Continuing the whole set-this-house-in-order theme, which mostly right now is dealing with a massive amount of neglected laundry, which is super-boring.
But I put on a home organizing show to keep me company, and that led to my purchasing this cleaning supply organizer online; it’s arriving Saturday, and I’m honestly excited to transfer our cleaning supplies into it. (Yes, this is excitement at 53.) I hope our twice-a-month cleaners like it too; I think it’ll make their job easier.
It also makes me think about how much of having a neat home is helped by money. Being able to hire cleaners to help is an obvious financial privilege. But I think we don’t talk as much about how much having effective tools for organizing makes a difference. Putting things away is good. Putting things away in a space that’s well designed to hold them is so much easier.
And add to that, PRETTY tools — I know that sounds goofy, but for ADHD, there’s a whole conversation happening now about how to get dopamine hits to help you motivate, and I think having an attractive and well-designed set of shelving and bins, for example, does a lot towards making me want to clean up the area, because it’ll look so nice when it’s done, and that’ll make my brain buzz.
I went for functionality with this particular item, especially since it’ll live in a closet and just get pulled out as needed. But if it came in a nice blue instead of grey, I would’ve totally gone for that option, and it would’ve made me a tiny bit happier every time I pulled it out.
I’m not used to thinking about pretty organizers as a disability hack, and I’m kind of resistant to ADHD being classified as a disability at all in some ways…but let’s just say that for the way my brain works, having pretty organizers definitely helps.
If you want to arrange things in rainbows (I mostly don’t, but there’s a whole show, The Home Edit on Netflix, where that’s basically their jam), and that makes you happy to open the pantry door, then go for it! (I do organize my hanging clothes in rainbow, actually, though first sorted by type.)
And if you can’t afford to drop $120 on a tool organizer like this one, I really recommend haunting your local buy-nothing groups — people are constantly upgrading their own systems and giving things away; you can find some great options there. And if you’re the one decluttering, it’s great to know that you’re giving things away to a neighbor who can really use it.
Locally, my favorite FB group for that is Free To Good Home Oak Park, Illinois — I think you need an invite to join, so if any locals need an invite, let me know.
