Inaugural post of The Organized Miniaturist

For my inaugural blog post I want to clarify that my title of organized is a goal not an achievement.  I think that in some areas/ways I am more organized, but in others I know I am not.  I noticed recently that a major theme on my mini-smallpackages blog has been about storing and organizing.  I decided I wanted to separate that theme, so I have started this blog: The Organized Miniaturist.

I am a perfectionist and I love to rearrange and reorganize my life.  This is true for both my minis and everything else in my life.  I think I have a rearranging/reorganizing gene as I can’t leave well enough alone.  This started early in my life.

Growing up in a small space

Growing up it was common for my mom to have tell me to clean my room.  More often than not, when I did this it involved rearranging and reorganizing.  These two go hand in hand in my mind, as when you rearrange furniture and the like, it is often I find a new way to organize as well.  In my teenage years this rearranging included not just the furniture, but the posters as well.  Maybe not every time were the posters rearranged, but certainly if I got a new one, I had to find a place for it.  I recall quite vividly once rearranging all the posters on every wall.  This particular time I removed them all.  We had very dark paneling on the walls and it was quite amazing to see the difference that those posters had made to my room.  They lightened the atmosphere very well.  There was no doubt that those posters would all find a new place to be hung (by thumb tacks or staples) as the room was just too dark without them and my mom agreed.

My mom was always amazed with the new ways that I was able to come up with to rearrange my room.  She is a arrange-it-once-type person.  I had a very small room growing up, but it was my own.  I am very thankful, I didn’t have to share. Being small didn't stop me from rearranging and I feel it helped mold me into a more organized person.  If you collect things like I do - the more organized they are the more that will fit reasonably into a smaller space.  Although fitting into smaller spaces does not automatically make it more organized. 

Married life with me includes my rearranging things

My husband was initially amazed by my rearranging the furniture.  He has learned over the 20 + years of marriage that it is just something I like to do and might as well go with the flow as it will make me happy and he might just like the new arrangement better.  Over the years some arrangements got used again as they did indeed work better.

 

When we moved to this new house, I was so excited not just because it was a new house but my kitchen presented me with all sorts of opportunities to arrange the kitchen stuff.  I am very thankful for all the cabinet and drawer space.  Even that is not immune to my rearranging gene kicking in.  Although in the kitchen’s case it wasn’t the entire kitchen just a few cabinets that I decided would be better suited to have certain things in a different location which afforded those items more space.  On the other hand the bathrooms have been the bigger challenge for organizing. 

My family understands my need to be organized and they certainly try to stick with the program, but they sometimes don't understand how my mind works (unless I have explained a particular location) so they do put things away in the wrong place occasionally.  I have considered taking a picture of my cabinets and drawers as I have them organized and then putting the pic on the inside of the cabinet.  Cabinet pics would be great, but not sure about the drawers.  But I have not done that, YET! I haven't taken the time nor I have decided if that is more organizing OCD than I really am.

When things get put away incorrectly I do try to be patient about it.  After all the reason they were put away wrong was because someone besides me was doing the dishes and that is something to be thankful for.  I also realize that not everyone has as good placement memory as I do. 

Christmas is the most likely occasion for me to want to rearrange.  Bringing a Christmas tree to the living space may require rearranging or at least require small changes.  My husband was actually shocked that when we moved to this new house five years ago that I didn’t rearrange the living area as often as before, but I think I am back into the swing of this as the past two years have brought the rearranging gene back in full force.   

Why I like organizing and rearranging

 

I just get tired of the same old thing.   I want variety in every aspect of my life.

One distinct advantage to rearranging is that pieces of furniture or collectibles can be shown in a new light.  It makes things seem fresh.  Even when I wasn’t rearranging the living area furniture I was rearranging my miniature collection.  I talked about that on my other blog.    I do that, not because I want to get rid of everything or maybe even anything, I just enjoy change.  For example, I prefer the warmer months, but I really like the changing seasons.  Change can be a good thing.
 

Another reason I rearrange is I don't like the way something is working.  I get a new something that I want to use.  I might have gotten the new thing at a thrift store and in that case, I had a spark of this might be useful or it comes to me later how I want to use.  Or I could have decided my current solution is not working for me anymore and I buy a new solution.  One reason a solution may stop working is the items needing stored has grown or for traveling.

I want to be very organized as I realize how helpful it is to me to be able to find exactly what I need without searching.  I have found that searching for things can be a big time waster.   My philosophy on organizing is to use the smallest container that works for the items storing.  This means I am far more likely to only pull out that one container.  I tend to use smaller containers within larger ones.  However the smaller in larger attitude must be workable.  I don't want to dig in those containers to find the smaller.

One advantage to rearranging things is that it forces me to examine why I still have something.  I am given a choice to find a new location or decide to get rid of it.    I don't make the choices lightly, I will often think about it for a considerable time.   I am more than willing to make these choices as I have found it to be very freeing. 
 

Until my next organizing post, feel free to check out my previous posts on organizing minis.  They are all listed on my Organizing Index page.