To Be or Not to Be….Organized

What is organization really? Dictionary.com defines organized as “To put together into an orderly, functional, structured whole.”

I can do that. What I can’t seem to do is KEEP it that way for too long. I am GREAT at organizing. But, is it realistic to expect it to stay that way? Hmm, I really don’t know the answer to that.

Part of it is probably my priorities. As much as I would like my house to always look organized, I am not willing to put in the time or effort it would take. I think that we spend a lot of time cleaning as it is.

Example: I like the kitchen cabinets to look a certain way. Inevitably when the girls put things away they don’t get put away the way *I* would do it. This also applies to towels, clothes, bathrooms or just about any cleaning.

I have a few choices here:

1) Do it myself.

2) RE-do it the way I like.

3) Train them diligently to do it the way I like.

4) Get over it and just be glad it got done.

I strive for a mixture of 3 and 4. But, sometimes I end up doing 1 or 2. By doing it myself I am really helping NO ONE. By, going back over it I could cause my children to feel like they can’t ever do it good enough or they don’t HAVE to do it good enough because I will do it over.

I think it is healthy to do a mix of training them to do it well and not letting it bug me when it isn’t done exactly the way I prefer. I have seen such improvement over the years in the way Mariah does things. I am sure it will only get better. She has only just turned 11. I think she does a great job for her age even if it may not be exactly the way I would do it.

I believe my job is to prepare them to be godly women first and foremost, but also to be competent, capable homemakers. I want them to be ahead of where I was when I got married. I didn’t know how to RUN a house. I am still in the process of learning how to do that well. Lord willing, my girls will know how to run a well ordered household before they get married. But I hope that, along with that, I can teach them to remember that PEOPLE come first.

Too many times in the past I have been so busy cleaning and making things look “just right” that I have had them go play and be out of the way so I could do it my way. How is that benefiting them? They weren’t learning how to do it well and I wasn’t spending that time WITH them.

The way we clean now is so different from how it used to be. Now, 99% of the time we are working together, talking, laughing , listening to music or audiobooks. I can teach them to clean well, spend time with them, and not wear myself out trying to “do it all”.

But still, I haven’t figured out how to keep things clean and organized all the time. Is it even supposed to be that way??? Is it realistic to expect that? Or are there some secrets/tips that I just haven’t learned yet?

Let me know what you think.

And if you have any advice I would welcome it.