The Good and Not so Good of Organizing Fads

September 10, 2024

SHOW NOTES:

Full transcript here: Permission to be Messy Episode 63

Check out my Action Plan program for just $47 here >>> Get Organized: Create Your Action Plan
You can attend any live workshops on this topic at no additional cost. I know that sounds too good to be true but it is a limited-time offer while I refine the program.

Important: Get Organized: Create Your Action Plan is included in my Sensibly Organized program head to https://joannkrall.com/sensibly-organized to learn more

If you have questions, feedback, or specific topics you would like covered in future episodes and to book your free call reach out to me at https://joannkrall.com/site/contact

Episode Transcript

63: The Good and Not so Good of Organizing Fads
===

Welcome to episode 63 of Permission to be Messy. I'm your host, JoAnn Krall and today I want to talk all about organizing fads. As I head into my 19th year as a professional organizer, I have seen many fads for decluttering and getting organized, come and go. What's interesting is what got me into the professional organizing business was all those TV shows and in particular, Peter Walsh, because he takes a very practical and simple approach to organization.

And I always say I'm very much like him without the meanness. He's not a mean person. I have met him in person. He's quite lovely. But he can be a little harsh when he's working with people and. Uh, while, I like to push my clients. I also am a little bit more gentle with them.

I know I've mentioned in the past that, when I would go work with people in person, they would always ask me about whatever the current trend is. I can think of. David Allen, getting things done. The KonMari method. And people saying, I want to do this method. I see that it's it works.

They say it works for everybody. And. We all know that isn't true. But, I would humor them and talk through it with them. And if we decided to go forward, we would, but I'd also let them know that, The moment we see that it isn't working for them. We should stop.

So I asked chat GPT today. To give me a list of all the fads in getting organized more, more so the recent stuff. And I'm. So I'm going to go through the list

And then I'll talk about each one. So the first one, like I mentioned is the KonMari method. sparking joy. The second thing is color coded everything. I think that goes along with like The Home Edit Extreme minimalism is one. Organizing with acrylic containers. I think The Home Edit people do that as well.hyper-organized pantry and fridge with labels again, The Home Edit, capsule wardrobes. The 30 day declutter challenge. Bullet journaling. organizing your life around the phases of the moon. Instagram perfect playrooms. again, Marie Kondo, her paperless approach. And then aesthetic over-function. So let's talk about each one of these individually.

And this isn't me bashing on any of these and these things definitely still work for certain people. but I do want to talk about each one.

So the first one, the Marie Kondo method, sparking joy, the KonMari method. magic of tidying up whatever it is. this was really popular because she wrote this book and, had really good publicity and got it out there and it did inspire a lot of people. And there are many people that it does work for. But I came to find out quickly.

I had to go buy the book. I never heard of it. I had a client asked me about it. I read the book and I was like, Interesting. I have a blog on this, so I'm not going to go deep into it, but, I think that. I think that a lot of the stuff that I talked about when she wrote the book came true for her when she had children, things change it's, being somebody, at the thing at the time that she wrote the book, I don't, I'm not sure if she was married or if she was, but she didn't have children. And so a lot of the stuff she was doing was not sustainable. But what I will say is, if it hasn't worked for you, It could be because when you say.

Everything sparks joy. there were things that we need that don't spark joy. I've said this before. Our tax returns. Don't spark joy. Unless of course we're making millions of dollars and, we're excited to file our taxes because it shows us how much money we made.

But, you know, there are certain things that just don't spark joy that we need. So I always like to say. You either love something or you need it. And when you need it, obviously you keep it because you need it. When you love something, you honor it and you display it. And then, what happens is I think that the whole concept of sparked joy is so that you're not keeping things that. you might need one day. But, there's a whole nother approach to that as far as deciding whether it would be easy to replace or inexpensive to replace. Okay. So the color coded everything. the rainbow organization, some people thrive on this and that's awesome. It looks great to them. They love it. but it's not practical for every brain. if you're color coding books and you're trying to find a book and you don't remember what color it is. That can be an issue. But if you were, say your. You're organizing your closet by colors. This can look beautiful and it can feel really good, but it isn't always sustainable or practical for everybody.

Okay. Number three, extreme minimalism. I've seen this go crazy far. to the point where people stop using toilet paper and they use toilet rags or whatever, and wash them. or they just have absolutely nothing and they just purge and purge. And then they sometimes end up with regret that they've gotten rid of things that they may need over time.

minimalism really should be.

Just down to that basic, you only have what you love and what you need. If you do that and you in you're only keeping those things. You're practicing a form of minimalism. Minimalism doesn't mean to have blank walls, blank, space, blank, everything. people got really into this.

The trend of using all acrylic containers for organizing. it looks great. for some people, this is hugely beneficial because they can see what they have, but where I've seen this cause a problem for some people is a it's super expensive. But B sometimes they'll, you'll buy, people will buy a bunch of containers and what they have doesn't actually fit.

So it never looks proper. They haven't gone through the process of getting rid of everything and then figuring out what they need and then doing measurements. This has been one thing that I've always said, when you went to target, you can get them a little bit less expensive.

Although if you're buying enough, it adds up. But you know, who doesn't love an organizing product and think, oh, what can I do with this? It's important not to buy any products before you know exactly what you're organizing. Okay. Oh, the hyper organized pantry. And fridge with labels. This, I actually have a reel it's on my Pinterest too.

It's one of my most popular reels in my most popular Pinterest. During the pandemic when appliances were really difficult to find. Our fridge bit, the dust, and I had to get a really basic fridge, the kind that has wire shelving in it. And oh my gosh, what a nightmare, because trying to organize that. It wasn't easy.

Everything just falls over. So I did do the acrylic containers. I got some inexpensive. I didn't. Do the preparation before, because it was just a matter of, I needed bins in there to be able to just almost, I could have put, like acrylic shelves, but I needed that separation as well. Because when I tell you it's super, super basic, it's super basic. But, but what I'm talking about is the people that are, you know, You know, the reels, we, you see where people are, like they're emptying all their little yogurt packs into something, all of their vegetables into something.

This can look really beautiful and it can feel really organized, but it can become super overwhelming when it's time to turn things over and you have to wash everything or, it changes, your kids are eating one thing one day and then they decide they don't like that anymore. And the new thing they want doesn't fit into your little organized system.

but this is one of those situations where it's go for functional before you even go for beauty. I always talk that function before beauty. Because you want to make sure it's in place and that it's working, but just always know that with your pantry and stuff, things changing.

And when you're taking products out of their original packaging and you're putting them into acrylic or glass containers, That requires a whole nother level of, when it's time to change it over, you got to wash everything. You really should wash everything and it just adds more time.

So sometimes it's easier to just use the products. use what the products came in. I know it's not always beautiful, when we see like the home edit and we see it, was it Kim Kardashians pantry and we're like, oh, that's so beautiful. We have to remember that. these people have even admitted.

they come back and they refine things or they have people organizing it for them. So just keep that in mind when you're thinking about how you want things to look. Try to keep things as, um, leave space for things don't say, or I have this amount of stuff and, I'm going to lay it all out because like I said, tomorrow, what you're buying could change and, Just keep it flexible.

Okay, so the next one, number six, capsule wardrobes.

this was huge. Some people still do this. And, I love the concept of it. I'm a minimalist when it comes to my wardrobe, but I do not follow the capsule wardrobe because it was very limiting to me. And I felt like it was just like, I had to think too much about it. So if you're doing this, I love it.

And I think it's great. But if it has felt restrictive for you, just think about making sure that you only have really what you wear and what you need. obviously when we have seasonal things, those are going to be. like special occasion dresses or suits or things like that. That's different, but when your everyday wear. keeping it simple.

I, I always joke that I'm like the, is it Steve jobs who wear the same outfit every day? I feel like I live in black t-shirts and yoga pants. but I do have clothes, but. it makes it easier when you have basic clothes, but some people love clothes and that's okay too. You don't have to have a capsule wardrobe. If you are wearing everything that you have and you love it. More power to you.

This one I thought was interesting.

Number seven, the 30 day declutter challenge. I have 29 day program. It's all about decluttering. but it's not like this. It's not like the popular way to go. Okay. On day one, I'm getting rid of one item on day two. I'm getting two items. this one, I don't find, It says here in ChatGPT, this approach through viral, though, viral for a time, maybe too gimmicky for those looking for more sustainable longterm solutions. I don't know this one, I don't really, have anything negative to say about it because it is one way to get you moving_. _

I mean_, _it's, you could say, just get rid of one thing every day for 30 days, but. it gives you a little bit more of a goal and it puts you in a routine of getting rid of things. I don't know why this one's considered a fad. Maybe people aren't doing it anymore, but I do think it's, I do think it's, a worthwhile approach.

If you need something to get you moving.

Okay. Number eight, they say bullet journal for organization. I tried bullet journal journaling for a year because I wanted to understand the process. for my clients, because I'm always looking for different things. I don't preach one way of getting organized as you know.

So I like to know how different things work. And I had a really good friend who loved bullet journaling, but she was very creative and,she loved doing all the artwork and all the decorations of the washi tape and all that. And I thought. That seems like a lot, for a person who's disorganized.

And so I went and I looked at the bullet journal journaling system online. It's a very simple. system it's not built around making things look beautiful. So I was doing the basic, the basic way of doing it. But even that was overwhelming for me. when I came down to the end, I was using a couple of different things in there, but it wasn't using the whole system.

So it made it to fit my knees needs. But when I went back, I realized that it was all I was doing. Anyways, the things I was using was doing a brain dump. a calendar. And lists. And so for me, I didn't really need that bullet journaling structure

but what they say here too, is they say,some still love it.

Others have found it unsustainable to keep intricate designs and layouts over time. So really the premise of the bullet journal, Process isn't meant to be intricate. I think people have just adapted it to make it that way. Okay. So number nine is organizing your life around the phases of the moon. I had never heard this one before.

This is a first for me. And I'm going to read you what ChatGPT says.spiritual trend tied to organizing. Decluttering or making life changes during certain moon phases like the new moon or the full moon gained some traction while it appeals to those in the astrology or spiritual practices. This bad tends to fade as people return to more practical approaches to organization.

It's funny, a lot of these say practical approaches. I'm all about practical. The whole reason my business is called the sensible organizer is because sensible and practicle,

but I kinda like this one. I do things around the moon. I don't tend to let go of clutter, but I do tend to let go of mental clutter. I guess I've been doing this one around the phases of the moon. But, interesting. I had never, I. I'd never actually believe it or not. Even though I'm a very spiritual person and I follow a lot of that stuff.

I hadn't really heard of this one. but I like it because it, you know, the moon cycles are a really good time to let go and bring in what you want and let go of what you don't want. Okay, so number 10.

Instagram perfect playrooms. Okay. This one is just, everything's stored in clear bins labeled. perfectly arranged, Okay. So the way they describe this. Let's read what they say about it. Playrooms, where every toy is stored in clear bins, labeled and perfectly arranged became a major trend.it's funny. It's very interesting that I'm talking about this today because my daughter and I were on a walk. And one of my very first clients, it was a playroom. And,we took what she had.

again, more flexible and transitional, but,we used bookcases that she had bins that she had. and we made it work and we made it look good, but I do think that labeling things for kids. Is great. Especially when they're little teaching them, how to put things away, putting a picture of what it is and the word. it's a learning experience.

but we don't have to be making it perfect and. Especially since you know, look at the progression of, when babies are real small, their blocks are really big and then they get a little bit smaller and then they turn into Lego. in, and then if you're looking at like baby dolls stuff, it's simple.

And then you maybe move into the Barbies and you have all those small little pieces when we do too much structure. Of organization for it. This is like the pantry you. it's if you do a major, organization of a certain thing, like toys and then everything changes. What you have now may not fit in what you had before.

So keeping it flexible is really important.

Okay. Number 11, Marie Kondo's paperless approach. I didn't realize that, that she recommends to discard almost all paper and to go fully digital. Okay. I don't know how long this has been a trend for her, or if this is it, but this isn't always practical for everybody.

If your digital files are a mess, can you imagine taking all of your paper and just scanning it and throwing it into that mess? So that's one reason why it may not be practical.some people are more tactical. They need paper. it's easier for them to grab some, a file that it is to try and look it up.

some things, you know, you want to maybe have in paper, just in case, things are down or you lose something on your computer. There are many reasons why this isn't always practical, but. this is one of those things where I'll say that's like an all or nothing. That's like saying. You go all digital, you should go all digital. I say you stopped shoulding on everybody and. Do what works for you?

Okay. And the final one is aesthetic over-function I'm like, this is a trend.I think people just naturally want to go for aesthetic first. It's like getting that system and, getting everything perfect. before they realize things are gonna work. So I don't think this is a trend.

This kind of just goes to the whole thing of, buying all your organizing products. and trying to fit everything in it. Cause you want it to look nice. You have this bookshelf. So you're going to, you're going to create all these nice baskets and then you realize, okay, nothing that I have works in here, it doesn't work for me to keep this in here.

this and this spot, this and this spot. Keep things flexible. I'll use that like a bookcase in your office as an example. Make sure that if you're putting things into a basket, That it worked for you, maybe just get a cheap box and put it there. And see if that flow works for you before you go out and spend a lot of money on baskets. really nice boxes. use a shoe box, you use a Amazon box, put it.

I know it won't look great for the moment, but put it where you think you want to have that system in place and see if it really works for you before you invest the money. So remember that anytime you're looking at Instagram, Pinterest or Tik TOK or wherever. other people's homes. And they have something in place that, looks amazing to you.

And you think I want to do that too. That I'm going to be organized if I do that too, just remember that we are all so different. We all have different stuff. It isn't always going to necessarily work for your natural instincts and your personality and your habits. it's important to know that before. you do any of that.

So I thought this was an interesting one. I'm actually going to go back and. do a little bit more research with ChatGPT on these types of things because I'd love to expand on each one of these, at some point.

So let me know. my contact information is always in the show notes. And I love hearing from people, let me know if you've tried any trends and they just didn't work for you, or even if you've tried trends and they do work for you. I think it's important to know that, just because something's a trend doesn't mean that it isn't good or it isn't going to work for you in particular.

And as always, I'm wishing you much progress, peace, purpose, and the permission to be messy. Thanks for listening.

The Good and Not so Good of Organizing Fads

SHOW NOTES:

Stay connected with news and updates!