Are You Organizing to Feel Productive?

You know that feeling when you finish organizing a cupboard or your kids toys? Where you feel satisfied and productive? It’s a good feeling. You accomplished something, you were busy and you didn’t waste any of your time, right? I love that feeling. But sometimes productivity can take over our time and actually become a way of numbing and distracting ourselves.

I am not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. Cleaning and organizing your home is a much more positive distraction than say spending money, crushing a season of something on Netflix or eating three donuts. But what I do want you to pay attention to is the frequency at which you’re doing this and to think about what else you could be doing instead. It feels good to take care of our belongings and we should. It also feels good to tidy up and have a clean space. What I am talking about is a bit different. Are you spending a lot of your free time organizing things and cleaning things? Now ask yourself, do I need all of these things? What could I be doing instead?

Maybe when you have free time you don’t know what else to do. Especially since becoming a parent, I’ve noticed when I have some free time my brain is so cluttered I don’t always know what to do. We don’t have the same freedom as before kids, are more tired and spend more time thinking about others that free time can feel a bit overwhelming. There’s also always an endless list of things that ‘need’ to be done. And that feeling of being productive, which we don’t necessarily get from parenting, is a good one. So it’s easy to spend time shuffling our belongings from one cupboard to another or purchase cute storage containers to give ourselves that boost.

Question yourself

Again, this isn’t necessarily negative, but it’s important to be aware of our behaviour and why we choose it. What I want you to do is think about some of these questions, chances are if you are reading this post then you already think you might do this.

Am I…?

• spending my time organizing my stuff just so I can feel like I’m doing something? Why do I value feeling productive?
• avoiding certain feelings?
• defaulting to cleaning because I don’t actually know what I want to do with my time?
• spending money on storage bins and drawer organizers for stuff I don’t need, that I could spend on something more meaningful?

Do I…?

• have too much stuff? Is it consuming time I’d rather being using for something meaningful?
• need and want the things I’m spending my time organizing?

What…?

• really matters to me?
• do I want to spend my time doing?

Trust me, I am really guilty of this. Also, stuff does need to be organized and shuffled around sometimes. I love Marie Kondo. I love beautiful aesthetically simple and organized drawers. What’s important is that you are being intentional about how you spend your time. You are bringing awareness to your actions and choosing how you fill your days, not chasing feelings through numbing behaviours. If organizing feels good, do it. But if you want to read a book, cross stitch, go for a walk or cook a delicious meal. Do that instead and get rid of your extra stuff.

You don’t need to be tied to giving your energy and time to stuff if it isn’t meaningful to you or ‘spark joy’. Think about what you want for your life, don’t let tasks and chores determine how you spend your hours. I really believe that if this is something you do often that it is because you are chasing a low bar way of getting that feeling of accomplishment. And guess what? You feel good doing other things. Being busy isn’t a badge of honour.

I love The Minimalists 20/20 rule. A lot of the clutter we hang on to that isn’t necessarily filling our lives with meaning, are items we think we’ll need just-in-case. The 20/20 rule is to let go of items you don’t currently need and are hanging onto just-in-case, if they can be replaced for less than $20 and within 20 minutes of where you live. A lot of things fall under this umbrella and can free up a lot of space in your home. That space leaves room for more meaning.

Things you can get rid of:

• Kitchen gadgets; How many times have you used that avocado slicer? Empty a drawer and you can make it simpler to find things or move items from your countertop into the drawer
• Beauty and personal hygiene products. Really old face masks? Four bottles of hair products? Toss them for a clutter free bathroom experience
• How many throw pillows or blankets do you have? Post them on Facebook Marketplace or donate them. Now that bench full of blankets can house your children’s toys and get them out of sight
• How many coffee mugs do you have? You can find new ones for literally a dollar if. you end up short
• Clothes that don’t fit you now. Pack them up in a box if you can’t let go right now and see if you miss them in 3 months. You probably won’t.
• Old technology. There are great recycling programs, some even pay you.
• Gifts. Let’s just make this clear – someone gave you a gift because they wanted you to enjoy it. If you don’t, let it go! They did not give you a guilt trip, you don’t owe anyone space in your house to make them feel good.
• Those random bits in a drawer. Screw from something, plastic attachment to a toy that ‘goes’ with it, even though you aren’t using it.
• A million twist ties and elastics, that will still come into your house with regularity. Let them go, there is no fastener scarcity.

Think about yourself

I hope this helps you, I hope it brings some awareness to your behaviour. If you don’t want to be cleaning and organizing with your free time, please don’t. Please write a book, make yourself something nourishing, move your body or rest. Do anything you want. Become aware of your stuff. Notice if you have too much and if your time becomes care taking for your consumption. We all need to fill our cups, especially as parents. Don’t let things take that time away from you.