Hello, my name is Bethany Vitt and I'm a neataholic. A clean freak. A neat-o-saurus. A 'Miss Particular' if you will. Call it what you want, but I've somehow acquired a phobia of messes and of all things out of place, and I honestly kinda like it!
I should've started this out by saying, 'Hello, my name is Bethany Vitt and I've become a neataholic' (since, if you've ever lived with me or even just been to my house you will know that the following description of what's going on here is not how I've always been!!) But at AA meetings they don't say, "Hi I'm so-and-so and I've become an alcoholic," right? I wouldn't know since I've never been to any annonymous meetings of sorts, thankyouverymuch. But after reading this post, you might be sending me to some type of psychiatric help when you see what a freak I've become over being neat!
I digress.
I should state the disclaimer here that my mother will tell you that I've always been very organized. And she by all means is correct. However, organized meant that I had most things in "place" and that "place" might be a pile on my kitchen counter or on my desk. Ask me for something and I always knew where it was, but my home didn't always resemble that of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine photo shoot.
Nowadays however, my home is certainly becoming just that, and perhaps I should invite some photographers from that magazine into my home to take photos. Ha, except for my decorating is still a bit sub-par, but we'll leave that discussion for my next meeting, 'Zero or Low Talent Decorators Annonymous.'
This all started when my husband and I decided to build a new home. I'm one to start planning right away for what lies ahead as soon as I have something on the calendar, and this coupled with knowing from plenty of friends who have done it that getting a home ready to sell can be tough work made me want to start immediately with getting our home uber-organized and ready to put on the market. It didn't matter that I had 6+ months to get my house ready when this all started (we aren't putting it on the market officially until April 2010); I had to get started immediately!
I made it my goal to call this month 'Organizational October' and got off to an early start when in late September I had a little mishap in my closet which sent all of my pants to the floor...oops! Four days later my closet was completly reorganized, 5 trash bags of clothes & accessories were donated and my shirts and slacks now hang in exact color-coordinated raindbow order.
Ahem! Stop laughing / judging / poking fun because you know you wish your closet was organized by color and anyways, this is still my neataholics annonymous meeting!
Except I guess this isn't so annonymous, eh? ha!
Anyway...one thing has led to another since the closet commotion turned coordinated cabinet incident. Numerous items have been taken out of our bedroom and moved to more appropriate places (i.e. the baby cradle which was last slept in by our now 2-year-old daugher which found its new home in the basement. I don't know what ever possessed us to keep that thing in our room for this long, although I must say it's a beautiful piece of furniture built by my grandfather!). Every closet in the house has now had a major makeover and I've started on the cupboards and cabinets built into our family room walls. You see, this neataholism has made me seriously obsess over being neat both inside and out. It will no longer be okay for my home to look good at first glance. I've somehow convinced myself that looking neat on the outside yet having some junk drawers and disshevled closets is like living a lie (yes, this is becoming a sickness people!!) I'm working it so that you could come here, open any closet / cabinet / cupboard / dresser door or drawer and find complete organization. But you wouldn't do that. Because it would be rude. Or something like that :)
Tonight I had planned to work on my desk for one hour and then snuggle up with my hubby on the couch but my organizational issue got the best of me. Organizing desk drawers turned into organizing my entire kitchen countertop "pile" which you've seen if you've ever been here (and if you haven't been here, I don't think I have any photos of it and now the pile is gone, so oops, sorry!). I tackled that darn pile and found places for every stinkin' piece of paper, pen, important stuff and so forth. Not one item lies on my desk and not one item is on the countertop.
Now let's just see if it can stay that way!
It all seriousness, I have become so particular that even the slightest thing out of place is unnerving, except for children's toys which at this point I've just had to accept being out and about during the day. But that's not to say I haven't been trying to teach my girls to put away things as they're done with them! I make my bed daily before I leave the house, something I never, ever dreamed I could do after going so many years without doing it. I put things away immediately after I'm done using them. I refuse to allow laundry, both clean and dirty, to pile up in a corner. I may fall short one day of this, but for now, I'm relishing in the fact that I'm getting so super duper neat that it is going to be a breeze packing up and moving about one year from now.
I'm moving onto my basement in the next couple of days, which isn't too bad now that my friend took a bunch of stuff I wanted to get rid of to sell at her garage sale, and I bagged up 7 or 8 additional bags of clothes and junk for Amvets. If you're reading this and you're coming over to scrapbook this Friday, don't expect the basement to be completely done, but it will definitely be well on its way!
Just make sure to take a good look at my neat and clean kitchen countertops.
I should've started this out by saying, 'Hello, my name is Bethany Vitt and I've become a neataholic' (since, if you've ever lived with me or even just been to my house you will know that the following description of what's going on here is not how I've always been!!) But at AA meetings they don't say, "Hi I'm so-and-so and I've become an alcoholic," right? I wouldn't know since I've never been to any annonymous meetings of sorts, thankyouverymuch. But after reading this post, you might be sending me to some type of psychiatric help when you see what a freak I've become over being neat!
I digress.
I should state the disclaimer here that my mother will tell you that I've always been very organized. And she by all means is correct. However, organized meant that I had most things in "place" and that "place" might be a pile on my kitchen counter or on my desk. Ask me for something and I always knew where it was, but my home didn't always resemble that of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine photo shoot.
Nowadays however, my home is certainly becoming just that, and perhaps I should invite some photographers from that magazine into my home to take photos. Ha, except for my decorating is still a bit sub-par, but we'll leave that discussion for my next meeting, 'Zero or Low Talent Decorators Annonymous.'
This all started when my husband and I decided to build a new home. I'm one to start planning right away for what lies ahead as soon as I have something on the calendar, and this coupled with knowing from plenty of friends who have done it that getting a home ready to sell can be tough work made me want to start immediately with getting our home uber-organized and ready to put on the market. It didn't matter that I had 6+ months to get my house ready when this all started (we aren't putting it on the market officially until April 2010); I had to get started immediately!
I made it my goal to call this month 'Organizational October' and got off to an early start when in late September I had a little mishap in my closet which sent all of my pants to the floor...oops! Four days later my closet was completly reorganized, 5 trash bags of clothes & accessories were donated and my shirts and slacks now hang in exact color-coordinated raindbow order.
Ahem! Stop laughing / judging / poking fun because you know you wish your closet was organized by color and anyways, this is still my neataholics annonymous meeting!
Except I guess this isn't so annonymous, eh? ha!
Anyway...one thing has led to another since the closet commotion turned coordinated cabinet incident. Numerous items have been taken out of our bedroom and moved to more appropriate places (i.e. the baby cradle which was last slept in by our now 2-year-old daugher which found its new home in the basement. I don't know what ever possessed us to keep that thing in our room for this long, although I must say it's a beautiful piece of furniture built by my grandfather!). Every closet in the house has now had a major makeover and I've started on the cupboards and cabinets built into our family room walls. You see, this neataholism has made me seriously obsess over being neat both inside and out. It will no longer be okay for my home to look good at first glance. I've somehow convinced myself that looking neat on the outside yet having some junk drawers and disshevled closets is like living a lie (yes, this is becoming a sickness people!!) I'm working it so that you could come here, open any closet / cabinet / cupboard / dresser door or drawer and find complete organization. But you wouldn't do that. Because it would be rude. Or something like that :)
Tonight I had planned to work on my desk for one hour and then snuggle up with my hubby on the couch but my organizational issue got the best of me. Organizing desk drawers turned into organizing my entire kitchen countertop "pile" which you've seen if you've ever been here (and if you haven't been here, I don't think I have any photos of it and now the pile is gone, so oops, sorry!). I tackled that darn pile and found places for every stinkin' piece of paper, pen, important stuff and so forth. Not one item lies on my desk and not one item is on the countertop.
Now let's just see if it can stay that way!
It all seriousness, I have become so particular that even the slightest thing out of place is unnerving, except for children's toys which at this point I've just had to accept being out and about during the day. But that's not to say I haven't been trying to teach my girls to put away things as they're done with them! I make my bed daily before I leave the house, something I never, ever dreamed I could do after going so many years without doing it. I put things away immediately after I'm done using them. I refuse to allow laundry, both clean and dirty, to pile up in a corner. I may fall short one day of this, but for now, I'm relishing in the fact that I'm getting so super duper neat that it is going to be a breeze packing up and moving about one year from now.
I'm moving onto my basement in the next couple of days, which isn't too bad now that my friend took a bunch of stuff I wanted to get rid of to sell at her garage sale, and I bagged up 7 or 8 additional bags of clothes and junk for Amvets. If you're reading this and you're coming over to scrapbook this Friday, don't expect the basement to be completely done, but it will definitely be well on its way!
Just make sure to take a good look at my neat and clean kitchen countertops.
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