. Larger Homes

The average home in 1950 was 983 square feet, while the average home in 2020 is 2,333 square feet. It’s not like we need all that extra space for the accelerated technology. You can cover 95% of your media needs on a device the size of a small cutting board. Your books, periodicals, movies, radio, TV, music, photography, and word processing all fit on a tablet. We don’t need more than twice the space for more family members than we had in 1950. We need it for more STUFF. The more stuff we own, the more we risk misplacing it, the more we must get organized.

4. The Storage Industry

The storage industry is booming. The first outside storage facility goes back to 1958, but over the last turn of the century it has exploded. Now, for every McDonalds you see, there are THREE storage facilities. Our bigger homes are simply not big enough to store all the stuff we are accumulating. Our stuff needs its own residence and it’s even harder to organize what’s not right in front of us.

5. Scheduled Activities

Did you grow up in the 70’s and the 80’s? Then you may remember when parents would tell their kids to “run outside and play.” With growing security concerns, growing competition in schools, and other factors, parents face new challenges.  They must organize one scheduled activity, after another. Each activity requires more equipment, more paperwork, and more spots on the calendar. All of which contributes to physical, mental, and temporal clutter, and all of it requires organizing.

I could go on AND in my book The Circulation Solution, I do. Other factors include tougher recycling laws, more mail, identity theft, and information overload.

So what’s the point of this? It’s to give YOU a break. If you think it’s harder than ever, your right! For the busy husbands, who still look to their busy wives to be the homemaker, please understand something. They may be facing 21st century challenges that your parents didn’t face.

The good news is there are 21st century solutions to these challenges in the form of professional organizers. You would be amazed how much better the whole family could feel with professional organizing services. Of course I’d love it if you’d hire my team. But I would also be happy if you would reach out to one of my colleagues from NAPO. There’s one near you. The crazy thing is, WE love solving these 21st century challenges that may overwhelm you. So don’t feel guilty about maintaining an unrealistic standard. We’d love to put you back in control!

If you’d just like some easy organizing tips to tackle these challenges yourself, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel.