Organization

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I'm just wondering if anyone else really struggles with keeping organized. It not an problem of not putting effort in, but rather a problem of being overwhelmed by the chaos and not really knowing how to create a functional environment. I spend a lot of time cleaning and trying to organize. I group things and try to find a place for things. After I group I tend to get frusterated and stuck and don't really know how to make sense of everything. I end up placing thing in ways that are impractical. The mess reappears in no time.

Does anyone else really struggle with this?

I am not always organised but it seems to work for me most of the time.

I work through things in order of priority mostly when it comes to getting chores done.

When it comes to organising things so they are put away neat and tidy, even if I do neatly organise them, they don't stay that way for long...

However as I usually have a good memory for remembering where the things that are most important to me are, I get away with it. The problems set in mostly when I have brain fog from hell (which I get sometimes) as I seem to have a memory of a goldfish at those times. Otherwise, on a good day, I can visualise where everything is and usually find it that way even if its not organised. I can often remember where I saw it last in good detail.

My college notes are also often very disorganised, even though I start out with a filing system...it soon fades and I just end up with random piles of pieces of paper everywhere! However, I rarely look back at my notes after I have taken them anyway (now and again but not often), simply because I memorise most of the content as I am note taking, although bits and pieces can sometimes escape me. I also memorise the page layouts and images in the text books in the same way that I used to memories lectures like video tape in my head.

If I need a reminder I can flick through the pages of the book in my head. The only down side is I cannot see all text clearly (in my minds eye) unless it is in large font or emboldened. What I tend to do is remember by association...I can remember what the page was talking about based on its layout and the images that appear around the text. So my notes can often become obsolete.

I am prone to misplacing my house keys though!

I am almost obsessively neat.

If I ever let myself get worried about organisation, I shift into Obsessive Mode where I spend the whole day fretting about how I should make my room / my notes / my schedule neat and tidy.

To stop myself going over the deep end, I use a concept called "Pragmatic Organisation". The rule is, I only fiddle with something if it is actually an obstacle to my efficiency. For example, I won't rearrange my bookshelf if I have never spent much time looking for a book. I won't schedule when I will go to sleep if "going to sleep when I'm tired" has been working fine. I won't rearrange/rewrite certain notes if I am not likely to need them again.

I only reorganise things when I have noticed the disorganisation affecting me at least three times.

If things are messy it keeps me from getting anything done. It really messes with me. I lived with a hoarder for a couple months once and I went f*****g NUTS.

I am the opposite. I *must* have a mess. I can't focus in a neat area.

I am very disorganized, but I hate being that way. I always feel over whelmed by all that needs doing around here. I have health problems that make it hard to keep up with stuff. My sleep apnea keeps me tired all the time. I do manage to take naps sometimes, but I am so far behind in my sleep needs, that it really doesn't help anywhere near enough. I also have IBS, which keeps me in the bathroom for a long time several times a day. That eats up a good part of the day. I am a slow chewer, and slow to do anything else, also, so meals and tasks take a long time for me, which leaves little time to clean and organize. Then when relatives come over for visits, they give me a hard time about the mess around here. I discourage what visits I can, but I am renting my trailer home from my father and step mother, so they can come over whenever they want. Fortunately, they are snow birds, so they are only here during the warm months, so I have a little less stress now, during the cold months.

I just try to do what I can, when I can. That's the most anyone can do.

I function well in both modes – in a way, I always liked my mess when I was a kid because *I* knew where everything was and could find it without effort, but as I've grown older I have come to appreciate the neatness. Sometimes I do get quite upset about the pile of dishes in the kitchen or my partner just leaving stuff out, but that feels more like an issue with that it is *his* mess, not mine – I have no control over it, I don't know it, he caused it, etc.

But I do know what you mean about being overwhelmed by the disorder. When I have time and energy I can spend it organising until I crash, and without making any actual progress because it's a rather frustratingly futile effort I keep picking. Sometimes I just have to compromise the desire to have everything right from the beginning: a neat home is a constant work in progress.

I have always been one of those people who lives in complete chaos but knows where everything is. Nothing can throw me into a meltdown faster than someone moving things around in my room or cleaning my room without telling me.

It's a mess, but it's my mess.

I totally agree with Mr. Magpie's comment. I am disorganized, but if anyone touched my stuff and tried to organize it without telling me, I would have a huge meltdown. My mom used to do that a bunch of times and it would drive me nuts.