I am social and so is my clutter

I have come to a realization that there are some strong similarities between me and my clutter. Let me explain...

1. I am social and so is my clutter

I am definitely a social person. I love being around people and I am very much of the more the merrier mentality. Yes, I do like to spend time one-on-one with people too but a large social gathering energizes and excites me. Like an introvert needs their quiet time, I need my social, out among people time. How does this relate to my clutter?


Well, for example, if my kitchen counter already has one or two things on it that do not belong, I will not usually hesitate to place another few items on it and ignore them until later. It does not seem like a big deal. However, if my counters are clean and clear then I am much less likely to initially want to leave even one or two items on them.

Think of it like a social gathering......if there is a party of 50 people, what difference does it make if a few of the guests bring a friend along? In the grand scheme of things, not really a big deal. However, if it is a party consisting of 3 couples then it would seem strange and out of place to bring a friend along.

Lots of people, attracts more people. Lots of clutter attracts more clutter......

2. I can clean up nicely

Ok, so I am not going to get into a self-boasting spiel but here is the gist of it. On a regular basis I spend very little time getting ready for the day. Shower, get dressed, run a brush trough my hair and put it in a pony tail, put lotion on my face and that pretty much sums it up. No make-up, no fuss, no fancy hair-dos etc. However, I too can spend 2 hours getting ready, straightening my hair, putting on makeup and the whole nine yards. So, I CAN clean up nicely.

Same goes for my house. Though I might not naturally be an organized person, I feel confident enough to say that I definitely can clean and organize. I not only push through but I also see solutions and do a thorough job. Though it is not my favorite activity in the world, I definitely CAN clean quite well.

This also translates into my work life. Both when I was in school and while I worked full time I took pride in delivering neat work. I kept on top of my to-do list and my deadlines and the final products I turned in were 99.9% of the time neat and organized. However, I seem to have a bit of a hard time seeing my current job as stay at home mom as work in the same sense, and therefore my neatness percentage has dropped significantly. But, if I am doing a job outside of my house then my old habits kick back into gear.

3. I am not messy simply because I am lazy

I admit there are days when the reason why the dishwasher has not been unloaded or the laundry has not been folded is simply because I do not feel like it. I have lazy days just like every one else. However on a daily basis I think a lot of it is due to other factors.

Time....physical time between school drop offs and pick ups and naps and meals and such. Time flies, even if you are a stay at home mom.

Stress....the stress of raising kids, keeping up with finances, owning a house, illnesses etc.

Complexity....it seems like we just don't do anything the easy way over here. For example meals, almost every single meal and snack is homemade, from scratch. Take our morning snack: Yogurt with flax seed and apple. Seems pretty straight forward right? Except my kids can only eat plain yogurt and cooked apple {and only one kind to boot}, so once the peeling, cutting, cooking and pureeing is over with I have a cutting board, knife, peeler, a pot and a blender to add to my dish pile. Instead of simply tossing the empty container away and putting the spoon in the dishwasher.

So, in conclusion, though I would love to erase the word messy from the list of words that can be used to describe me I think I should rather own up to it and move on to finding organizing solutions that work for me. 

Maybe I will even get around to jotting down some of the things that do work for me, as they might be useful for other fellow 'not-quite-neat' people too!