Sometimes it’s not important to distinguish between being organized and looking organized. Perception is reality. Would you like to know how to fake being organized, even if you aren’t?
1. Keep repeating.
If you are a sucker for organizing magazines and TV shows, you’ll start to notice that repeated forms and themes are pleasing to the eye. Decorated rooms never have just one pretty storage box. There are usually lots of the same one artfully stacked. The organizing stores that you drool over, like IKEA, the Container Store, and Target, often have five to fifteen of the same item in one display. Even cheap plastic bins can be pleasing to the eye if they are labeled uniformly and stacked to the ceiling.
2. Calm the color.
What do you see when you view a really cluttered room? It’s not the amount of stuff that your eye responds to, but that there doesn’t seem to be any order to the items, which are made up of shapes and colors. If those shapes and colors are rearranged and made to relate to each other, the same stuff in the same space can very often be harmonious.
3. Clear horizontal surfaces.
This requires having other places to put stuff besides the counter, desktop, and dining room table. My own house sports a blessedly long kitchen counter that gets covered each and every day, but gets cleared several times a day as well. You may not be able to keep surfaces clear all the time, but being able to clear surfaces quickly is a handy trick. Hopefully you have a home for stuff that lands on your surfaces, but if not, do what you must. You might even know people who appear to have an organized space, but heaven help the unsuspecting guest who opens the drawers or closets. Booby-trapped drawers and closets can work, at least for a while.
4. Decorate for the appropriate season.
Nothing says disorganized more than a Christmas tree out in April. Fake peonies hanging on the porch in January are a dead giveaway that the house isn’t being kept up. Nothing says you have to dress your house to the nines for each and every holiday, or even decorate at all for that matter. But if you are going to do it, keep décor seasonal and current.
5. Take five minutes for you.
First impressions really are important. Take a moment to polish or clean your shoes each day. Before getting out of the car, check your hair and your teeth in the mirror. It may not be fair, but people do judge character by what they see. The Wall Street Journal reported not long ago that workers with organized desks are more likely to be promoted. At home, if you can’t keep the whole house organized, focus on just the entry ways (front and back) and the main room you would entertain in. Your guest room may be trashed, but people knocking on your front door don’t need to know that.
Being organized in your head and your space can lead to an amazing and full life without the guilt that many people report from being disorganized. These tips on faking it might just be the first step to getting a reasonably organized life – for real.
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