Worth repeating: Messy does not equal disorganized

19 June 2013

On Wednesdays this summer, I’ll be re-running blog posts from the past. Each week, I’ll pick one that still rings true to me. Here’s this week’s selection.

I’m a messy person. And (clearly) I’m not ashamed of it. You might find it surprising that a professional organizer is messy. But that might be because you think that messy and disorganized are synonymous. Trust me, they’re not.

Messy does not equal disorganized. I may be messy, but I am organized. In other words, almost everything in my home has a place. (And it’s a well thought out place.) I just have a hard time putting stuff away with a great deal of regularity. Things have gotten better over the years, as I’ve developed new habits and routines.

We’re not talking epic messiness, but my surroundings are less orderly than you would expect an organizer’s to be. And that’s okay with me. The biggest compliment people can give my home, as far as I’m concerned, is “comfortable.” That’s what I like to think my home is.

Sometimes I’ll walk into a client’s home for the first time and see that it’s neater than mine. That used to freak me out. But what I’ve discovered is the flip side of the equation: Neat does not equal organized.

Sometimes people who loathe visual clutter will stash things away so their homes look neat. But then they can’t find anything, because things are put away in a haphazard manner without regard for organization. That’s neat but it’s not organized.

Remember, you can’t judge a book by its cover. (And we shouldn’t be judging anyway, should we?)

Tagged with: disorder, habits, order, organized, worth repeating