Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Simply Clutter.

Okay, so, my name is Katie and I have a problem.

I have piles in my house. Yes, piles.

Now, before your mind wanders to jaw-dropping episodes of Hoarders with homes crammed full of science magazines dating back to 1982, let me assure you that I do not have THOSE kinds of piles. My piles are small and exist primarily in our bedroom. On our bureau. And they are recent. Say, a church bulletin here, a Bible Study folder there, a music book, a photo album, an envelope of pictures, a stack of CDs ... you get the idea. 

Also, I routinely rid our room of these piles once a week or so. And yet, they return to haunt me, frustrating me with their "Katie, You MIGHT Need Me" allure that restrains me from throwing them away. Yes, I might need them, but where should they go? We don't have a CD player in our house, so I have no place for the CDs. The music books are too thick to fit on the piano and I really want to keep the pictures, but unfortunately they aren't supposed to go in the album they happen to be stacked upon. I know I need to just CREATE space for these things, to categorize them and plunk them where they should go and that's that. And yet, when I stare at them, I find myself overwhelmed with their, um, pile-ness, and I timidly step backwards until I am out of our bedroom and onto another project, like organizing the laundry room. I think I secretly hope that the piles will simply disintegrate or that each superfluous object will spontaneously sprout legs and run to its appropriate spot and that when I return to my room, the bureau's surface will be clean and smooth and everything will be in its place. Because, there's a place for everything, right?

And my bureau top is NOT THAT PLACE.

So, geesh, I need help. Once I get a system down, I'm organized. But this is one area of organization that drives me CRAZY. Because I HATE PILES. I HATE THEM. EVEN IF THEY ARE SMALL AND MAYBE CUTE. 

So, there. I've admitted my problem when it comes to being a good housewife/homemaker/Oven Catcher On Fire-r.

What about you? What project (or chore) makes you cringe??

14 comments:

  1. I am a pile-r, and I too, can be overwhelmed with organizing a bunch of cds for which I have no player, or just you, organizational projects. And I love to organize! Just not ... everything, all the time, you know? So I buy baskets. Lots of them, when they're on sale. And then I sort the piles. It might just go into a different category of pile, but at least then I can either properly organize it, or shove it onto a shelf or whatever until I have time (okay, inclination) to do it right. Either way, it looks nicer. I call it fake organizing :)

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  2. I am also a pile gatherer and I get bogged down in the details when sorting said piles, especially when it comes to getting rid of magazines. I end up flipping through them for recipes, craft ideas, remodeling, etc.
    Also, dust is my nemesis. Hate that chore. Yes, HATE.
    Rather clean a toilet.

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  3. Katie! I do the SAME THING! I would totally send you a picture of the 14 piles in our room! I see one right now of disks and photos to be sent. One of things I need to go through. One of lists that I have made and I want to make sure I did everything on them... the list goes on!

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  4. I am a fellow pile-r too!! I get it from my mother. I have tons of magazines and my husband gives me a hard time about them, because for some reason, i have no problem throwing away his video game magazines. But I hang on to mine for the hopes of someday being able to go through them and find the articals i want to keep,and the recipes i might want to try! And don't even get me started on the piles of coupons i have!

    And as far as chores... folding or hanging up laundry is the WORST!!! I don't mind putting in the washer and then the dryer, but ughhh I hate to put it away.

    Its nice to know that I'm not the only one with the "piles" problem :)

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  5. apparently everyone has piles--makes me feel a little better about myself :). so yes, my name is silvy, and i have piles (that hopefully disappear at least once a week). sometimes i simply transfer the piles into a closet, but then i just get stressed out about organizing the closet.

    right now we have a pile of pictures in our living room, pile of folded laundry in our bedroom, pile of cds in our bedroom and a few other random piles.

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  6. Ok, so I am really bad about this too. Not near the clean house type shows bad, but it sounds like I am worse at it than you are. I just started this yesterday, strangely enough. I went to walmart and bought the big plastic tubs with lids.. several of them. I am going to begin to fill them with these piles, date the tubs and put in storage. then, after several months (6 months to a year) I am going to start emptying the tubs straight into the dumpster.

    That's my solution anyway. lol!
    Thus no organization must go on.. but the piles still get taken care of and I am not actually hoarding the stuff because it will be thrown away after proving that I don't need it.

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  7. I make a pile of worn clothes throughout the week on the back of my getting-ready-in-the-morning chair in our bathroom. Eventually the back of the chair is so weighed down with clothes that it falls over. I guess that is the chair's little way of reminding me to utilize the many hangers within my closet. ;)

    Oops!

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  8. P.S.
    http://audramaxson.blogspot.com

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  9. I make piles, and then the piles annoy me because I hate clutter, so I shove them in a closet/cabinet/drawer. And then I have messy closets/cabinets/drawers because I have hidden all of my piles in them! The cycle must stop, I tell you!

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  10. I have a pile problem. And a doing dishes problem. And a putting away the clean clothes problem. Actually, this reminded me of something you mentioned about a "one-minute" rule....if it takes less than one minute, just do it right then. Perhaps it's time I try that little game again... :)

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  11. Oooh... I don't have a pile problem, just a loose clutter problem... random stuff in random places all over the house, it drives me crazy... I pick up and then some new random thing appears....

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  12. Oh! I SOOOO feel your pain. We are in a one bedroom apartment and everything is SOO crammed. I keep moving piles, hoping it will make me feel better. It's really awful. But once I can ever clean a pile and get rid of it, it is very freeing. You can do it! (-:

    ~Kathryn

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  13. Nice post - pictures of piles ..Keep Posting


    Ron
    pictures of piles

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