Can Getting Organized Be Easy?

A real, unstaged, untouched picture of my actual messy kitchen counter (including the hangers that are going to make my kids' closets more organized. ahem.)
There are naturally organized people and then there are the people who fight to get organized their entire lives. Guess which camp I’m in?
I have to fight every part of my inclination to even temporarily organize myself and my house. Most of the time I’m teetering on the edge of a thousand balanced things, not sure which thing I’ll let fall. Having a baby in the past year didn’t help; nothing eats your brain like a new baby. Happily, children have also made me somewhat more organized, if only because things really fall apart if you aren’t at least moderately organized: clean clothes for the kids every day, meal times, shoes that fit, soccer games,and the daily bus.
I wish I had more time to have every little DVD in place, and never to be buried under one thousand loads of laundry again. I’ve tried to glean the secrets of the perfectly organized and naturally tidy. It seems that they do a little something everyday. They never leave a room without fixing it. They “touch it once.” They are constantly vigilant and never forget. I am not that person. Getting organized is always my vow but always fails in the face of execution.
I forget in the middle of doing something and do something else. I’ll be furiously cleaning the kitchen, change rooms to put something away, and get distracted into cleaning that room, only to fall victim to a third room, leaving no rooms totally tidy. LOOK SOMETHING SHINY OVER THERE. And believe me, I have tried, but if it’s not staring at me in the face, I will not remember it. Not for months. No joke.
I guess I could write a checklist, but that would mean I’d have to write a checklist, and then if the letters weren’t perfect, I’d want to rewrite it, and do I like the paper? I should go get some cool paper. That store down the street would be perfect, what else do they have, do you think? Some stamps that look like monograms? I should get memory books together for the kids. Blue for one, green for the other, something modern or fun retro for all of them. What was my second child’s first word again?
SEE?
It’s a constant fight against my very own nature to organize anything.
On the other hand, I’m awfully fun to be around, even if there are 17 places for electronics-related cords in my house.
I’d love to make this a more organized year, will you share your amazing organization ideas?
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