Mama's Got a System: How Organizing Surpasses Tidying for Discerning Moms {2023}
Updated: May 8
Do you ever wonder why your pantry always looks messy, even when you spend hours tidying up?
I bet you wonder why it never looks like the curated pantry of your dreams.
The difference is the first pantry is tidy, but not organized. The second pantry, the one that gives us all a sense of satisfaction is organized.
See, tidying is what we do and organization is a way of living. One is the foundation for the other. You can tidy all day long, but without a structured system your efforts are in vain.
Organizing literally takes the guess work of tidying out of the equation, making your life more simple and available for new joys.
Don't get me wrong here, tidying is an essential aspect of organization. Embarking on the quest to get organized means you will need to tidy up.
Tidying is removing packaging, wrappers, and the miscellaneous items that come with our stuff (i.e. operation manuals, extra pieces to the game or electronics, etc.). Tidying is also grouping items by category, or putting it back in the room where it is used.
Here is where tidying fails us: where in the room does the item belong? Like, where does it actually fit on the shelf? There are several factors that contribute to an intentional home and this is the biggest hurdle to keeping a tidy house: where does it all go?!
No need to fret, all you need is a structure or system. Introducing: organization!
Organizing refers to the act of bringing order into a space. It involves creating a specific system for storing items, such as categorizing and labeling, to make it easier for you to find and access. Organizing often involves using tools such as bins, shelves, and labels to create a specific system for storing items.
Organizing reduces clutter by creating designated areas of storage for specific items.
Basically, the best way to reign in the chaos is to define a contained space for the clutter to become clear. We LOVE bins and baskets for this purpose.
Am I making sense? Let me give you an example of the frustration that our clients face: the home is managed and cleaned by professionals, yet the clutter is still obvious. This is not happening because your maid service is bad at their job, on the contrary- they are focused on cleaning which is much more like tidying. The problem is lack of structure; you probably need a professional organizer to create a system that your service providers can follow.
We help a lot of home school families and these moms know that teaching without a curriculum is kinda....pointless. Even the most wild-at-heart moms have some sort of structure they follow. That's all that organizing is: a structure to contain the chaos.
...
I was watching Martha Stewart reruns and I noticed she labels EVERYTHING, especially when she is cooking with someone else. She does this to make it seem like her guests know what's going on, in fact what is happening is they are responding to her well thought out and planned system of labels. She says "now pour the white sugar in the bowl" and the guest on her show grabs the correct bowl...how? because Martha labeled it!
That's what you're doing as the woman of the house when you designate, assign, label, and organize your home.
My message is this: tidying will bring you peace once you've allowed the structure of organization to support you. Then you can relax.
In harmony,
Brittany ZenSmith