If You Are Neat, Are You Organized?

Messy or Neat — You can still be organized!

One of the most frequent questions we get from clients is “So, is YOUR home super organized”?

We know in their mind they are picturing the glossy spreads in Real Simple, Martha Stewart, Oprah, or Metropolitan Home magazines…the pristine surfaces with one or two carefully selected decorative items…the practically empty closets…modern lines…the office with no filing storage…and pretty much un-lived-in houses.

Many people equate organization with neatness but “neat” and “messy” speak to how you choose to live in your house – how much you pick up and put things away. “Organized” speaks to whether you have systems or logical homes for managing your things to make them easy to find and to use.

A person can be neat by picking up everything and stuffing it out of sight into a drawer, cabinet, or closet without any thought or order to where things should live. Likewise a person can be messy by leaving things out but when they choose to pick up their things and put them away into the well-designed locations they’ve chosen.

We often hear complaints that housecleaners misplace. Another huge advantage to being organized is the ability to pick up quickly and easily so your housecleaner can come in and do what you are primarily paying them to do – to clean. It’s very hard to clean a house thoroughly when items are laying out on all the surfaces.

“Messiness” and “Neatness” are not moral issues … our aim is to help people spend their time how they choose and with a sense of ease.

And yes, by the way, our homes ARE really organized – but not always neat!