5 Problem Areas – What Keeps Me From an Organized Life?

Melissa Smallwood is a professional organizer, mother of three boys, mommy blogger, and the owner of the informational website, Organized Life by Design.  You can catch up with her on Twitter @multitaskingme.

What Keeps Me From an Organized Life?  The 5 Problem Areas

1.  Schedules- Never have we tried to pack more into the day than in our current time. Many families say they feel like ships that pass in the night.
That is not to say that having your kids involved in activities and volunteering is a bad thing, not at all. But if those things replace or get in the way of your connection or cause friction in your marriage then you need to take another look at the schedule.
2.  Household Responsibilities- Betty Crocker and Mrs. Clean I am not. Nor do I encourage my clients to try to live up to these crazy expectations. There is a difference between your house being organized and clean and it being picture perfect!
3.  Needs- Each of you reading this article has unique life situations- whether it be parenting small children, taking care of older loved ones, living with a chronic illness, working outside or inside of the home, having a special needs child, etc. Those are all things that can become barriers to being organized.
4.  Obligations- Oooh, shudder at the word. When I went to the Women of Faith Conference last year, a little lady named Patsy Clairmont introduced me to the concept of the “holy no”. I just loved this idea. That just because someone asks you to do something, be a part of a committee, donate your time, money, whatever DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO SAY YES or the earth is going to open and you are going to go on the sliding board straight to hell. How can we abide in the Lord if we are so busy doing things that run us ragged and make us cranky? Let’s be real, ladies. There are things we enjoy doing and are in line with the gifts Christ has given us and there are the things we do because we didn’t have the courage to say “I would rather not”.
5.  Being Overwhelmed-  The things we have just talked about lead to the next four obstacles on the list- being overextended leads us to feel overwhelmed, our family becomes resentful, we are exhausted and the idea of adding another project, like “get organized”, to our to-do list makes us want to curl under a blanket and hide. But, it is worth it!
As women we have a responsibility for modeling character and priorities to our family. We can lead by a good example or by a poor one based on the decisions we make about how we spend our time and manage our lives. So, let’s get organized!