Friday, February 1, 2013

Organizing


 This past Summer you might recall that a friend and I started up a Homemakers group that met every week during the Summer to talk about Homemaking topics and encourage each other in that fine endeavor. As Emily and I plan the topics we thought of large variety of subjects that have to do with homemaking and organizing was certainly one of the ones we discussed. However when we started figuring out which topics we were actually going to address we didn't add organizing to that list because though neither of us would be classed as Unorganized (I don't think!) neither would the word organized be the first term generally used to describe us either - Creative quite possibly but probably not organized. Though we planned our get-togethers so that they would be interactive with everybody sharing their thoughts and we didn't claim to be experts in any topic we did want to at least feel fairly confidant about leading a discussion on the topic.

   So we planned to skip that topic, however.... The first week when we got together we had everybody share an area in homemaking that they really enjoyed and one that they found challenging. I don't remember what the statistics were exactly but a large number of women expressed that they felt challenged in the organizing category. Well we had left a week or two unplanned for the end of the summer specifically for the idea of addressing topics that were of interest to everybody and so we decided maybe we had better go ahead and tackle organizing.

   Since we decided that fairly early on in the summer we both started reading books on the topic and I decided (I got elected to lead the discussion - Emily had a very good devotional on the topic) that I had better try implementing more organization into our home as well.

   I have to say, the months since then as I have been growing more in this area, with God's help, have been a very big blessing to me. I am so thankful that we felt pushed to make an effort in this area so that we could try to help others. Since that time I have been thinking over and over about blogging on this topic but have had trouble knowing how to organize me thoughts (smile!), so I haven't. But I have decided to give it a go and share with you the things that I have been learning or the areas that I already did have organized and were working well in a series of posts throughout the months to come. I plan on taking it with just a very little at a time, sharing about a single method or tool each week. What I am doing (and what you could do if you desire) has not required me to buy anything but rather to use what I already have to grow more organized.

  Why did I want to become more organized and why might you?

  • Being more organized can free up my time and my home to be more useful to God's service. Often disorganization can stop us from ministering to others in some way - that was convicting to me. I don't want my disorganization to ever stop me from inviting others into my home or make it so I don't have time to reach out to others (through letters, in person, giving or helping others).
  • Organization will often help to relieve stress in your life in home. Stress is not good for your health or for your relationships and so if I can get rid of some stress that makes me very happy.
  • Organizing can help to save your money. There are many ways I can better use my money other than to buy something that I already have but can't find or to go out to eat because I haven't planned ahead.

I will be trying to post about organizing every Thursday for as long as I have ideas to share. I hope you will join me! I would love to hear your tips and even your questions/problems (though I am not promising that I can help - but maybe somebody else can!). Some of the methods I have used and loved for years, others have been ones that I have found in the last year. I am still a work in progress and am very thankful to God for helping me to grow in this area and I still know that I have a lot to learn!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I am new to your blog ad I love it! For organizing I have been using Flylady's method. I find that wth sall "routines" I am finally starting to get organized!

Heather

Anonymous said...

This sounds great! I love organizing, talking about it, and seeing how others organize. But I must not be terribly good at it because I don't feel very organized! You mentioned the risk of not inviting others over due to lack of organization - that I can relate to. I want to 'have it all together' before having people over. However I have read on another gal's blog somewhere that we 'bless others by allowing them to see our imperfect home', and I do believe that, because I know if I am at someone's house and it is not perfect, it makes me at ease, and not feel like I don't measure up/more likely to want to have that person to my home. So I guess I have to meet these 2 points in the middle! Get more organized, AND be more ready to open my home to others, regardless of my imperfect homemaking skills! Good topic to tackle! Shauna

Abbi said...

Heather and Shauna, Thanks so much to both of you for stopping by and sharing you ideas as well. I love hearing feedback from others.

- I have heard of Flylady many times but never have joined up. Maybe I should look into that.

- Shauna, I do agree that having others over even when you are not organized can actually help minister others - sometimes even better than if you were totally organized. And I certainly have had many people over who have seen my imperfections in both organizing and cleaning and I will continue to do so but I think some people do let disorderly homes stop them from having others over and so if being organized will help you be more hospitable than I think that is a great thing to work towards. Something I have done many times is invite people over first and then that motivates me to get things more organized and cleaned up because I know someone is coming. My house is never (and probably never will be) in perfect condition but nobody seems to mind that.

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin