Screw Organized, Let's Do Chaos

I like to have a space for things. I'm not always the best at putting things in that space but I like to have the space available if I choose to use it.  Some level of organization soothes me. I can have chaos in my bedroom, clothes strewn half in and half out of the laundry basket but the laundry room? The laundry room is a small space and I need it free of clutter. My husband has no appreciation for this because, you see, he's a is a stacker, an on-the-verge-of-hoarding collector.  There is no space that he needs to be ordered just so. Not that I've discovered anyway.

I imagine it is difficult for him to appreciate the anxiety that the cattywampus piles he places haphazardly around the laundry room cause me. How having to watch my footing as I walk into the room makes invokes a deep rooted frustration that reaches to the soles of me feet...that want to kick violently at the obstacles in my path...kick them in his general direction. And while I know that this will solve nothing because as the object departs from my foot I will have an immediate thought of "Oh, feck. Please don't hit the wall!" to which it will respond with a triumphant thud, carrying a chip of blueberry blue paint with it as it falls to the floor, I still very much want to kick the crap out of the laundry basket. That is how I imagine it would happen anyway.


Now that I'm embarrassed that I admitted that bit of crazy let me say that one of my still not narrowed and tidied goals for 2013 is to bring more simplicity, organization and structure to our routine. To our home. The Hubbs admitted last summer that the previous summer, when I forced organization that was ultimately bucked in the interim between summers, we did more.  We had more fun. More adventures. My friend, C, showed me a book that she is reading Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living. Or rather I pried into what she was doing with her notebooks and journals while we waited for coffee the other morning. She is trying to bring some of the same things to her family and life that I am trying to bring to mine. I went and bough a copy of the book today to see if there is anything in it they could be used in our home.  The reviews are mixed, and I imagine some of the information is what I already know. Just like how to lose weight and be health.  Some of the questions they have you ask each other and yourself, about each other and yourself, your family and your goals make me nervous. I'm not sure I want to know how my kids will answer them. I'm pretty sure need to know but I'm even more sure I probably don't I want to know.  Do you know what I mean?

I'll keep you abreast of the progress. I was happy that we culled 2 truck loads of trash and 2 truck loads of donations to a local charity this past fall. Our garage and playroom sorted and tidied. Order. The organization that I worked so hard to create in the garage has been erased, at least I have the playroom still. It is frustrating but I have to find a differnet way to tackle the "problem". One that works for all of us.

What do you do to keep your home organized? Is there a space your house you can handle being a mess? What about a space that absolutely has to remain clean?