Monday, July 13, 2009

Organization...

This is a word that strikes terror into my heart. I was raised by an organized mother - a superorganized woman. She always knew where things were and could put her hands on them in an instant. How did she do that, I wonder? Granted, I have 'too moch stoff'( this spelling you will not understand unless you knew Gloria, who saved me from living in a dirty house for years ). I know this, all my children know this, probably anybody who has ever been in this house knows this. But I was also raised in the 'great depression' by a frugal mom who taught me the watchword of the depression:
'Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without"

Translated, this means keep it until you have used it up or worn it out. But this is not the depression - really, even though some of you think this recession is one, it isn't. And I have not used it up or worn it out,so now, all of 'it' resides here in this house with me. I seriously consider giving things away and sometimes I have managed to do it - but there always raises the question "what if I ever need it - what'll I do?" I have read book after book on organization. I have haunted the aisles of The Container Store (nirvana for me) and yet I have not found the way to organize what I have. I am getting rid of things right and left, but what is left still isn't in the right place. (Where is the right place?). When I was a child we saved rubber bands and aluminum foil (this last was for the war effort - I have no idea what they did with the foil we saved from our chewing gum, but we diligently saved it and shipped it off to the government to win the war. And all the things we saved were eventually used because they were Organized!! How did she do that, my mother? Youngest daughter stays organized because she is ruthless about clearing out and throwing away. Do I dare turn her loose in this house (and would she ever consider it?) Suppose she threw away something I might really, really need. Oh dear!
I am looking at a wall of skeins of yarns - many are already warps which have been wound for the loom. I am thinking I will take them to my friend June, who makes things like this go away. And I am wondering if I really want to be a weaver when I grow up. I definitely am weaving a rug for Scooter from his sheep, but otherwise, knitting and crocheting have become so comfortable for me, I have to wonder about weaving. No question abou spinning - it is easier to pray when I spin, so I won't leave that off, ever. Besides I can knit or crochet my spinning.
And now I am no closer to a solution than I was when I started this rant. Ideas,anyone? And do remember that this place I live in frowns on bonfires in the backyard.

4 comments:

Mary Beth said...

Asking these questions is the first step! Taking the next step is the harder one.

Maybe if you had N help you in one room at a time...you could re-evaluate as you go?

Mary Jane Butler or MJay said...

Good idea. We could start in my closet. She will be horrified with what is in there and probably tell me it is crap. In a situation like that I know instantly if it is or it isn't. Funny how that works.
See you soon, MOm

Grandmama Sarah said...

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free. . . Hanging onto "stuff" you might need someday is not freedom.

If it has meaning, keep it or better yet, take a photo to remember it by and immediately drop it in a scrapbook with a memory scribbled down by it. Otherwise, let it go--at least to a charity. . .

God provides what you need when you need it. Turn loose of the things dragging you down and seize the freedom of time and concern it brings.

(Said by one who's had to do the same!)

Mary Jane Butler or MJay said...

Thank you grandmamma , for being right. . Where were you when I was growing up?