Just Finished Reading: Secrets of an Organized Mom by Barbara Reich

So, in the winter when I can't do a whole lot of gardening, I like to turn to household organization, and imagine the day when my house will look like an Ikea catalog. That will also be the day when the Lord arrives, flying on a cloud-based airship.

In the meantime, this latest read on household organization, Secrets of an Organized Mom, was really great. She's so much more specific and directive than some other organizing books I've read, telling you specifically, for example, that you don't need to hold onto your tax records for more than 7 years. Which I guess other ones do, too, but there were lots more examples like that. No shoe pile by the front door, for example - all the shoes have to go to their owners' rooms. (I'm not following that one) Also not following: bare fridge. And finally, also not following: matching hangers and storage containers. I do have matching tupperware, though, and I can see the appeal of row after row of matching clear drawers, and hangers of the same color and size.

This woman's obsessive neatness is inspiring, and I like how she lays out rules and then talks you through objections. In particular, her advice on dealing with your child's art has been particularly welcome. Because this:

I totally want to buy some document boxes, (something gorgeous like this, for example) one for every couple years of my child's artistic life, and then only put the "standout" art into it. I'm probably too cheap to buy 4 at a time, though. So they won't match.

And, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to stick to just one copy of the current magazine in the house. I guess I'm learning a bunch of rules I'm not willing to follow, thanks to this lady.


But results are results - I went through one of my bookshelves and pulled out about half the books as not favorites. They're in a box now, with a six month waiting period before I get rid of them somehow. Probably not by selling, because I would change my mind.... And even though I'm keeping the wedding dishes (again, against her advice) the glasses we haven't used in years and my beer stein from Germany ARE on their way out.

To be 100% fair, though, I read a book about a year ago - SHED by Julie Morgenstern who suggested giving away 80% of your stuff when you go through a collection, and only keeping the 20% that are treasures, and I think somehow that idea sitting in my brain for a year had a miraculous chemical reaction with Organized Mom, creating a fizzy new reality in which I can now part with 40-50% of my stuff.

Huzzah!