My Organized Chaos is Pretty Neat!

Yes, my name is Calley and I am a pack rat! I hate to throw things out and I think that there is a potential reuse for everything. However, my husband is my complete opposite. He can let go of almost everything including all of those adorable, handmade creations that our children make.

I can probably go to one of my storage bins in the garage and find the nightgown that I wore when I was 8 years old that boldly pronounced “I Love DADDY!” down the front.

I can find my very first baby outfit that my parents brough me home from the hospital in over 30 years ago.

I can find the little red box that contains my collection of 1980’s Barbie’s and the handmade doll clothing that my Aunt sewed me.

What I can’t find is the credit card that I lost last weekend or the location of my favorite sunglasses. Obviously I have some level of organization but I can’t control the here-and-now! Surprisingly I’ve actually adopted a strange hybrid OCD personality that I like to refer to as organized chaos. I’ve become a pro at hiding my pack rat tendencies from my family – most of the time.

My husband has no idea that I have saved all of the Christmas cards we’ve received over the past 10 years of our marriage, or that you can find them in my top dresser drawer which is why it will barely shut.

My son actually walked into my closet yesterday and said, “Mommy, your closet is a mess!” I’m blessed to have a large walk in closet but that can become trouble for a pack rat. On the top shelf are 4 file boxes that are labeled with my kids names that hold their school work and craft projects from preschool and elementary school. On another shelf is my once active (now on hold b/c of my other ‘hobbies’) scrapbook box that also holds all of the baby teeth that my son has lost including the one from last night. Then there are the hundreds of little things that just don’t have a home that get stashed on another shelf until I have the chance to organize it or trash it.

My desk – don’t even get me started on that HoT MeSs! My home office is actually in my bedroom so I can’t escape the mess at the end of the day. My desk is actually several little organized piles of madness. In one compartment is dedicated to my blog where I stash receipts, business cards, letters from sponsors, and other marketing information. In another compartment are all of the fiels that I need for my day job and hidden nicely in the bottom desk drawer are our personal bills, reciepts, warranty papers, and all of the letters our sponsored child in Ghana has ever written for us.

From the sounds of it my HoT MeSs is actually pretty organized to me but I feel like I’m always battling C-L-U-T-T-E-R!!!

After reading my newest book, Pretty Neat, I realized that everyone has their own idea of organization. I learned that it’s ok to let go of perfection and be real about organization. The first few chapters attempt to break down the how and why you should use lists to help keep your life more organized. Really I think the idea of lists are fabulous and I use them on occassion but not in a very organized and consistent manner. I usually start making list on calendars or day planners which only aide in my pack rack ways – afterall you never know when I might need to refer to them when I decide to start scrapbooking again one day.

Some of the chapters that caught my attention and deserve my attention include Chapter 8 & 10 – Clear the Clutter at Home/Work and Chapter 9 – the Toy Tsumani. I’m not convinced that I will ever actually change my pack rat ways or if I will ever be a more organized person but Pretty Neat has showed me that everyone has a different perception of being organized.

In addition to the wonderful book, Pretty Neat, the creators have an amazing website, blog, a newsletter, a slew of YouTube videos, and of course Twitter and Facebook accounts. The buttoned up website has resources for organizing your finances and your life and I can’t wait to sit down and follow the 31 tips they’ve shared in their March, a Month of Financial Savvy article.

Would you like to win a copy of Pretty Neat? ECO-ngratulations Tiffany! Giveaway now closed.

Leave me a comment telling me your organizational story! Are you an organizational junkie? Are you clueless? What’s your storty!! (Mandatory entry)

For those fun extra entries be sure to:
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5. Tweet about this giveaway, the book, or the website. All tweets must include @GetButtonedUp, @TheEcoChic and a link back here to count. (Max 5 entries per day)

Leave a comment for each extra entry you complete along with a link to your tweets. Giveaway is open to residents on the US only who are over the age of 18. Giveaway will close on March 17th at midnight (ET).

Check out one of their YouTube clips about how to tame that mail pile – oye!! I need to implement this one for sure!

 

Disclosure: I was provided a copy of Pretty Neat for this review which is part of a Global Influence campaign. The opinions expressed in this article are my own. And yes, I really am a pack rat!

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