By Leland Pulley
In my life I find that being organized, neat, and clean brings real benefits, both at home and at work. These three qualities are part of my character and can be viewed as virtues in my life.
First, being organized helps me in several ways. It allows me to sort things into groups or categories for storage and then utilization. Organization saves me time because I can find what I want when I want it. It is frustrating to seek an item in the garage and spend fifteen minutes looking for it when it could be found in a minute with a well-organized garage that has a specific place for everything. This is true in an office too. I hate to spend twenty minutes seeking a piece of paper in a file because I cannot remember which file has that paper. This can occur even with an organized filing system. Imagine what happens without organization and with all the records people like myself keep in the office. I know that being organized saves me time. How about you?
Next, these three qualities improve the appearance of myself, my home and yard, and my place of work which is an office. The physical setting is enhanced and this leaves a better impression with others. Setting a good example like this is a form of marketing. If you do not believe me, ask Realtors about the value of Acurb appeal@ when selling a home. Consider the effects of these three things on yourself. When you walk into a clean and spacious house, don=t you feel better about it than a crowded house full of clutter? How about a neat and clean kitchen instead of one that is not kept up and has a sink full of dirty dishes? If your house or kitchen is this way, don=t you feel a bit sloppy or behind schedule, which leaves you with a depressed or unhappy feeling? If you are in another person=s home, doesn=t this leave a negative impression with you or perhaps even a lower opinion of that individual?
Some people think that being organized takes effort. There is some truth to this, especially when you want to become more organized. There are records to create or improve, things to throw out, routines to change, and new habits to form. Eventually attitudes change too. But once you are more organized or have established a higher level of organization, then this organization begins to work for you. It is like being paid a dividend for the initial investment of your time and energy to become more organized. Over an extended period of time, organization always pays more that it requires of you.
Some people will go beyond the excuse that organization requires effort. They claim that they are not an organized person inherently, so why try to remake themselves. Thus, they resist change or improvement. In reality they are criticizing themselves and their abilities when they do this. They are placing limits on what they can do. They are being pessimistic in their outlook. All they are doing is hurting themselves with this negative attitude. Please do not fall into this trap yourself.
Let=s move on to neatness and cleanliness. How neat is neat or how clean is clean? Is this a matter of opinion, or personal taste, or individual preference? In general neatness implies that things have a place. For example, clean clothes go in a dresser and dirty ones in a clothes hamper. Neither should be piled on the floor or you have an untidy bedroom rather than a neat one. Papers go into drawers or files instead of being left out all over your desk. Books belong on a book shelf and even these could be put into some sort of order if you have a large number of them. Dirty dishes go into the dishwasher, generally right after a meal, and clean dishes go into kitchen cabinets. Things have a place in the kitchen as well as in the bedroom.
Cleanliness begins with personal hygiene, which includes many things. As a minimum, regular bathing is essential, and so is washing clothes often. Cleanliness extends to your whole house via dusting, vacuuming, cleaning, and other routines. It extends to your yard and car, and finally to your place of work. In all these situations, you should set some minimum standards for yourself and your family.
One secret to being better organized and neater and cleaner is to keep your inventory low or under control. Too many people accumulate too much stuff. It is piled up in their garages and homes and storage units. It costs money to buy, takes work to maintain, and makes everything seem more crowded. This is sad because most of us do not really need all our stuff. The more we have, the less we use a lot of it. The first thing to do is to stop buying so much. Then sort through what you have and determine how much you like it or want it, and how much it will be used in the future. Then get rid of all things you don=t use or will not need in the future. You will be amazed at how much you can get rid of without affecting your happiness and life-style.
Another secret is to train your kids. Do not give them too many things, especially when they are young. They generally will not keep things neat until you train them to do this as they grow up. The more they have, the harder it is on you and them. You do more picking up after them and they find it harder to keep their things organized and neat. If necessary, take away some of their things for a period of time while you are training them to be more in charge of their stuff. Also, rotate what things they can use so they have some variety without a lot of work in keeping everything neat and organized to the degree you and the child agree.
Teenagers think they can set more of their own standards for organization, neatness and cleanliness. This is true in some ways. For example, a youth may think his room or corner of the house is his domain and thus he can set the standards for it. Some parents allow this and others do not. My wife and I did not because they were living in my home and thus they had some minimum guidelines to follow. Depending on the individual characteristics of each youth, more parental effort is required to maintain the family=s minimum standards. Personal hygiene is a bit harder to enforce with teens, as are dress standards. But even here parents can discuss such things with each youth and work out some reasonable agreements.
Finally, if you the adult need to make some of your own improvements in these three areas, do not procrastinate doing so. It is so easy to say maybe next week or month or year I will get around to doing this or that. By then other things will have come up. Also, the original task could have gotten bigger. The best approach is to select one area to improve, and do it today. You can even select the easiest area. With this accomplished, select another area. With time you will have more organization and neatness and cleanliness in your life and that of your family. Then the dividends of these three virtues will be manifested in your life in a variety of ways. Remember, your initial efforts are well worth the sacrifice. So, what are you waiting for? Improve your life now!
Key Words – character, virtues, organization, neatness, cleanliness, inventory, train your kids, teenagers, improvements, do not procrastinate
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