MYTH - “Your house must be perfect”
When people find out that I am a professional organizer, I typically get one of two responses. It’s either “I really need you in my life” (yes, please – click here for your complimentary consultation!) or “Oh, I bet your house is perfect!” And, about that latter statement… no, it’s not. But as I keep saying, there is a difference between having a tidy house (as in, picture-perfect at all times) and having a house that is *easy to tidy*. I aim for the latter because that’s what I feel is realistic.
Here's what I mean by that. Once you declutter and organize, all your things will have a home. Of course, your house still will get messy at times because, well, you live there, and you use your stuff! But if those items have a designated home, then when you want to put things away, you can do so quickly, so your house can look neat again without too much effort. But if your house is cluttered, those items don’t have anywhere to go, and that’s really the issue that I try to address with my clients.
Resets are important
Everyone needs to “reset” their home, myself included. It might be a nightly reset, like making sure the dishes have been washed and the kitchen counters are wiped clean each night. It could be weekly, like picking up toys and vacuuming, or doing the laundry that has piled up. It could be quarterly, like assessing your wardrobe when the weather changes every season or setting up the garage based on your needs for the next few months.
Sometimes, we need to do more than a reset – it might need to be a complete overhaul, because our life changes. Looking at my pantry, for example, I remember a time when it was used only to feed two adults; then we had to store jars of baby food and boxes of Mum-Mum crackers and rice puffs; now, it has school-safe snacks and other sundries that the kids access themselves. It works because we zone everything, and rezone as needed.
This is not my guest bedroom, but I like this photo because it does show proper zoning, with a defined zone for sleeping and one for sitting and working on the laptop. Photo by Pixabay for Pexels.
Zoning a room
Let’s bring this together with a real-life example from my own home: the spare room. When my husband and I first moved into the house, this room was strictly a guest bedroom, with a double bed and two nightstands. Eventually, we had kids, and the room that I had been using as a craft room (sewing supplies, wrapping paper, etc.) had to become a child’s bedroom, so we relocated the craft supplies to the guest bedroom. This meant trading the bed for a Murphy bed, which takes up very little room when not in use, and setting up the sewing machine on a sturdy folding table, which can be put away in the garage when we have guests. Eventually, during the pandemic, it doubled (tripled?) as a home classroom, with the sewing machine set aside on the floor and a laptop on the table instead. Fast-forward to today, and it’s also the music room, currently holding a marimba as well as a drum set, plus an electric guitar. Oh, and did I mention it’s where I do my ironing?
As you can imagine, this room has A LOT of stuff in it! But it works for us because we use all those things, albeit at different times. And yes, we do have to move them out of the way temporarily when we have guests, so our “guest bedroom” is certainly not Pinterest-worthy! But it is organized because we’ve set up the items there in zones and we kept only what we used. And, let’s be honest, because we have a contingency plan for where to temporarily store those items when the room is used as a guest bedroom! It is perfectly functional for our lives at the moment, though it’s not “perfect” at all.
Hi there! I’m Amélie, a professional home organizer in San Antonio, Texas. I help people like you declutter their home, organize their belongings, and simplify their life. I love cleaning out a closet and removing a carload of donations from a home! My goal is to help you create a functional space that will make your life easier and more peaceful.
Interested? Check out my personalized services or book your complimentary consultation!
Minimalism
As I start my journey into professional organizing, I’ve noticed that there’s a chasm between what the word “minimalism” means and what the general public envisions. I bet some of you are already picturing a monk’s room, devoid of all material possessions. While that may look peaceful to some, it can lack warmth and comfort, not to mention that it is not at all practical for most people! However, I’m here to say that what you’re thinking of is actually asceticism, not minimalism. The Oxford Dictionary defines “asceticism” as “severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence.” That’s not what I preach.
I like the way Joshua Becker, of Becoming Minimalist, defines it: “Minimalism is the intentional pursuit of the things we value the most and the removal of anything that distracts us.” This essentially means that it’s about removing clutter from your life, whether we’re talking about clutter that is physical (my specialty) or not (overloaded schedule, for example). He says that “minimalism isn’t about removing things you love. It’s about removing the things that distract you from the things you love. It’s about living more by owning less.”
You see, removing distractions allows you to focus on what is most important to you. You own your stuff, not the other way around! When you aren’t distracted by clutter taking up your mental bandwidth (what we might call “visual pollution”) or by objects taking up your time (maintaining them, cleaning them, putting them away), you are then able to focus on what you actually want to do.
I’m aware that some people are vehemently opposed to minimalism, because they see it as “just another boring product wealthy people can buy”. However, to me, that’s missing the point. It’s really just criticism of a certain aesthetic that, granted, we see often, but is not minimalism per se. Minimalism will look different for every household, but to me, it always seeks to improve one’s life by simplifying it.
Of course, that’s easier to say when minimalism is a choice, but it’s not pleasant when it is forced upon us. Did you know that over 60% of Americans can’t deal with a $500 emergency? And that was BEFORE 2020 hit!
In Quebec, where I’m from, I often heard the concept of “voluntary simplicity,” which doesn’t seem as widespread in Anglophone culture. It’s essentially about mindfully choosing how we spend our money and being satisfied with less. In an article titled “The Voluntary Simplicity Movement: A multi-national survey analysis in theoretical context” (published in the Journal of Consumer Culture), Samuel Alexander and Simon Ussher say that “the Voluntary Simplicity Movement can be understood broadly as a diverse social movement made up of people who are resisting high consumption lifestyles and who are seeking, in various ways, a lower consumption but higher quality of life alternative.”
In my line of work, I’ve seen that the initial effort (decluttering, organizing, and changing habits) is time-consuming, but the rewards are reaped later and are well worth it. Don’t let people scare you with tiny living and drastically down-sizing, because that’s not at all necessary! Simple living is the way to go.
If you want to read more on the subject, in addition to Becoming Minimalist, I also recommend Be More with Less. That blog is run by Courtney Carver, who created the fashion challenge Project 333, which I believe was the original capsule wardrobe. If videos are more your thing, there’s the lovely Minimal Mom on YouTube. And let’s not forget Minimalist Baker, whose food blog has recipes call for 10 ingredients or fewer, 1 bowl only, or 30 minutes or less to prepare.
As always, I’m available to answer your questions on the topic!