Neat and Clean

This past weekend, I headed to Columbus with Tim to meet up with a few of my girlfriends and their significant others for dinner and a night out at the piano bar downtown.  While at dinner, we started discussing housekeeping and organizing and who runs the cleaning schedule in the home.  The more we talked, the clearer it became that in every relationship there seemed to be that opposites attract mentality.  That balance between one needing a clean home and the other being more laid back about organizing seemed to make for the perfect compliment of one another and leads to an easier living situation than if there were two obsessed or if there were two who didn’t care.

As long as I can remember, I have thrived off organization and have felt most creative in clean spaces. When I used to finish playing with my toys, I would immediately pick up and put them away in an ordered manner. My American Girl doll’s clothes had to be folded neatly, my Barbie dolls were placed in its respective storage, and all of my Beanie Babies had to be accounted for and in the assigned bins. Even at the age of seven I believed there was that perfect spot for everything I owned. To me, a clean room equaled a clear mind and I continue to think in a similar manner even today. Whether I am at work, at home, or in the car I try to keep everything neat and tidy.

During my youth, I had gymnastics practices fourteen hours per week and during competition season I would have entire weekends devoted to the sport. I did all of this while also going to school full-time, keeping up my grades, spending time with friends and family. I think the crazy schedule I maintained forced me to be organized from a young age. It was the only way I could complete everything I needed to and still stay sane.

I know this type of behavior can be annoying to those I live with who are not quite as clean obsessed as me.  My husband likes a clean space, but it doesn’t stress him out the way it can me and again, that balance works for us.  I used to think I was pretty strange when it came to wanting everything in its place, and for awhile I thought I was the only one crazy about organizing. However, now that Pinterest has come into existence I feel a little less insane knowing there are others out there like me. In fact, there are plenty of domestic divas putting my antics to shame! Rest assured I am picking up some tips along the way and am even learning to be a little easier on myself for wanting everything in its proper place.

Right after the new year began and all of the Christmas decorations were packed away until the next holiday season, I decided to clear out and organize my hallway closets. I had a linen closet that was filled with bed sheets, blankets, and towels that had been unfolded and thrown around a little bit. My second closet was my mish-mash storage area that had everything from manuals to DVDs, vacuums to paper products, and was filled with frames and pictures just waiting to be hung throughout the house. I tackled these areas with a little help from some Pinterest, and some newly purchased baskets, Tupperware, crates, and glass jars from a variety of stores like Target, Dollar Tree, and Hobby Lobby.  I absolutely loved how the baskets kept everything neat and orderly, especially when stuffed with sheets that may not lay flat and can look like more of a mess than they actually are.

I even got my some more pictures hung up in our stairway collage.

I wish I had before pictures to share as well in order to show what a difference the containers made, but you will just have to trust me that my hallway closets are much, much more organized now. My next goal is to straighten out my bedroom closet that is filled to the brim with clothes and shoes. About half of the clothes in there I wear constantly, but the other half consists of either old clothes that are too worn to wear, clothes that are stretched out or no longer fit, or sweatshirts and sweatpants that need tossed or cut into cleaning rage. I hope to find time in the next couple of weeks to try on all of my clothes and shoes and keep those that fit well and that I love and give away or sell the rest.

Questions:

· Are you passionate about organizing like I am? Or, do you not get worked up when things aren’t perfectly organized?

· What are your favorite organizing tips? Feel free to link up if you have anything specific to share from the web!

· If you are organized and live with someone who is less strict about putting everything away, how do you handle this sort of living situation? Or, vice versa, if you don’t care about organizing as much, how do you live with someone who is obsessed?  From past experiences, do you find that the opposites attract mentality works well when living together?