Well, it’s not that dirty really, more like
spotlessly clean and orderly and, if I’d let it be, in alphabetical order.
I’m not sure when my obsession with order
started. My mother tells me that when I shared a bedroom with my sister I’d
draw a chalk line down the middle of the room and not let any of her stuff near
mine. I’d have my bed made by 7am, my toys lined up in colour coordinated rows
and my sister would still be sleeping, buried in piles of discarded clothes
from the night before. The fact that my sister turned into a very successful
career woman living in a big city and I ended up making people up for a living,
could probably fuel a psychology research paper to bursting....
I have many friends who are the complete opposite to me. They thrive on going with the flow and being spontaneous and nothing bad seems to happen to them when they don't put their groceries on the checkout in the order that they're going to be packed - dairy all together, cleaners all together, bread last so it doesn't get squashed.... Am I scaring you yet?
Part of me wonders if having this fascination with order wasn’t getting me prepared for having four children in less than three years. When that happened
I was very glad for my routines and my readiness to be, well, ready.
Even in my
writing preparation I like to be orderly. Before I start work for the day a
number of things have to happen – the house needs to be tidy, the dog needs to
be walked, and my email inbox needs to be clear. I have charts for character
development, spreadsheets for words done for the day and soundtracks that I’ll
only play when I’m writing.
So, as I get up from my chair to straighten
a picture that’s off centre on the wall beside me, I wonder, are you orderly? Do
you feel more comfortable when things are a certain way, or are you a free
spirit who’ll go with the flow every time?
When shopping, I place price matched items first, along with their respective flyers, followed by couponed items, then cold items to pack separately, and then the rest.
ReplyDeleteMy pantry looks like grocery store shelves, with cans lined up - my family knows to always take from the right, as those would be the older stock to use up first.
I have coupons in a pencil case in my purse at all times, and inside are several sturdy dividers noting sections like "dairy" or "breakfast" to make selection of coupons that much faster.
My scrapbooking items have been painstakingly divided into groups. I have large cardboard boxes turned on their sides with sturdy "dividers" that make shelves, and in these five boxes are piles of 12"x12" paper, all sorted by their ten colours. Beside them are 27 12"x12" see-through plastic sleeves that tie closed, and inside are embellishments like stickers and dye cuts for various "occasions" - like "Christmas", "Parties/Balloons", "Anniversaries", "Graduation", etc. - all in alphabetical order like the colours, of course.
My TBR pile (of over 300 books) is in alphabetical order by author.
My 250+ recipes have been typed up in Word, and they too are in alphabetical order by categories, complete with a Table of Contents, as well as pages listing all things I cook at each temperature, so that I can let's say bake brownies while my chicken breasts are cooking (as I'm always looking for ways to save money, even on oven heating costs).
The list could go on and on, but that's enough for now. Suffice to say, my friends think I am well organized (as do I); however, I am not the neatest person on the planet. If I'm about to dust, vacuum, or clean up the house and someone calls to meet for a meal, I'm outta there in a heartbeat! Friends are SO much more important! My friends and family know they can drop in any time; I will pick up the previous night's newspapers (that I haven't read yet) to make room on the couch for them, plus fold the blanket that had been keeping my feet warm, but the rest stays as is. My friends are more important.
Laney, you could be my soul sister! I love the sound of your system for your scrapbooking supplies, and your recipe index. And I'm absolutely the same as you when it comes to friends and being tidy. I've spent the day helping my friend move house and I'd much rather be doing something like that than tidying my own house.
DeleteBarbara
ReplyDeleteLoved this post I am a bit of both there are times that I have to have everything organised and other times I just go with the flow lol I am much better organised at work than I am at home because my tbr pile calls to me and I need to read :-)
Have Fun
Helen
Hi Helen, you know, I should have said that about reading, too. When a book is calling to be read I can let the dust bunnies look after themselves. It's funny how orderliness seems to be a female trait. My dh likes order likes things to be tidy but he's quite happy to have chaos reigning while he's focusing on something. Not me!
DeleteBarbara, I'm half and half. Of course I unload my groceries in the order they need to be packed in - and I'll repack a bag before putting it in the trolley if the checkout person put something squishy under something heavy.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have a separate bookshelf for each subgenre of book (1 for historical romances, 1 for classics, 1 for category romances, etc.)
But I'm not as organised as you in other ways. I dream of being as organised as you!
Rachel, I'm delighted to hear than so many people do the same thing with the groceries! Having a shelf for each sub genre of book sounds great and it'll be even greater when I put it into alphabetical order next time I'm at your house ;) Don't dream of being me, Rachel, the reality could give you nightmares...
DeleteBarb, you'll be pleased to hear they're already in alphabetical order. ;) And it's one entire bookcase to each subgenre. So the pine bookcase in the loungeroom is the historical romance bookcase, all alphabetized. And the bookcase in my writing room is the category romance one, divided into category lines, then alphabetized. I do like a bit of order with my books. :)
Deletebarbara, I thought I was orderly until I read your blog - and I thought I knew you! I do the grocery thing and I like matching pegs on the washing! Yeah, I know, sounds weird. But when I'm writing there is little order at all. could explain the sometimes hideous rewrites.
ReplyDeleteHi Sue, I told you it was my dirty little secret. Oh, matching pegs on the washing! I forgot that one.
DeleteI used to be fairly orderly but now I am totally the opposite. I read too much.
ReplyDeleteThe grocery thing is a must though. I shop at a place where you have to pack your own groceries. I am obsessed about no cleaning supplies in with the edibles. Have a fairly orderly pantry as well. The fridge sometimes just gets things fitted into any space available though.
Hi Kaylee, yes reading will often pull me away from my order too. I wonder if you can read more than one book at a time. I can't, and its not very often that I won't finish a book either.
DeleteOh, I loved this post. I revel in the orderliness of your life, Barbara. Mine is far less organised. Yes, I do separate groceries and bread goes in last, but anyone who's visited me knows that our way of filing excess paper is to leave it in a pile (I swear I'm the only one to throw out envelopes when I open bills) until the accumulation is to much. I love order and every so often I race around trying to get things sorted. There are times when disorder becomes too much and I just can't stand it. On the other hand, I'm lazy and the last thing I want to do when I finish writing, is tidy. Wish I was as organised as you!
ReplyDeleteHi Annie, Your filing system sounds very stress free ;) I failed to mention the state of my desk after the last maniacal days finishing a book. My desk is a mess too but I can't think of starting another page until it's tidy again.
DeleteExcept for the groceries, I am like your sister - sound asleep in mess, clutter and chaos!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is super organised like you - but he has no idea about the groceries. For a couple of years now he's been calling me nutty... I think he may just have to read your post :)
Thanks Barb!
Cath xo
Cath, I AM interested in the fact that you and your husband are so different!! And the greatest thing I can take from all this is that we're all serial grocery organizers!!
DeleteI thrive in order. Chaos just leaves me edgy.
ReplyDeleteOh, same here Mary! If my house is messy my brain feels messy. Mind you, I'm not sure that my mind is any more orderly when I have a tidy house :-/
DeleteMy house is ordered about once a month! I tidy everything, match up the colours in my wardrobe, look at my wonderful sparkling house and tell myself I will keep it this way, and then it deteriorates from there. Dishes on the bench, washing in a pile, bed unmade because I don't want to disturb the cat and the fridge empty because I should have shopped for food on the way home from work but didn't. Sigh. One day. One day I tell myself. One day in the next lifetime I'm thinking.
ReplyDeleteHi Rowena! I do like the routine to your orderliness!! It's interesting you mention lifetimes, I often wonder if I'm paying penance for being completely disorganised in a previous one!!
DeleteI dream about being like you, Barb. I've very organised but I couldn't claim to be tidy. I like clean, but if you saw my clothes shoved in my wardrobe, the disorder on my desk, the size of the washing pile, that stack of ironing, the stuff piling up behind my kid's door (to hide from visitors), my shoes left all over the house...I could go on but I might scare you. But when I do tidy, I go all out and spend a whole day sorting it all out, then the disintegration begins almost immediately (sigh).
ReplyDeleteMy husband is Mr Tidy. Almost the day we moved in together we realised the key to us staying happily married - a cleaner! Best weekly investment we'd made for matrimonial bliss.
Don't dream about being like me, Jen, it'll give you nightmares - and mean you don't get to sleep because you're finishing the ironing at 2am so you won't GET any sleep...I'm very interested in the concept of a Mrs Untidy and Mr Tidy and the sparks that could fly there!! I didn't mention that I also have a cleaner - or that I spend most of Friday before she comes, cleaning up...
DeleteWhat Jen said - I live in organised chaos with a cleaner :-)
ReplyDeleteCleaners rule, AA, bgiven that most people here seem to do it I am interested in whether you do the grocery organizing thingy??
DeleteI have a lot of clutter in my house & I am not a great organizer or cleaner. I do have a certain place that I put my paid & unpaid bills, so I know where they are, and generally keep up with laundry (not folding, though) and dishes. However, I do like my groceries packed in an orderly way, too. And I have a certain way I like to load the dishwasher & pack a suitcase. I am obsessive about sorting clothes before they go in the washing machine. So, I guess I have it in me to be organized, but it hasn't really materialized!
ReplyDeleteHi Sharlene. The dishwasher!! You've reminded me about the importance of an orderly dishwasher. I must admit I haven't mastered the suitcase yet. My husband does a very clever roll up thing with all his clothes and he swears it keeps them neat in the case and it certainly looks organized!
ReplyDeleteBarb, I want to be as organised as you! I've got a foot in each camp - the organised one and the disorganised one. In somethings, I'm very organised but in others - like my office - I'm truly terrible! Clutter rules! And I find it really REALLY hard to throw out paper!
ReplyDeleteI've found a fabulous way to organise drawers which is pretty awesome for packing a suitcase too... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJAYRXjZoMY I use this to organise my drawers now and it works really well AND I can get more into the available space! Ummm, I'm not too sure about folding the thongs... but this isn't an issue for me! LOL