Messy v organised. What are you?

[redrubyindigo]

AIBU to start a debate?

I am organised and file things and know where everything is.

My boss could enter an empty lift, go up three floors and leave a mess.

He accuses me of me being weird and controlling (in a nice way)

I argue that his disorganisation costs him thousands of pounds a year (in a narky I do the accounts sort of way)

Why? Why? Why? Would you toss an invoice on the floor/cluttered desk/shelf/lose it?

If you are like my boss please explain why. If you are like me are you weird or sensible?

By the way. I love my boss. He is wonderful and great but fecking messy!

way the main tip I have is to buy an A4 display folder with the plastic pages. Project books (like you had at school)

www.amazon.co.uk/Tiger-project-display-pockets-single/dp/B00A18ESTA/ref=sr_1_48?ie=UTF8&qid=1394665710&sr=8-48&keywords=project+file+a4

I have one for me and one for the baby

In mine I have everything I need. A the front I have wrote my passwords for things, important registration numbers, then each pocket holds two documents ie. Marriage Cert, insurance, car registration docs.

I actually got everything into a folder only a couple of cm thick

I use these wallets for everything. Recipes, music.

The other suggestion I'd have is to buy a label maker and sandwich boxes (ie from poundland they have lime green ones at the moment) for batteries, envelopes etc

I was v organised until I had a number of people doing things for me..then bit by bit, you let them

Thanks mrswellyboot. Some really helpful tips.

Get onto Pinterest and type in kitchen organisation, small storage, wardrobe organisation

Lots of ideas

Argos have the label maker

Also ikea have magnetic noticeboards and you can buy magnetic pots to store useful stuff - USBs, spare keys etc. You can buy magnetic tape and stick useful things up too.
Then you can get a rail and s hooks from ikea with little pots for pens etc

But really, you need to throw out stuff. Lots of stuff. You don't need half of it. :)
I think the minimalism thread is brilliant. I used it a lot last year. Great to motivate you and lots of ideas

My tip tip would be to get rid of as much as is humanly possible - life is so much easier with less stuff.

My tip tip would be to get rid of as much as is humanly possible - life is so much easier with less stuff.

I have hoarding tendencies and have to 'muck myself out,' as my DM calls it, regularly or I'll end up like someone off those tv shows.
I just accumulate clutter without knowing where it all comes from. I keep the house clean, unlike my horrific teenage lair bedroom, but still end up with overflowing drawers because I might need all the paper work and receipts from this month in the future. I never have, but the day I throw em is the day I need them! Sod's law
Having said that, I can find anything in minutes, whereas DP who keeps his stuff 'neatly filed' in boxes has no idea what box something is in, only that it's in one. Somewhere...

My current flat has lots of storage but it's all small shelves within cupboards. There is a wardrobe but I can only just cram my dresses and a couple of my husband's shirts in there- everything else (knickers, tops, shorts) has to be laid flat on a shelf, in large cubbyholes. How do I stop it turning into a morass of tangled, untidy clothing within a day or two? What kid of trays or bags or whatever could I put inside the cubbyhole?

Organised in the house, but it doesn't come naturally, and I struggle with systems for time management - syncing diaries, ical etc. I keep meaning to go on a course locally to learn how to do all that computer stuff but haven't got round to it. Hmmm. Sadly, I'm also a bit of a 'late' person, which I hate about myself as it's inconsiderate of others' time. I do try, but consistently underestimate how long things take do, journey times etc.

Seriously though, any tips for this stuff? Apart from setting my watch 15 minutes fast and trying to forget that I have? And good diary/calendar systems? I find the family calendar vs phone vs handbag diary thing problematic, in having different things recorded in different places...

Interesting. I never thought about being disorganised being a waste of time. I tend to consider tidying a waste of time and fear it will take forever so I usually assume I don(t have the energy for it right now and I'll do it later.

It is really annoying though when I can never find anything. I always underestimate how long it takes to do things like get my shoes on, walk somewhere etc. I'm trying to be really efficient but in reality it leads to stress and rushing around.

I am not a fancy cook or very housewifey in most areas, but Im very organised there is no clutter in our place, and everything has a place. I can tell you the location of anything even if Im not in.

I'm organised because I'm lazy!

It's easier for me to just put things away and keep things tidy than it is for me to spend ages looking for stuff 'cause it's just been dumped somewhere.

I keep our flat meticulously clean and tidy. Luckily DP, who's naturally messy, works full-time (I'm part-time) so he's not home enough to leave a trail of destruction!

I don't really agree with the get rid of everything possible approach, I started decluttering seriously a few years ago and have often found I've chucked something that I really should have kept, I think being aware what you've got and going through each area regularly for a little clear out is good, but actual minimalism is definitely not the lifestyle for me. I like knowing that I've got all sorts of useful things tucked away somewhere and being able to find them easily.

As for the timekeeping, I don't really have any tips to be honest, it just comes naturally, I am good at estimating how long it will take to get ready for things and I always allow a bit of contingency time. Sometimes we cut it fine though, especially on non routine days, and it can be stressful. We use a synced iphone/computer calendar now but it isn't totally foolproof and I check it frequently, the copy on my phone is the "master" as I always have it with me and I generally enter dates on that. I suspect I am reacting to growing up with a mother who was and is late for everything.

I have what my Dad (neat freak) refers to as "organised chaos"

Which basically means that everything is unorganised but I always know where things are.

Kids are getting older now 5 and 3 so I'm gradually getting better. I was a single Mum when my youngest was 6 weeks old so I didn't have energy or time to faff about making everything shiny and organised.

I am organised.

My books are arranged by genre and within that, by size. My drawers are allocated a type of item - eg bottom drawer of the sideboard is for chargers and cables. bottom 2nd drawer down in the kitchen has tupperwear boxes into which are put different types of plastic bits and bobs - eg biscuit cutters in one, bits for the mixer in another, etc.

Fridge obviously arranged in accordance with food hygiene guidelines.

wardrobes - clothes arranged by type.

kids room - plastic boxes! - one for lego, one for ben 10, one for cars, etc etc. plus a little cabinet with lots of drawers, all labelled - knex, gogoes, paper, etc. there's even a 'bits and bobs' drawer for those things that I absolutely cannot put into a category of their own cos there just aren't enough of them (that pains me, I tell you )

100 loo rolls stacked in the cupboard, box of toothpaste tubes, row of shower gels

kitchen cupboards, tin cupboard, same item coming forward in rows, packets in rows, tub of sauce packets organised by the meat/fish they are for.

I could go on all day.

I love looking in a drawer and seeing neat rows of everything exactly where it should be.

Sadly, I do get the rage when things are shoved somewhere they aren't meant to go!

I'm messy and disorganised. I've tried for years not to be, and I'm a bit baffled about how being tidy and organised is done. I seem to constantly be in a flap.

Way2serious

You can buy A4 files and plastic A4 box files.

Label the files;

Important - passports/driving lic/CRBs
Medical - NHS cards/hospital letters/dcs red book
Mortgage rent- deeds/statements
Utility bills - water/gas/electric
Work - pay slips/letters/pension info
Bank - statements/ cc and loan letters

Sync your phone diary and hard diary. Ensure you note all dates of birthdays/ parties/appointments/meetings.

Print your favourite photos and create a Flickr account to store the others. Create folders which family and friends can view. No more accommodating albums.

If you have dcs;
Sort through their toys regularly and rotate monthly.

Read their school newsletters/letters, note dates of events and bin.

Take photos of their paintings/drawings, hang one or two on the wall (rotate) and bin.

Once dcs have outgrown clothes, give to charity or a friend that will appreciate them.

With regards to time keeping, we allow 15-20 minutes grace. If we need to leave the house at 12 midday. We prepare to leave at 11.40-11.45am. If we run over which we do with young dc we are still not late.

It works for us!

Yeah I'm messy and disorganised. And always late. And yet a lot better than I used to be, due to massive amounts of effort on my part. But it doesn't feel natural. I do wonder, like the poster above somewhere, whether it is genetic. My mess feels very like my parents' mess, iyswim. I would love to have everything in rows and decreasing size and so on and so forth but can't ever imagine getting to a place - mentally and clutterwise - where that would even be possible.

I'm extremely organised at work. At home I desperately want to be organised, but it just doesn't seem to happen that way. I like things to be in their place, but I'm really not good at putting them there

I'm naturally massively messy, disorganised and forgetful

I have had to force myself to get sorted.

I swear my house is a Bermuda Triangle for bits of paper - school letters cross the threshold and vanish, I've lost my marriage certificate, etc. I now have huge notice board and force myself not to put anything down, it all goes up there. School letters are signed and put straight back in book bags. I never put stuff down to deal with later as I'd forget to do it and lose it.

Lots of storage helps, I have one of those huge chests with about a million drawers and each drawer is allocated to something and stuff is filed/put away as soon as I'm done with it

Every appointment goes straight into my phone calendar or I'd write it on a scrappy bit of paper and promptly lose it/forget about the appointment

Bills and banking is all online and direct debit

Lateness - I'm still working on this, I try, I really do, but something always seems to happen just as I'm leaving the house. We've never been late for school - DH takes them on his way into work and he's a stickler for timekeeping. It's me that struggles, time just seems to slip away from me

It's not natural to me, but it all got a bit beyond a joke and I've really worked on it

I personally believe that keeping all your information and documents in a neat tidy folder leaves you open to massive identity theft if you ever get burgled....

So I solve that problem by my house being such an unorganised tip no-one would ever DARE burgle it

Joking, it's not that bad really, I just hoard...a LOT. And I am always looking for things. I blame the house...it's always hungry so it eats my stuff...it's the only explanation. It seems especially hungry for pens....

Plus I like it when I do finally get round to sorting a box out and I have that whole "Ooooooh I totally forgot I had THAT !"

It's like buying things all over again!

I am tidy but I have to work at it. My housemate is completely disorganised and leaves a trail of destruction everywhere. It drives me bonkers cos her mess impacts on me.

I am extremely organised at work and completely chaotic at home. It drives DH mad.