Friday Feature: Tidiness is Next to Cleanliness

I grew up in a spotless home which was, in large part, my mother's way of responding to growing up in a household populated by family members who didn't do such a great job of picking up after themselves. When she and my grandmother moved in with my grandmother's mother, it was in an era where men weren't necessarily expected to pick up after themselves -- something my mother's uncles took full advantage of. I never knew my great-grandmother and, by the time I knew my grandmother, she lived in a home that was both clean and tidy, but that wasn't the setting in which my mother's formative years were spent.

I, on the other hand, have never really minded a lived-in house -- except when company is coming. When it comes to home maintenance, I love to organize and decorate, but I don't really enjoy cooking and I'm more lax about cleaning than my husband would like. We also tend to be bothered by different things, which leads to us sharing the upkeep. He cleans more than I do and I tidy up more than he does. 

So, I was intrigued yesterday when I saw the headline, "My Grandma’s 30-Year-Old "House Rules" Taught Me How to Keep a Clean Home," and further intrigued when I saw the post was from apartment therapy.com, a site I enjoy. 

As it turned out, the mystery magnet was more about tidiness than cleaning, with most of the advice centering around the idea of not letting things get out of control in the first place. Not bad advice and, admittedly, easy to follow. 

I will say, though, that the last piece of advice was my favorite, and it's a piece of wisdom I keep trying to impart to my husband, with very limited success. What is it?

Well, I guess you'll need to read the piece to find out :-)

Friday Feature: Getting Organized

Like so many others, I've used some of my "time in" to tackle projects around the house. Not only do I love to organize, but I have inspiration in the form of my 22 year old daughter who has moved back home following her college graduation. Her bedroom overhaul has gotten my organizing juices flowing. Yesterday, I tackled and reconfigured a bedroom closet.

All of that made it seem like a good day to share an article about decluttering. Though I write a lot about organization, I stand by my mantra that one size does not fit all so, in that vein, I like sharing organizing ideas that are not only good, but also readily adaptable to anyone who uses them.

That's what I like about this closet checklist from the Apartment Therapy site. It's clear, brief, and personalizable. It also happens to be a good fit for the way I work, as evidenced by the fact that I did most of the things it suggests when I worked on my closet yesterday.

I do not, however, under any circumstances, throw rejected outfits onto the floor of my closet. I leave them on my bed to clean up later. :-)

Happy organizing!

I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you to check out my writer page on Facebook. 

On June 11, I'll celebrate a book birthday: one year since the publication of my book, 

Know Thyself: The Imperfectionist's Guide to Sorting Your Stuff. 

I'll be posting about organization throughout the day, and you can jump in at any time,

read whatever interests you, and skip past whatever doesn't. 

There will be prizes, and, if you've liked the page, you'll have access to the celebration.

Saturday Special: Too Many Books, Too Little Space

Karen Arnold via freepik.com

I've loved reading since Dick and Jane ran with Spot. I don't remember my book collection overtaking my space when I was a kid, but then again, when I was in middle school, we moved to a house with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, giving me plenty of space for my Nancy Drew collection -- and then some.

In my lifetime, I've worked in three different bookstores, and I trace the origins of my "too many books, too little space" conundrum back to those jobs, which fed my inner book collector -- sometimes at the expense of my bank account.

Our house is a Cape Cod, so when I wanted to find resources about organizing books, I was excited to find posts on the Apartment Therapy site, where they specialize in fun ideas for small spaces. And, in a decision that matches my bookstore behavior, I couldn't decide, so I'm posting both.

The first is an article (with great pictures) that explores various ways to organize books, depending on your style (I had to grab that one!); the second, geared to a weekend project approach has videos. Both provide ideas and maybe even a little motivation for taking control of book overrun.

pixabay.com

While I'll be contributing to book overrun this weekend as I put the finishing touches on my novel, I'm looking forward to putting some of those ideas to work this winter, when I have more time to tackle my list of organizing to-dos.

Happy organizing! And, if you manage to make it through the process without getting sucked into a book you forgot you had, you're stronger than I am.