{"id":164,"date":"2014-08-31T14:47:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-31T18:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/162.243.23.127:8081\/2014\/08\/31\/confessions-of-an-organizer\/"},"modified":"2014-08-31T14:47:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-31T18:47:00","slug":"confessions-of-an-organizer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peggywbarnes.com\/?p=164","title":{"rendered":"Confessions of an Organizer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">I am a Certified Professional Organizer&#8230;.sounds impressive right??? &nbsp;Well, here is the truth about me:<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">1. &nbsp;I can still be a messy Millie. &nbsp;Check out this photo of my current work area. &nbsp;Yes, it all makes sense to me, therefore, I am organized but it is still, nonetheless, messy.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-RrJb6jsiV7w\/U_NMCD7cDGI\/AAAAAAAABWY\/zo09cUMAVWs\/s1600\/photo%2B(43).JPG\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-RrJb6jsiV7w\/U_NMCD7cDGI\/AAAAAAAABWY\/zo09cUMAVWs\/s1600\/photo%2B(43).JPG\" height=\"297\" width=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">2. &nbsp;I do not have my underwear folded or my t-shirts folded and stacked like a Banana Republic Store. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">3. &nbsp;I do not have matching file folders with matching printed labels. &nbsp;I have file folders (whatever was available in my home or on sale) some have printed labels and some have written labels&#8230;.whatever was going to get the job done the fastest.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">4. &nbsp;I do not have my sheets and towels folded in ways that make them stack beautifully and neatly on the shelf. &nbsp;They are folded but not precisely.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">5. &nbsp;I do not have all my photos in albums with beautiful trim, borders, and extra accouterments to make the photo explode off the page&#8230;..nope, many of my photos are still in boxes (by year!) but in boxes.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">6. &nbsp;I do not have my filing done&#8230;..much of it is stacked on top of the filing cabinet.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">7. &nbsp;My laundry room looks like a laundry room&#8230;..with dirty clothes and clean clothes commingled, staying enough apart for me to know what&#8217;s what!&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">8. &nbsp;Sometimes at night, I leave dirty dishes in the sink.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">9. &nbsp;I haven&#8217;t been able to let go of my kid&#8217;s rock collection.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">10. I have a basket of shoes, overflowing, by my back door. &nbsp;I hate wearing shoes and taking them off, the minute I walk in the door immediately relieves some of my stress. &nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-CgGHwi1d1uo\/U_NMRvaz3WI\/AAAAAAAABWo\/D0EDotJjQ0g\/s1600\/photo%2B3%2B(9).JPG\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-BtizyWicNiQ\/U_NO3J0CzTI\/AAAAAAAABW0\/NmQEpgoGtp4\/s1600\/photo%2B3%2B(9).JPG\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-BtizyWicNiQ\/U_NO3J0CzTI\/AAAAAAAABW0\/NmQEpgoGtp4\/s1600\/photo%2B3%2B(9).JPG\" height=\"400\" width=\"298\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">So, what makes me organized?&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">1. &nbsp;I can find what I need when I need it because I do not have too much stuff and I know where everything is.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">2. &nbsp; My underwear does not need to be folded because no one else is going to see whether it is wrinkled or not and my t-shirts are folded well enough.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">3. &nbsp;I can find my paperwork when I need it&#8230;..again because I don&#8217;t keep too much and because it is labeled in a way that makes sense to me for retrieval. &nbsp;Matching folders are not magic&#8230;.you still have to have a system that makes sense.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">4. &nbsp;My sheets and towels have worked just fine not being folded perfectly.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">5. &nbsp;My photos are in boxes, sorted by year and many of my kids&#8217; pictures are in an album for them but I still have a long way to go. &nbsp;I will never be a scrapbooker, the tediousness of that makes me sweat thinking about it!<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">6. &nbsp;My filing is not done&#8230;one small stack, on top of a filing cabinet is not killing anyone. &nbsp;Remember it is small because I don&#8217;t keep much paper!<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">7. &nbsp;My laundry room is a place of function, not beauty. &nbsp;I can get done what I need done very well, which is evident by everyone in my home having something clean to wear.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">8. &nbsp;Yes, I am just plum tired some days and I leave the dishes in the sink. &nbsp;The FlyLady would not approve, however, I do take care of it as soon as I wake up. &nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">9. &nbsp;I love my kid&#8217;s rock collection&#8230;.I have it in the bottom of a vase with beautiful flora coming out the top. &nbsp;A beautiful decoration for me&#8230;..a great way to keep memorabilia merging it with &nbsp;with my decorating style. &nbsp;There is nothing wrong with keeping sentimental stuff, there is only something wrong with keeping too much of it.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-DZbrbiunmXs\/U_NMMRyWkkI\/AAAAAAAABWg\/c6sp3qxMgvE\/s1600\/photo%2B1%2B(15).JPG\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-DZbrbiunmXs\/U_NMMRyWkkI\/AAAAAAAABWg\/c6sp3qxMgvE\/s1600\/photo%2B1%2B(15).JPG\" height=\"400\" width=\"298\" \/><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">10. &nbsp;My shoe basket is overflowing but at least I have a basket, right??&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">All this to say, I am not perfect, I am not what many would call &#8220;organized&#8221; because I think they have the wrong idea about being organized. &nbsp;As Julie Morgenstern (the organizer guru) says: &nbsp;&#8220;Being organized has less to do with how something looks as how something functions&#8221;. &nbsp;My house functions great but does not look like I live in a magazine. &nbsp;Life is busy and life is sometimes very overwhelming. &nbsp;I work&#8230;.all the time, I get tired, I get frustrated, I don&#8217;t have time to focus on my house looking like a magazine. &nbsp;I do have time to get systems in place, that work for me and my family and I have time to tweak those systems until organizing is just a side note in my life. &nbsp;<\/span><br \/><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">None of this means that I can&#8217;t organize to make a house look like a magazine because I can. It&#8217;s just&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">I know what works for me and I know how I think and my house is organized accordingly.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">So there you have it, the truth about this organizer&#8230;&#8230;..I guess Martha Stewart will not be calling to hire me any time soon \ud83d\ude42&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am a Certified Professional Organizer&#8230;.sounds impressive right??? &nbsp;Well, here is the truth about me: 1. &nbsp;I can still be a messy Millie. &nbsp;Check out this photo of my current work area. &nbsp;Yes, it all makes sense to me, therefore, I am organized but it is still, nonetheless, messy.&nbsp; 2. &nbsp;I do not have my [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,57,63,8,20,98,16,17,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-habits","category-comparison","category-deliberate","category-good-habits","category-home-organization","category-life-coach-purposeful-deliberate","category-peace","category-perspective","category-professional-organizer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peggywbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peggywbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peggywbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peggywbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peggywbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/peggywbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peggywbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peggywbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peggywbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}