The Four Organizing Styles

[Weedygarden]

This might be interesting for some of you, relative to both you and your spouse. If you and your spouse are very different in organizanation style, this could sure help you understand each other's way of organizing things.

I have seen discussion about the Four Organizing Styles, and finally took the quiz yesterday. Someone has designed this and has a business for tools, courses, etc., which I will never do, but I thought about the styles and I already knew what works for me. They have labeled them with cutesy insect names, that I could live without, but it is what it is.

I am a butterfly. I do best when I have bins that are labeled with the contents that I can easily find. I had lots of plastic shoe boxes in the cabinets in my classroom, and when I wanted something, even if it was on the top shelf, I knew where it was and could go and grab it. I just wish my home was as organized now as my classroom used to be. I am working on it, constantly.

https://clutterbug.me/what-clutterbug-are-you-testhttps://clutterbug.me/2020/07/the-four-organizing-styles-breakdown-and-faqs.html

 

[backlash]

My wife has a system.
A pile for everything and everything in a pile.

 

[Grimm]

I try organizing in boxes and totes but the rest of the family (K and the girls) believe in just dropping crap on the floor and leaving it til I pick it up.

 

[Neb]

My wife has a system.
A pile for everything and everything in a pile.

That works for me. The trick is to know how deep in the pile.

Ben

 

[The Lazy L]

My wife has a system.
A pile for everything and everything in a pile.

Same system my wife uses!

 

[The Lazy L]

I try organizing in boxes and totes but the rest of the family (K and the girls) believe in just dropping crap on the floor and leaving it til I pick it up.

My one daughter did the same dropping her stuff wherever expecting her mom to pick up after her. Until a pushed her pile down the basement stairs.

 

[Cascadian]

When I ask my wife where something of mine is she says what makes you think I know. My reply is that according to her I never pick anything up or put it away so clearly if it isn't in the middle of the floor she knows where it is.

 

[Morgan101]

Do they even have a quiz for men? We have little or nothing to say about how things are organized. We have a few places of refuge; maybe the basement or the garage or a man cave. Otherwise whatever the wife wants to do is how it gets done. I would say for the most part we are pretty compatible, and agree on how we want things to look.

Let me bring up a blast from the past. Very few on this forum will remember Fibber Magee and Molly from the old radio show. You can probably google Fibber Magee's closet to get my meaning. Everything you see will be perfectly arranged and maintained, but God help you if you go through the wrong door. There are rooms where Jimmy Hoffa could be buried, and nobody would know. My wife is an unrepentant hoarder. We could probably stock a Wal Mart with what is stored in the basement, garage, and a room or two that no one dares enter. On the surface we have a beautiful home. What lies beneath is a totally different story.

 

[angie_nrs]

That was a neat quiz Weedy. I'm a cricket. It kinda drives me crazy, especially since hubs isn't.....at least not in the house, although he is more organized in his mancave.

When I ask my wife where something of mine is she says what makes you think I know. My reply is that according to her I never pick anything up or put it away so clearly if it isn't in the middle of the floor she knows where it is.

This is hubs! If it's not on the counter where he puts all his crap when he walks in, then he thinks I know exactly where it is. It drives me nuts! I sometimes have a hard time remembering where I put my stuff, so it's nearly impossible for me to know where he put his crap.

I think part of my problem is that I have too much stuff, but I don't see that changing anytime soon. I doubt I will ever have the perfect system of organization, but I do work on it.

 

[Amish Heart]

My husband is a mess and hates me to pick up his stuff.
I took the test, and I'm a bee.
No fair on the bedroom question. His stuff is what makes it messy

 

[Weedygarden]

Do they even have a quiz for men? We have little or nothing to say about how things are organized. We have a few places of refuge; maybe the basement or the garage or a man cave. Otherwise whatever the wife wants to do is how it gets done. I would say for the most part we are pretty compatible, and agree on how we want things to look.

Let me bring up a blast from the past. Very few on this forum will remember Fibber Magee and Molly from the old radio show. You can probably google Fibber Magee's closet to get my meaning. Everything you see will be perfectly arranged and maintained, but God help you if you go through the wrong door. There are rooms where Jimmy Hoffa could be buried, and nobody would know. My wife is an unrepentant hoarder. We could probably stock a Wal Mart with what is stored in the basement, garage, and a room or two that no one dares enter. On the surface we have a beautiful home. What lies beneath is a totally different story.

I wondered how apropos this was for men, or if it was more female oriented. It is true that the home is more female controlled. I wonder about the spaces that are typically men's spaces, like the garage, shed, man cave? I would think of the spaces that you do have control over.

 

[Weedygarden]

My one daughter did the same dropping her stuff wherever expecting her mom to pick up after her. Until a pushed her pile down the basement stairs.

In many homes, I believe this is common, for many of the family to drop their stuff and the wife cleans up behind everyone. I know it is not true for every family.

 

[dademoss]

Some of us defy categorization . My organizing style is the closet belonging to Professor Whoopee in the Tennessee Tuxedo cartoons.

 

[Weedygarden]

Some of us defy categorization . My organizing style is the closet belonging to Professor Whoopee in the Tennessee Tuxedo cartoons.

View attachment 51751

When I have too much stuff and not enough time to get it organized, my house can look like this! Whenever rooms in my home were getting a remodel or some type of workover, then it gets wonky and takes a while to get it back under control.

 

[LadyLocust]

So I am a cricket too. I actually didn’t like the quiz but found the results interesting. My bedroom is clean and organized- even closet and drawers. The bathroom, living and dining are not cluttered but because we live here do require a weekly cleaning. It’s papers and some inherited clutter that I’ve not had time for yet. Actually papers are minimal < 1 day to take care of it. I have a few boxes of pictures from our family my mom gave me which was kinda ornery since she’s retired and knows more about them. The last 2 boxes she wanted to give me I told her if they showed up at my house they would go directly to the burn pile, not even looking at them. She told me I couldn’t do that. She went through them - pictures of horses and dogs they’ve had, flowers, people I don’t know etc. She ditched many of them. (Sorry, that was kinda a rant.) I don’t like clutter and it’s taken a lot of work to get it under control and keep it gone. I don’t think Hubby even knows what the word organization means- shop, garage, desk all end up looking like a bomb went off.
@Morgan101 I like that episode of Fibber and Molly . Liked the bit about the snowshoe.

 

[Morgan101]

I couldn't resist. I had to look it up. Does anybody else have an area like this? I would admit to being guilty as charged.