The Dreaded Garage
You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it. - Pirkei Avot
I turned 60 at the end of last summer, and my garage has never recovered. I had a backyard birthday cocktail party themed “Welcome to the 60s,” and for circumstances beyond my control, everything from the house and yard before and after the party was just thrown into the middle of my garage. Add that clutter to the disarray from last-minute rushing to find stuff I needed for the party, furniture that I was trying to sell for a friend that moved out of state, and things I had decluttered from the house and was waiting to donate, and you would never know that I’m a professional organizer. It’s like the shoemaker’s children who went without shoes.
I couldn't organize my garage last September because it was still too hot. It’s hard to work with your glasses sliding down your nose from sweat. I did, however, put a lateral file out on the curb (which my neighbor later rescued) and put up a shelving rack so I could store sets of glasses I recently acquired for the party and free up some floor space.
Then I couldn't organize my garage last November because I was busy writing a book. I did, however, take donations to a free swap and Goodwill, condense my holiday decorations from Sukkot and Halloween, and free up some shelf space. Now I could move some things from the floor to the shelves and have more room to walk around.
I couldn't organize the garage last January because it wouldn't stop raining long enough for me to pull things out to the driveway, sort, rearrange and put things back. I did, however, re-list some things on Facebook Marketplace and sold a big gold mirror and Raiders of the Lost Ark movie poster which freed up some floor space. They had been sitting in the garage since we moved into this house because we didn’t have enough wall space.
I couldn't organize the garage in March because I was busy launching the book. I did, however, finally get my husband to look at and eliminate 90% of the blueprints, story boards, and paperwork from a failed project which had been in the same box as the mirror I sold.
For nearly 9 years, every time I moved the mirrors and posters around in the garage, I would see the remnants of the "construction that never happened" chapter of my life, and it would upset me to no end. I was (and still am) mad and sad that it happened and frustrated that my husband wouldn't allow me to throw the stuff away, so it was like opening the wound every time I saw it. It was taking up precious space and causing me emotional distress when I organized the garage. Talk about the Wrong Stuff!
Now I still have a million excuses why I can't organize the garage (like I'm busy writing this) but guess what? I have been organizing! Even when I didn't organize the whole thing, I made progress! One little thing led to another, which led to clutter reduction, more space to move around, and a huge emotional release. Working in the garage may still be physically exhausting, but it's not emotionally debilitating, and I don't dread going in there.
So have something to eat, fill up your water bottle, turn on the fan, and go in with a small achievable intention. Not "organize the garage," which sounds overwhelming, but "take stuff to Goodwill," "sell this chair," "make a place for the emergency supplies," or "throw away the thing that makes me sad to look at." You will probably have to do Ten Things First, but even doing one or two of those ten things first is progress. You can say, "Look at what I did!" instead of beating yourself up for what you didn't do again.
Organizing Has Its Rewards
One of the fringe benefits of organizing is discovering something new that feels like a reward for organizing. Sometimes, it’s finding a piece of jewelry you lost or discovering an envelope of money you put away for safekeeping and forgot about. Sometimes it’s turning a mistake you regret into one you’re almost glad you made.
For example, this past week, I wanted to forward emails from an old email account to my regular Gmail account. I unsubscribed from a bunch of lists (Yahoo makes it very quick and easy to do, thankfully), and then I discovered Yahoo doesn’t give you the option to forward incoming emails. Okay, so I’ll just close it — but this old email address is linked to Amazon, eBay and PayPal so I’ll have to change the address on those accounts too.
The problem is, I haven’t seen the hundreds (thousands?) of emails that come from Amazon, eBay, and PayPal to that email address. I look online when I need to see each account. In fact, I’m on Amazon multiple times a day now that I’m checking reviews and rankings for my book and looking at the items in my shopping cart that my kids want to buy. But somehow, subscriptions bought through Amazon don’t show up on the account pages I look at, and now I see that I have been paying month after month for years for services I don’t even remember buying. Yikes!
Who knew I’d been paying for Audible? I’ve never listened to an audiobook in my life, except for the first few minutes of the first Harry Potter book I downloaded for free when my kid was 10 and didn’t like reading. Evidently, there was a free trial which I guess I forgot to cancel, and I’ve been wasting money for years. Heavy sigh.
But it wasn’t all wasted. Each month I had been accumulating credits to buy titles, and now I could use those credits, unsubscribe, and still listen to what I bought. I just finished Martin Short’s memoir “I Must Say” narrated (and in some cases performed) by the author himself. What a treat! I have enjoyed Martin Short since his SCTV days before SNL. I saw him on Broadway in the Goodbye Girl when I lived in New York and even met him once when we both lived in Pacific Palisades.
So the reward for organizing my emails and my subscriptions was spending many delightful hours listening to a favorite entertainer who “ate a plum” while I organized someone else’s garage. Even though I spent way more money than I would have if I had been paying attention, the payoff is discovering audiobooks are a wonderful source of entertainment to listen to when I organize alone. Memoirs are the best, I must say.
This Mess Is Making Me Stress! Facebook Group
I made a new Facebook group where my readers could share their organizing struggles and successes, give encouragement, and get advice from others, including professional organizers like me.
I am in another huge decluttering group with thousands of members, and shocked that so many have never heard of a professional organizer, know what they do, what they charge, and how to find one! It kills me to see so many people struggling and suffering when I can help. “Read page 20!” I want to say. “Chapter 4!” I feel like screaming. I spend a lot of time giving free advice, so I’m offering it to my group instead. (Besides, I will probably get kicked out if I subtly plug the book any more than I have.)
I would also like group members to give recommendations and post links for products that have worked for them, and show creative storage solutions we found or want to try.
It’s supposed to be interactive and group-led, with posts from all of you, not just me (that’s what my Neatly Arranged page is for.) It’s a private group but can be publicly found, so just mention the name (it’s also the name of my book, what a coincidence!) to your friends, and they can find us without an invitation. What is shared in the group stays in the group, and you can post anonymously if you want.
Follow this link and you’ll be in: This Mess is Making Me Stress Facebook Group
Have you left a review?
I am thankful that my words are now in the hands of so many people. I’d love to hear what you think! If you haven’t yet, could you please take a moment to go to Amazon and review and/or rate my book? Most people don’t realize how much reviews matter in Amazon’s algorithm and where they place your book in search results. If you’d recommend the book to others, please click here, scroll all the way down the left side of the page, and leave a review! While you’re there, why not send your mom, mother-in-law, aunt, cousin, or sister a Mother’s Day present? Thanks so much for your support! Buy the paperback or Kindle version on Amazon.