Sometimes you organize things because the things desperately need organizing. Being unable to find what you need and being surrounded by chaos, rarely helps the creative process. Right? Then again and sterile environment, perfectly planned, organized, and gleaming, has its own issues. I don’t know about you, but I want to feel free to make a mess. I was once in a house where children lived but which still had no safe place to use markers. When I asked if the kids and I could color together, the parents were filled with consternation. There was a place for everything and everything was in its place. This meant no places for impromptu coloring.

But organizing is a terrific way to procrastinate. Novel in progress? Art work to finish? Sure! Just as soon as you organize those files, paints, or other supplies. Right? And of course, you gotta watch those organizing show for ideas–Marie Kondo, The Home Edit, and The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning (to name the ones I’ve watched). Cleanliness is next to godliness. Your creativity will be blessed if you can just get all that stuff organized!

When I switched rooms with my son (giving him my office for his bedroom and taking his bedroom for my office), I figured I’d be moving back into my office space the day he moved into his first apartment. With this in mind, I didn’t bother sorting out a few issues with my smaller space. Why bother? It was temporary.

But then my dad moved in with us, and it is clear that I won’t be getting that old office space back anytime soon. So, I’ve had to deal with the most annoying issue of this small room–my art table in the middle of it. The table has wheels, making it simple enough to push to the side, but the room is, after all, small. To reach some shelves, yes, I could move the table, but I still had to twist and squeeze to get what I wanted.

Now that I’m staying in this room for the foreseeable future, I had to find a way to get that table out of the way. Well, thanks to closet shelves from my local Buy Nothing Group, I could rearrange. There is now floor space! I can reach everything–books, papers, and tarot cards. Ah, happiness.

I have an inexplicable weakness for those shows on clearing out and organizing. I say inexplicable because even though they do motivate me to throw or give away some things, I’ll never be any closer to that elegant ideal. The person walks into their newly cleared out and decorated space, and they are so overwhelmed by the beauty of their rooms. And the rooms are pretty. Classy. Welcoming for any and all guests. The Swedish death cleaners do keep the unique items of the episode’s subject, but I wonder–how does one live in such a space? What will it look like in a year?

So my office is still chaotic and filled with stuff. But it’s stuff I can reach.

What about you? Have you watched any of these shows? Have others to suggest? Still dream of decluttering?

Thank for reading.

P.S. If all else fails, watch the ultimate in decluttering motivation (film or documentary: