Out of Sight is Out of Mind – and Forgotten
I have a bit of a confession to make – I’m a bit of a messy person. I’ve struggled with keeping things tidy and clutter-free all my life. My mother used to say I was too lazy to put things away, but I recently came across a series of YouTube videos that shed a new light on this tendency to want things to be “in view.”
You see, I’m of the mindset that out of sight is out of mind – and I’d forget about the things that were stuck into drawers or cabinets or closets. This led to duplicate purchases, expired items, and forgotten stuff.
When I remodeled my kitchen a few years ago, I cut down on the number of cabinets by more than half – even though I was doubling the size of the kitchen floor plan. I also chose drawers for under the counters instead of cabinets. Game changer!
I don’t mind putting things in drawers when I can pull the drawer out to see everything that’s in it. No more crawling around on the floor pulling out ten pots to find a lid wedged in the back of a cabinet. It also helped that we got rid of a lot of accumulated kitchen paraphernalia.
My pantry is open shelving tucked into a nook and it works so well for me. I can easily see what’s on hand and access things like plastic wrap and canned goods quickly. It’s not picture perfect, but it is organized (at least to me!).
After watching Cas (AKA ClutterBug) on YouTube I discovered that I am a butterfly: I desire to have my stuff in view and am a macro organizer (I broadly group items together, like paint, but don’t have the desire to organize the paint in a rainbow assortment). “In view” doesn’t mean that things are piled everywhere but rather that items are grouped in easy to access and probably clear containers, labeled and organized.
According to Cas there are three other types of organizing styles: bees, who also visual like butterflies, but organizes their paints by colors (micro-organizer). Crickets and ladybugs round out the styles; they like their things out of sight. Crickets micro-organize and ladybugs are macro-organizers. Her videos and website address each style of organizer and how to conquer the clutter.
So I’ve embarked on slowly but surely decluttering and organizing my home and office. Progress is being made although there is a long way to go. But for the first time I’m moving forward knowing that there is nothing wrong with the “putting my things on display” mindset. It’s going to take a while to complete this project (made slightly easier by the fact that my children are now college-aged and it will be so much easier to get rid of school-related clutter!) My craft areas are going to be the toughest to declutter as I have a hard time letting go creative stuff – but maybe I’ll come to terms with the fact that there are not enough lifetimes to use all the craft supplies I own!
If you struggle with clutter and organization – on any scale, check out Cas on YouTube or her website. There’s a quiz to find out what organizing style you are, and a ton of helpful tips.
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