Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Book Love: Organized Living by Shira Gill

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There is no better time of the year to think about reorganizing your entire house than in January (I'd give runner up to August/September when school starts back up).  I realize I am writing this in February but similar pre-spring energy exists. I don't think there is any other time of year we spend more time inside our house than in January & February.  Add in that January 1st "let's change my life" energy (that apparently only exists for some people but it definitely does for me) and it's a time of year ripe for some change. 

My TBR has been getting clogged up a bit and could use with a cleaning (it's the highest it's maybe ever been at 88 books although, removing picture books to purchase request from my library and I'm at 74...which I should read TWICE that many books in 2024 but am also always adding books) so what I read when is partially just how timing works out and library availability is another big part.  So it wasn't all January energy that had me reading this book last month but it certainly worked out well.

The book: Organized Living: Solutions and Inspiration for Your Home by Shira Gill, covers a few things that I really enjoy and appreciate.  The author compiled mini case studies of the homes of 25 professional organizers and showcased how they live, or even just how they organize a particular room.  I know pictures of beautifully organized spaces can be found all over the internet but in the book it also has the organizers explaining some of their reasons, some of their challenges.  Seeing how the professionals do it was really inspirational. 

Besides just telling me how to organize, another thing I really appreciate is getting nosy into people lives.  I LOVE hearing or seeing how others handle and/or organize particular parts of their lives.  People with similar lives than me, people with very different lives than me.  I want to see how people handle after school routines and kids' snacks and their laundry room.  That's all things I deal with too.  But I also want to see how someone could live in a tiny studio in New York or London or really anywhere but particularly a big city.  How people live a nomadic life out of a camper.  Home things that are just common in other cultures and countries but not how we do it in America.  Those aren't lives I have or likely will and seeing how they handle things that are similar and wildly different from me.  People are just interesting and inspiring, no matter how much we have in common. 

Before I had even finished it I had reorganized a drawer in the bathroom and moved things around in our laundry area.  I always appreciate a fresh perspective and anything that helps me find even a tiny bit more storage space in our small home is a win!  This book got me to rethink just the general flow of our house as well as how some of the nitty gritty is stored.  It was inspiring and such a perfect read for early in the year.

Is my house drastically different now?  It is not.  I'm not sure how much my husband and boys even noticed the changes.  But I did.  I can know keep my extra bars of soap in the bathroom instead of 3 rooms away!  That's not life changing but it is an improvement!  Little things like that that just never occurred to me until I was presented with how other people keep them home.  Use what works for me and just appreciate the pretty pictures in the rest of the book. 

This was definitely a useful and fun read to start off the year and kick off some of that "let's not change our whole lives but maybe reorganize a drawer" energy. 

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