What is hard for me about organizing? You may think that organizing is easy for me, but that is not the case – there is a lot that I struggle with!
This is a “sister” episode to things about parenting that are hard for me (episode 195)
Big thanks to our sponsor The Organized Home — if you’re looking to make organizing easier, this is the course for you!
Producer: Drew Erickson
Check out my other household tips podcasts:
Transcript
[00:00:00.140] – Hilary Erickson
Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today on Episode 197, we are talking about things about organizing that are hard for me. Let’s untangle it.
[00:00:19.320] – Hilary Erickson
Hi, I’m Hilary Erickson, the curly head behind the Pulling Curls Podcast: Pregnancy and Parenting Untangled. There’s no right answer for every family, but on this show, we hope to give you some ideas to make life simpler at your house. Life’s tangled, just like my hair.
[00:00:39.690] – Hilary Erickson
Okay, so this episode is going to echo the episode I did a few weeks ago about things about parenting that are hard for me. So if you’re interested in that, just scroll back a couple of episodes and it will be right there waiting for you. So let’s get started.
[00:00:52.160] – Hilary Erickson
What about organizing is hard for me? Because I think a lot of people picture me when I go into an organizing project, just knowing exactly what I’m doing. Everything goes smoothly.
[00:01:00.490] – Hilary Erickson
I mean, I run a course on home organization, and I am here to tell you that that is not true. It is extremely painful to organize sometimes just because as a mom of many people, I’ve had a lot of stuff at my house and we are slowly paring it down as we are having less people at my house, but it is hard.
[00:01:19.620] – Hilary Erickson
Do you ever just feel like it’s unfair that some people can have company over at a moment’s notice? Their house is just super easy to clean up and they can relax on the couch with Netflix while you feel like you always have things to do around your house. That can totally be you.
[00:01:33.540] – Hilary Erickson
The Organized Home is here to help you simplify organizing. We’re talking about decluttering, zones, organization systems that actually work. We’ve got assignments and challenges. I hope you’ll join us. You can use coupon code UNTANGLED. Look for the Organized Home, link in the show notes.
[00:01:49.320] – Hilary Erickson
Okay, number one, my family leaves crap all over the place and they don’t understand my system or they don’t put it in my system. Can anyone else get an Amen? Just say it wherever you are. Amen.
[00:02:00.000] – Hilary Erickson
I make a system that I think is going to be amazing and my family doesn’t follow it at all. And that drives me absolutely insane. So then I re talk to them about the system and then they continue not to follow it. So then I have to figure out a system that works for all of us. Frankly, it should just have to work for me if I’m… No, it shouldn’t.
[00:02:19.000] – Hilary Erickson
But it drives me crazy. That can be really hard to figure out a system that’s going to work for all of your family when you have things that need to go out and then get put back in frequently. So another thing that I struggle with is reorganizing systems, which I had previously done, which aren’t really working very well anymore and having to reorganize them.
[00:02:36.740] – Hilary Erickson
I go into failure mode where I just feel all the shame that I couldn’t create a system that worked at the beginning. And what was wrong with me? Regardless to say that sometimes the problem with the system is that my family can’t follow the system as we have previously talked about, or the fact that I have kids moving out, moving in, things are changing.
[00:02:57.060] – Hilary Erickson
We’re in a very dynamic stage in our family. And so sometimes things have changed and I just have to pivot. But it’s hard not to go into that shame complex sometimes for me. So if that’s something you struggle with, I am right there with you. Okay, this is one that a lot of you guys might struggle with also. And it is the initial pull out.
[00:03:15.600] – Hilary Erickson
So when I pull out all the different things, like we did our linen closet earlier this year, when we pulled out all the things and laid them on my bed, I, once again, just wanted to burn it down. I was like, No, this is not going to work out. It can be so overwhelming.
[00:03:30.760] – Hilary Erickson
And if you’re there, I am right there with you. All you can do is start to just divide it into things that are alike, right? Especially when you have a system that hasn’t been working. So you don’t have a lot of the alike things together.
[00:03:43.100] – Hilary Erickson
Soap was in 12 different spaces in that closet. So just starting to put it like to like, get you going. And honestly, when we did it as a family, it really taught my daughter that that’s the first thing that you do because everyone was feeling overwhelmed. She was feeling overwhelmed, too.
[00:03:55.910] – Hilary Erickson
And I was just like, we just got to find the categories that we’re going to compartmentalize these things into. And that really helped. And hopefully it showed her how to organize next time she pulls everything out and feels overwhelmed because it happens to everybody.
[00:04:06.860] – Hilary Erickson
Okay, the fourth thing that I really struggle with is deciding what to throw away because what if I need it at some point in time? I know a lot of people have these hard and fast rules where if you haven’t used it for a year, it costs less than $20, and you can buy it at any store, just throw it away. And I think those rules are okay. But I think there are cases where you may want to keep it.
[00:04:27.250] – Hilary Erickson
We don’t cook a Turkey every year, but I do keep a Turkey roasting pan around. It’s not in a convenient spot, but I keep it because I don’t want to have to buy another Turkey roasting pan again because I know I’m going to roast a Turkey at some point.
[00:04:40.930] – Hilary Erickson
Although honestly, I’d hope not to. I’m not a huge Turkey fan, confession. But deciding what to throw away is hard. And I was talking to a friend the other day who’s moving, and she was talking about just how tired she was of figuring out what could go, what could stay, what was getting moved, what was going in the trash. And I was like, girl, it is hard.
[00:04:58.840] – Hilary Erickson
It’s a lot of work on our brains trying to figure out how to make choices about what stays and what goes. And we need to be really forgiving of ourselves for how hard it is on our brain because honestly, most of the day I’m really not making a whole lot of choices. My day pretty much goes as per the usual all day long.
[00:05:18.590] – Hilary Erickson
Yes, I’m deciding what to wear, although I’ve limited that because I rotate through my clothes and so I just pull out whatever in the front. But I purposely try not to have to make choices because I hate doing it. And when you organize, a lot of times you’re required to make many quick choices one after another with a lot of self doubt, wondering if you’re making the right choices, and all that is really normal. So that’s something I really struggle with. Do you guys struggle with it?
[00:05:41.650] – Hilary Erickson
By the way, I’m going to have a post about this over on Instagram. Come find me. I would love to know if we struggle with any of the same things because I think that would be interesting.
[00:05:49.230] – Hilary Erickson
Okay, finally, the fifth thing I struggle with is finding place for stuff that my family accepts. So sometimes my husband will accept a giant load of lemons. And I’m like, Why did you take that bag of lemons? We have a lemon tree behind us. If we need the lemons, we can go out there and grab one. And yet he just sticks this giant bag of lemons on my counter. And I’m like, What am I going to do with that? I don’t want that. Why did we accept that?
[00:06:13.940] – Hilary Erickson
Does this happen to anybody else? He was trying to be helpful. He was trying to be kind because somebody else wanted to pawn their lemons off on us. But in reality, it should have gone in the trash, not in my house. But trying to figure those things out. So a lot of times what I do is just make the person who brought that item into the house responsible to put it away.
[00:06:30.180] – Hilary Erickson
Because honestly, I am responsible to put all the items that I bring in this house to put away. And so I would hope that happens for other people. Side note, when I bring something in this house and I have no idea how I’m going to store it, I always wonder if that was a good purchase or it just sits on my dining table for a while.
[00:06:48.210] – Hilary Erickson
Being responsible shoppers is such an important part of organization. What we are bringing in the house is so important. I think we often forget that. So that’s just a reminder. That’s just like a bonus tip from this episode. Anyway, those are the five things about organizing that are hard for me. If we are the same, like I said, come tell me over on Instagram if we struggle in the same areas. I would absolutely love to know.
[00:07:11.390] – Hilary Erickson
Stay tuned. We have a lot of great episodes coming up. Next week we are talking about 10 things to have on Hand for Mom after the baby is Born. A lot of times we’re so focused on all the things the baby needs, but there are some things you should have on hand for you. Then the week after that, we are talking about Communication with Kids. That one’s a great episode, so stay tuned.
[00:07:28.660] – Hilary Erickson
Thanks so much for joining us on today’s episode. The Pulling Girls Podcast grows when you share us on social media or leave a review. If you do, please tag us so that we can share and send you a virtual hug, which, frankly, is my favorite hugging. Until next time, we hope you have a tangle free day.
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