It doesn't seem to matter how hard I try, I simply cannot organize my home! I've tried everything! I have deep shelves in my pantry (arm length), so yes, I have great containers all labeled with the contents, a shelf for baking, a shelf for grains, a shelf for plastic wrap, etc. But once they are on the shelf, everything gets buried! The neat boxes of plastic wrap (etc.) become a jumbled pile after the first use! Bags of snacks and loaves of bread end up in a pile on their shelf. I can never find anything, I never have enough room, and I am at my wits' end! I've looked at books about organization and home management and try to follow what they say, I go to friends' houses and peer longingly into their pristine cupboards, and for whatever reason, I can't understand what's wrong with me that I can't figure this problem, so easy for others, out! And that's just the kitchen -- I never feel as though I've mastered ANYTHING! I'm a stay at home mom and I completely suck at my job!
What's my question? I don't know -- maybe I'm just venting -- I don't think anyone can make recommendations I haven't tried. But does anyone have any suggestions? And if not, is anyone else in the same boat?? I'm practically in tears after pulling everything out of my cupboards, repackaging, and placing them back in the cupboard only to look as messy as when I started!
Thank you all for the great suggestions and, even more importantly, the support. I'm less bothered generally by my messiness than I used to be -- but my husband is going through a very stressful time at work and is easily frustrated at home by things being disorganized, even though he himself is very disorganized. I'm staying home and he's working his tail off, so I should be better about getting and keeping this place clean, but I seem to be an idiot about something that appears to be very simple.
messies.com - get her book from the library. It helped me to accept who I was, which oddly made it EASIER for me to organize things. Wierd, but true :)
I don't know if this will help you, but what I've started doing a while ago is using bins in those long cupboards to store like items.
For example, all the smaller bags/jars (where we store nuts) of snacky foods go into a shallow, wide clear container. The bags of chips/boxes of crackers go behind that. Breakfast cereals/rice and soy milks are in a line in the front of the cupboard; behind that I have canned goods.
I store all my grains (rice, quinoa, polenta, oatmeal, etc.) in glass jars in the back of the cupboards. All pastas are together on one side. All baking supplies go in a separate cupboard, etc.
If it helps, try making a diagram, bird's eye view style, where the like items are clustered. It's tricky when you have a smaller kitchen with those big cupboards, huh?
A couple of hints I saw on pinterest:
Soda can despencers for canned goods, and lazy susan's - also lazy susan's in your refridgerator for the same reason!
Your house should be clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy. I can commiserate with you, although here it feels like everyone walks through the house undoing everything I do. I used to even straighten up for guests...sigh... I have a really old house with closets >this big<, and not many of them. The best advice I can give you is to simplify, as less stuff makes less mess. But, remember, you are not alone, and this does not make you a bad mom or person. I don't even envy the "neat people", it seems to be what they think about most of the time and I don't want to be that person, you know? I'd rather be playing cards with my kids on the front porch than vacuuming.
"What goes on in that pretty little head of yours...."
HAHAHA! Sorry, couldn't resist the Elvis Costello song!
http://www.lyricsdepot.com/elvis-costello/V..html
I DO have some actual advice though. Something you clearly haven't tried. Which is:
Accept yourself for who you are, embrace it, make fun of it, relax and forget about your perception of how organized you OUGHT to be, and focus on how COOL you actually are!
(And when you figure out HOW to follow this advice, please tell us YOUR secret! Something that often eludes the best of us)
:)
First! You think everyone else is so organized? Not true! My Grandmother used to say, "You can see a hair on yourself, but you can't see a bear on someone else." Most people have to re-organize frequently to stay up...... which means....... there are times when things get unorganized. So please start by giving yourself some slack.
If your shelves are arms length deep then that is contributing to your problem. I used to have a pantry like that and it was a nightmare. Just like you describe. We re-did the kitchen and I got rid of the pantry. Instead I have several cabinets that are no deeper than 11 inches. That way I can see what I have. When it get's deeper than that then there is no way! So...... yank out those shelves and make them less deep. If you can't afford a re-do, then just get a carpenter to help you. California Closets website might have some ideas for you. Or they might come give you a free estimate. Over the years I have slowly had them come out and do all the closets in my home. It's shocking how much more organized it has allowed me to be......... however, too much junk just makes things hard to find. Purge what you can.
Good luck!
Awwww big hug... deep breath. You havent burned down your house and you have stuff on your shelves you must be doing something right honey. Give yourself a break. With kids nothing stays neat and organized all the time.
Just try your best to keep it neat and if you or someone else can find it when you need it (I know where everything is in my house ,unless one of my kids move it, and it is by far organized) then you have success!
I know your frustration though because every one in MY house (LOL) moves stuff all the time. Frustrates the living daylights out of me. My self talk is why cant they just put it where I put it.
I stopped trying to be that woman. I am NOT the woman who has everything perfectly aligned, in alphabetical order, not a thing out of place, etc. I'm.Just.Not.
I'm not a pig, my house is neat. My house is not perfect. My cabinets are not perfect. I can walk into my kitchen and find everything I need. When I tried to do the perfectly neat thing, I felt flustered, because it's not natural. Things seemed more messy then they were, because I was trying to live up to this stupid standard. I could rarely find everything I needed quickly, when I worried about how things looked.
When you start having emotional breakdowns about this, you know you are trying to be something and someone you're not. So, your cabinets aren't perfect. They are full. You are fed. You have a great family. You are a mother, a wife, and I bet you are damn good at it. Stop trying to please this ideal, that a stay at home mom has to live in a perfectly aligned existence. You'll be better for it.
Be yourself.
Bins! Get wire baskets to corral the items together into little groups. Ideally, the baskets would be as deep as your shelves and somewhat uniform looking (all black or white or stainless steel) but really, anything will do.
And for the plastic wraps, I have a thing that screws into the inside of one of my cabinet doors that holds them vertically. Having anything stacked horizontally is just inviting a mess.
I have accepted and embraced my "chaos" at home. I am not very neat. We aren't dirty but I have a lot of clutter. My good friend is chopping at the bit to "organize me". I am resisting!
I don't hoard but we do over save. I admit it. See, I'm a step closer to being cured! haha! I'm tired and feeling a little dizzy. I need to lay down! Hope the boss doesn't mind!
Meh...could be worse, thats for sure!
Age old advice: take the time to put things back just as they were.
Easier and faster than a total overhaul every week or month, right?
Oh my I bet your kids are the happiest, cleanest, healthiest kids on the block i think another mom said the same thing!
You do not suck at your job! When your husband is not so stressed at his job, let him know that you don't come to his job and tell him how to do things so do not come home and tell you how to do yours!
You need some me time I can hear it miles away because I get the same way too!
Also find a way to get rid of the kids during the week, a friend to babysit, relatives or a sitter...in a couple of hours you can get things done run errands and stuff. Too bad you dont live here i offer women that luxury all the time and most dont even use my free services! My kids go to day camp for for hours everyday! the time goes very quickly but i get some things done like cleaning, grooming myself, errands, shopping, organizing, and home scheduling (making appointment, juggling schedules and such) and sometimes I watch soaps and eat ice cream! lol
Don't be so hard on yourself.
I really do feel your pain! and please no one ever look in my cupboards...
Quick tip with plastic wrap, aluminum foil, etc because the roll always pulls out of the box: the cardboard box on the ends is scored for you to push in and hold the roll in place.
Know that you are not alone. I had everything labeled at one time, but it only lasted for a while. My son sucks at putting away dishes, but I think he secretly puts everything in the wrong place thinking he can get out of that chore. It hasn't worked yet, but sometimes it can take me several minutes to find the utensil I need. Also, same kid rather than put something on the list and put the container in recycling will leave a sip in the milk jug, orange juice or whatever...
Good luck!
Yes i'm in the same boat. And for those that say just accpet it... but it is a waste of time when I cant find something! which is all the time! I'm currently making my own drawer organizers by cutting boxes (empty tissue, crackers, sandwich bag boxes, etc) to the exact height of my "junk drawers". I'm planning to take everyhting out of my freezer and put it back in an organized fashion. I already Tried to organize my clothes and kitchen cabinets. I have no idea how to keep things organized. Hope to get some good tips here!
Have you checked out FLylady.com??
My closets and cupboards are awful! Hubby even gets on me about it, yet, it seems like all I ever do is clean them!
One thing I have done is keep all extras in the basement. We put in some storage shelves, and half of my pantry got moved downstairs. It is still a mess, but it's a mess of less stuff ;-)
I too also use bins to keep things "in their place."
I would consider getting rid of a lot of stuff then there is less to organize...
Our pantry is also unusually deep so we bought a wire two shelf/basket thing that has sliding baskets. It fits perfectly to one side of the pantry and on the top I put tortillas and other flat items I don't want demolished, in the first sliding basket, I have spices, tea and other shorter items, in the second sliding basket, I have my GF flours and other allergy baking ingredients with some of the taller spices. Under the shelf, there is just enough room to slide my bags of rice. This has helped a ton! I think my husband got this for me at Lowes, I think it is meant to be placed on a countertop (where I originally had it) but it works much better for me in the cabinet. Good luck!
