This is some of the stuff from the downstairs bathroom that had to be relocated in order to make space for my dad’s things because that is his bathroom now.
That basket of stuff up there in the other picture is still in our bedroom. Somehow it has to fit into this. This is the top of the toilet and bottom half of our cupboard in our bathroom.
Now if I just buy some cute little baskets and neaten it all up, everything will be fine, right?
WRONG.
Can you see in the second picture that there is already too much stuff in that space? That space needs to be cleared out and edited. What is left should be just the things I use all the time.
Even if I did that, I would still not have enough room for the basket full of stuff in the other room.
Here is the lesson here: you cannot organize clutter.
I used to have a sister-in-law who thought that making neat piles was cleaning and organizing. It’s not. It’s just neat piles that won’t stay that way for long.
I think that lots of us ADDers think the same way. A few cute baskets, some neat piles and we’re organized. Not so much.
In our house in general, we have added another person along with all of his belongings. That means that some of our belongings need to be relocated and some need to go. Same for my dad.
He can’t move his household’s worth of stuff into our house and expect it to work. He’s already mentioned that our house is too small and doesn’t have enough storage space. 2400 square feet and a closet in every room?
Clearly he has not grasped that stuff has to go. Everybody’s stuff. We’re fair.
Do you try to organize clutter? Do you hold onto things that you might need some day? Or things that someone gave you? Do you think it’s wasteful to throw out at least half of the 9000 hair products you own? (OK maybe it is, but that doesn’t justify your holding on to them.)
The first step in getting organized is getting rid of stuff.
Get it?