The state of my closet

As I write this post, my clothes closet is something of shambles. The top shelf, meant for purses and hats, is a jumble of both of those plus a few scarves for some reason.  The main clothes hanging area, usually organized by color and then by article of clothing type, isn't too bad, but more than half of what is hanging there isn't currently in circulation, due to my pregnant state. The bottom, which has a built-in shoe incline, looks the worst, with an errant overnight bag vying for space with a dozen jumbled pair of shoes, again, only two of which I'm actually wearing at the moment. I'm lucky in that I have a dedicated deep cupboard above the closest that is perfect for luggage storage. The overnight bag usually lives up there, but I've been using it semi-frequently and putting it away, which involves getting my step ladder from another room, seems more trouble than it's worth lately.

Why am I sharing my closet woe with you? Well, I think it's always nice to hear someone who is supposed to have organization down to a science admit to imperfection. Professional organizers are people too. But this story also illustrates how easy it is for a well-conceived system to fall apart when you don't spend the time to maintain it.Your clothes won't put themselves away by color and type. If that's how you want them, you have to put them away that way. And in the last few weeks, a meticulous closet hasn't been at the top of my priority list. That's okay. The good news is that even though I haven't been maintaining it, because I do have a system in place, it will take me much less time to return it to its organized state than if I was starting from scratch.

You'll notice I only included the "before" picture. Closet maintenance will rise to the top of the list one of these days, so until then, you'll have to imagine the "after" shot.


**An exterior shot:

A year ago: color-coded to-do lists and photos!

Last year on helping you organize, I debated the merits of using color in organizing systems, waxed eloquently about my love for to-do lists and shared some pictures posted to Flickr by a few organized souls.

Speaking of to-do lists, L.A. pro-organizer Beth Zeigler, whose business is called Bneato, has a new weekly series called to-do list tuesdays. This week she shares a list from local networking scenester and accountability coach Dyana Valentine. Very cool, in this list-junky's opinion.

If you, too, like lists and order, check out the outstanding blog Penelope Loves Lists. There are more "Penelopes" than you'd think out there.

Creative Commons to do list photo posted to flickr by tracitodd

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Organizing myth: Organization means perfection

Organizing Myth #003: Being organized means attaining perfection; you aren't truly organized if everything isn't perfectly labeled in perfectly color coordinated containers all positioned at right angles.

Organizing Reality: The only way getting and staying organized is going to work in the long run is if you let go of an impossibly perfect mindset regarding organizing and start being comfortable with only being as organized as you need to be. What does being as organized as you need to be mean? It means that if you can never find your keys, you need to put a dish or bowl by the front door and always deposit your keys there on your way into the house. But you don't need to necessarily go out and by a hook and install it next to the door and then get tiny labels and label each key according to some color coded system that you'll never remember. It means get organized to the point where it's helpful to your everyday life, to your efficiency and well being, but stop before you spend more energy that it's worth alphabetizing all your books by author (I like to sort books by subject) -- unless of course, that's what will help you find what you're looking for in the future. The level of organization required to make life better is going to be different for everyone.

There's a saying that the perfect is the enemy of the good, and that is 100% true when it comes to attitudes about organization. Sure, I like it when I open my desk drawer and all of my little tools (binder clips, tacks, rubber bands) are all stored in the same individual compartments. That's nice. But what's essential is that I have all of those things at my fingertips where I can see them, get to them and use them, not that they are in matching containers.

Don't let a tendency towards perfectionism be an excuse for not getting organizing. Saying to yourself, if it isn't perfect, it isn't worth doing, is not acceptable. This can be hard for some people. Here's a book that I haven't read but hear is really good on this topic: Everything I Know about Perfectionism I Learned from My Breasts: Secrets and Solutions for Overpowering Perfectionism by Debbie Jordan Kravitz. 

You might also want to read my posts on the pitfalls of color coordinated organizing and organizing myths #1 and #2. Click to find out what they are!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Using color in organizing systems

There are a gazillion products out there marketed to help get your life in order. A lot of these items, from Post Its and folders to plastic bins and shelving units, come in a variety of colors. When selecting items, it might be tempting to “color code” things. That is, make all of your files having to do with your business hang in blue hanging folders, while your taxes are in red ones and your personal business in green. The idea behind color coding things is that, once you have the system in place, your brain is trained to see the color before the label and you will be able to find things more easily.

For people who really respond to color and patterns, this is true. And it can be fun to add the visual element of color to your space to liven things up. However, the extra step involved in color coordinating an organizational system is usually not worth it for the following reasons:

• Special color products are usually more expensive then the generic version. Why spend twice as much on blue manila folders, when the plain vanilla white ones do the exact same thing?
• Once you get certain colors set up, if you have to buy more products as your system expands, it might be impossible (or too much work) to find the exact color or brand you used the first time, and you’ll end up with two shades of red that don’t exactly match.
• Down the line, it makes it difficult to keep the system consistent, which makes the color coding approach less effective. For instance, if you get new Christmas decorations and you need another green tote box to store them in, but you only have a clear one on hand, are you really going to go out in the middle of the holidays to track down a matching green box, or are you going to have to live with three green boxes and one clear one?
• The plain stuff is simply easier to get a hold of. Everyone sells olive green hanging file folders and plain manila folders with clear tabs. 

So, my recommendation is to stick with the plain organizing items that are cheaper, more readily available and easier to duplicate, and save the fun colors and patterns for customizable areas of your home and office like couch pillows, blankets, rugs and art. 

One area where color organization comes in handy is for families with kids (or even just two adults). If each family member chooses a color they want to have as their own, then towels, toothbrushes, and backpacks can all be color coordinated and there is no confusion over what belongs to who.

Creative Commons photo of Really Useful Boxes posted to flickr by Valerie Everett