Solve the clothes clutter problem once and for all (also a Giveaway!)
The Reasonably Clean, Fairly Neat, and Comfortably Tidy House Corner
Solve the clothes clutter problem once and for all!
Well, one aspect of it.
Some people, and I am one of them, cannot immediately put certain articles of clothing away.
We can put dirty clothes in the hamper, if the hamper is handy. *
We often can put away clean clothes.
I can hang a clean skirt up with the best of them, but not at night when I am tired and ready to go to bed and don’t want to rattle around disturbing my husband who has gone to bed before me.
What we have trouble with is, apart from not wanting to put the clean thing away right then, but much more fatally in the war against clutter, and to the point here, we just don’t want to put away or throw in the hamper an article of clothing that seems ambiguously used and probably, maybe, not quite ready to be washed.
I have heard this syndrome described as the situation of someone who is actually hyper-organized, at least in theory, and against the evidence that the result is a mess. This person has so many categories in his brain for just how clean/worn/soiled/used this item is that he cannot commit to the binary system of clean/dirty.
The thought is something like, “Well, I just wore this t-shirt this morning but now have to change for an event but might get back to yard work later and why would I get out another t-shirt… ” and so on.
So the clothes get put on the chair. If there is no chair, they get thrown on the floor, simply because not perfectly clean trumps clean.
One “solution” I have seen, offered for clothes lying around, is so terrible, so wrong-headed, so misguided, that I am writing all this as a public service so you don’t get caught up in the fraud, the compounding of the problem. The misbegotten idea is to have baskets in your closet (and of course this supposed remedy assumes that you have a big closet — check your privilege, Instagram guru!) for these items. “Not sure if you will wear something again? Put it in the basket!”
That won’t work and is just a bad idea, because the whole point of leaving the item on the chair (even if the culprit is not fully aware that this is the whole point) is to air it and to keep it in view as a reminder to decide what to do with it. Putting such things in a sequestered basket is no solution — it would result either in not being followed as patently absurd, which it is, or in being followed and resulting in those items never being seen again (but moldering in darkness nonetheless).
Why am I breaking this down in this excruciating detail? Because it’s a perennial problem, one that subverts all efforts to be neat and tidy in the bedroom; and the first step in solving this sort of problem, one that requires so much effort (not to mention nagging, self or otherwise) to overcome, is to figure out the reasons behind it!
If your approach to a problem fails, over and over and it just doesn’t work, then it’s your approach that needs addressing. (This is true for everything, from kids’ behavior to kitchen cleanup to just… everything.)
The solution is easy, actually, once you decide to work with the mental process rather than resist it!
It involves one purchase, maybe two if you are dealing with men’s suits. You can easily find these things second-hand.
The main one is a quilt rack. If you have a place to put your recently doffed articles, a place that is up off the floor, keeps them from excessive wrinkling, and allows them to be in view but still tidy, you will be winning. It’s better than the chair, my previous, non-solution. One day I came across a quilt rack in my mother’s room and realized that here was the key.
You can also put a quilt on it.
The other item is a men’s suit rack. I wrote about it here. I remember my father’s, which had a chair he could sit on while removing his trousers, and a neat hanger for airing the suit out. Note the place to put one’s change and keys.
There really are valid reasons why we don’t put certain articles of clothing away right at the moment of taking them off. If we have a firm purpose of addressing them pretty quickly (for example, the next morning as we are tidying up and making the bed), the quilt rack can alleviate the clutter issue. The clothes can air, decisions can be made, life can proceed!
*If you are a husband or have a husband who won’t put dirty clothes in the hamper but throws them on the floor, the solution is to put the hamper (or a basket that will be emptied into a hamper eventually) right there where he throws them, as I describe here: My Husband Adds to the Mess.
Giveaway Corner!
Last week I wrote about this collection of St. John Henry Newman’s sermons. It’s just the sort of volume that can be held in your hand as you nurse the baby (unlike my go-to chunky volume of all his sermons) and take you through the liturgical year. If you are not familiar with this great spiritual mind, this book is the perfect introduction. Highly recommend! (In the US you can more easily get it here, but ordering from the Abbey helps them!)
The publisher is graciously offering to send three books to three winners of a giveaway!
Just leave a comment here to enter! I will close the giveaway on Thursday night!
St. Gregory Pocket Corner
Or should it be called the St. Gregory Corner Pocket??
Recently some ladies have been contacting me to see about starting or reviving a Pocket. (What is that? Go here — and here for FAQs).
The newest one is in St. Louis MO! If you are in the area, do check it out! The FB group is private but searchable, and the idea is to use it to meet in person. It is not a forum for discussion or place to advertise anything.
If you have an interest in doing this as well, look up yours (by area) on Facebook to see if there is one and if it’s active. Contact me if there isn’t or if it’s languishing and we will get you started.
The main thing is to be somewhere (park, playground, pool, library, or other gathering place that is more or less public), say you will be there, and keep on being there until your people show up! It won’t work for people to wait for others. Even if it means you’ll be at the playground with just your kids for a few weeks, eventually some will join you! And then it might mean being at home crafting at a certain hour for a few weeks, until your core group shows up!
Having a book club or reading group — or just readings in common to share when you are doing other things, like standing at the swings or knitting — is a great idea. Here’s my reading list to get you going.
By the way, there is no monetization in this for me — no swag, no lists, nothing. I’m trying to jump-start your community, that’s all! I alone am left to tell you!!
Crafting Corner
Lately I’ve had a hard time picking up my crafts and working on them, but of course, I get so much satisfaction when I do.
Despite not having quite completed the baby cardi for Jaime’s baby — it now needs to be steeked — I am starting on Natasha’s…
And I am really trying to figure out what to do to get Suki and John’s wedding quilt put together! My process is driving me crazy and I wish I would stop. It consists of making patches and then trying to pull them together. What is wrong with me! I need a plan beforehand! I think I’m losing it! Send help!!
Don’t forget to enter your comment for a chance to win one of the St. John Henry Newman sermon books!
bits & piecesIf you are interested in fine art, you may enjoy this site, which is dedicated to the work and observations of Carl Schmitt, American painter –he lived from 1889 to 1989. The most recent post recounts an article in the Washington Post of yore. “Carl Schmitt is doing things that are unique in America today.”
A moving account of a boy with Downs Syndrome and his devotion to “his” babies.
Our readers know of my devotion to John Senior, the unknown impetus behind Catholic homeschooling and small Catholic schools that continue to be founded, against all odds. I base my educational approach largely on hiscon — wherever I speak of how we fulfill our role in forming our children’s ability to learn, I am trying to convey his thought as best I can. Here is a lovely interview with his son, Andrew, who conveys in a short space the flavor of his father’s temperament and spirit, it seems to me! Speaking of his father’s educational philosophy, he says:
Knowledge begins in the senses, in the particular, and ends in the intellect, in the universal concept. But it is not so simple as connecting two things. Between the senses and the intellect, the memory and imagination, and the passions, are operative. This is why my father spent so much of his effort on trying to get people in touch with created reality, to fill their memory and imagination with things based on reality, and properly order their passions. Only then can the intellect do its proper work of abstraction…
… When we lived in Wyoming, I remember him becoming very upset trying to teach Chaucer. He discovered, in the story of Chanticleer, that the problem wasn’t the difficulties of Middle English, the problem was that none of the students knew anything about chickens.
Funny how our modern reinforced concrete doesn’t even last a hundred years, but Roman concrete is going strong: We Finally Know Why Ancient Roman Concrete Stood The Test of Time
from the archivesCreativity goes beyond — Think that the devoted housewife isn’t creative? Think again!Deirdre on how to use your daily planner to make time for your creative pursuits
liturgical living
follow us everywhere! share us with your friends!
My book, The Summa Domestica: Order and Wonder in Family Life is available now from Sophia Press! All the thoughts from this blog collected into three volumes, beautifully presented with illustrations from Deirdre, an index in each volume, and ribbons!
My “random thoughts no pictures” blog, Happy Despite Them — receive it by email if you like, or bookmark, so you don’t miss a thing!
My new podcast can be found on the Restoration of Christian Culture website (and you can find it where you listen to such things) — be sure to check out the other offerings there!
Stay abreast of the posts here at LMLD, when they happen:
Consider subscribing to this blog by email. In the current situation, if we can’t meet here, it would be good for us to be connected by email!
We share pretty pictures: Auntie Leila’s Instagram, Rosie’s Instagram, Deirdre’s Instagram. Bridget’s Instagram.
Auntie Leila’s Facebook (you can just follow)
The boards of the others: Rosie’s Pinterest. Sukie’s Pinterest. Deirdre’s Pinterest. Habou’s Pinterest (you can still get a lot of inspiration here! and say a prayer for her!). Bridget’s Pinterest.
The post Solve the clothes clutter problem once and for all (also a Giveaway!) appeared first on Like Mother, Like Daughter.
