The problem with so many books, magazines and websites that deal with organization solutions for your home and office is one thing: They aren’t real!
I mean, really, what kid has only 10 books, 12 crayons and 2 board games? Really? Come on. My kids are far from spoiled. We live a very simple life, without many frills. But my kids have a pencil box full of colored pencils and markers and another 6 inch square container full of crayons. And don’t get me started on the number of books I have!
I was browsing some closet ideas, since we’re in the midst of renovating the kids’ closets. I saw a kids’ room that supposedly housed two kids under the age of 10. Know how many shoes there were in the closet? 5 pair. Seriously? 5 pair of shoes for 2 kids? Maybe each of the kids had on a pair, which gives them 7 pair. Let’s see: A good pair of sneakers for school for each kids, a nicer pair of dress shoes for each kid, and a pair of old play sneaks. That’s 6 shoes for 2 kids. But what about rain boats or snow boats? Do they live in an area that doesn’t get snow? Or substantial amounts of rain? And what about flip flops or sandals? Do they not get summer weather where they live? Or do the kids just go barefoot all summer long?
Same closet pamphlet had a walk in closet for a married couple. The clothes in the closet were as follows:
two dresses, two shelves that held 4 sweaters a piece, 8 pair of shoes (all but one were women’s shoes) 6 pair of dress slacks, 4 pair of jeans and a grand total of 10 shirts.
So, I’m guessing she dresses in dresses twice a week, and sweaters and jeans the rest of the week. He has one pair of jeans and wears slacks the rest of the time. And they both were the exact same outfits EVERY week.
Give me some REAL life organizing solutions. My kids have a 4 or 5 sets of school uniforms. Except I also have to deal with the weather, which means I have some long sleeve shirts and some short sleeve shirts for them. I also have pants, capris, shorts and skirts for them.
Each kid has probably 12 – 15 pieces of school clothing. Multiply that by 3, that’s 35 – 45 school clothes to get them through each year. Plus they each have a few pair of jeans. They don’t wear jeans too much because they wear shorts mostly in the summer. Jeans are mostly for cooler spring, fall and winter days when there isn’t school, so we don’t need many of those.
But they each also have a handful of t-shirts to wear throughout the year, a handful of nicer outfits to wear and summer wear (shorts, tank tops, bathing suits, etc). Then throw in some sweaters and sweatshirts for the winter days.
All in all, each kid probably has somewhere between 30 – 40 pieces of clothing, not counting socks and underwear, with 85 – 90% of the clothing being worn at least 8 months out of the year (t-shirts, school clothes, jeans).
Give me a closet solution that can neatly handle that amount of clothes. Plus the 4 – 6 pair of shoes each kid has. And the socks and underwear. All in a 2 -3 foot area. Without wrinkling everything, please.
Then there is the mail center / calendar station. According to most of these, the average family requires a five foot calendar to keep track of everything, but little else. And these families must get about 5 pieces of actual mail a month, everything else is junk mail and magazines.
HA! I can organize my magazines (small wicker bin, thank you) and the junk mail (recycle bin, PRONTO!). But what about the quarterly bill I get that needs to be paid sometime within the next three months and I really can’t lose it? What about the new insurance policy that I need to save and read through with my husband… at some point.
These organizing methods basically give you three options: read it and deal with it now, read it and file it away, or trash it. Sometimes, when I get my yearly insurance bill, I don’t have the cash to pay it NOW. Sometimes, I have to wait a week or two before I can “deal” with it.
Put it on the calendar? Sure… but what about the actual paper? Not everything can be done online, contrary to what most organizing websites lead you to believe.
And don’t get me started on kitchen organizing solutions. If I had twenty foot of solid counter space, I could easily do what they suggest:
a tray to hold the toaster, the coffee maker and all your breakfast needs;
a pour and go cereal dispenser
a counter top spice rack along side a matching, revolving kitchen utensil rack
Of course, you are only supposed to keep what you use daily on the counter, which means I also must have twenty more feet of spacious and deep cabinets to house my crockpot (I use it two or three times a week) and my blender (I use it several times a month) and my bread maker (I use it often in the winter, less so in the summer) and all my pots, pans, leftover storage containers, dishes, glasses… oh and the actual food too!
But on these websites and in these books and magazines, the average family has approximately 4 pots, pans and baking dishes, exactly 8 glasses, 4 plates, 6 bowls, and enough silverware for just the four of them.
Uh huh… right. I don’t want to count the amount of cooking “containers” I have and use on a daily basis. I have sauce pans, frying pans, large skillets, baking dishes of all sizes and shapes, cookie sheets… and way more than 4 of them, let me tell you!
So, if you, like me, are trying to get some sort organization to your home, don’t feel bad if your house doesn’t look like the pictures you see. Trust me, their homes don’t look like that either!
Barb says... 