I have to get organized!!

There are five words that I have avoided for years. It pains me to even write those words. Despite the calendar, my personal Epiphany was in December. One morning as I was talking to a customer, she said "I'll bet that you are a neat freak." My response was simple, "I'll bet that you are wrong!" I try not to admit this very often, but I was wrong!!

I have been told that I over analyze things. It's not enough for me to know that something happened, I have to know why, how, and could it happen again. This is what happens when a guy with ADHD rides alone for a couple of hours a day. It's not pretty. So here are the results of my self over analysis.

I'm worse than a neat freak, I'm a closet neat freak. I am a repressed neat freak. I am a frustrated neat freak. I won't take the time to organize because I have less time than I have hair. That hair is pretty sparse. It's kind of funny because there are a few things that I am just obsessive about organizing. Example, flaps on the boxes in the storeroom at work cannot be torn off, they have to be cut off. There are other examples, but my tolerance for public humiliation is a little low today.

Anyway, what triggered this epiphany now? My son and I are opening a military surplus store. He's doing the day to day operation and I'm doing the buying. I'm also putting up the capital and the opening inventory. What a deal!!

We have been hauling stuff from home to the store on a daily basis for almost two weeks. It's still not all there. The picture above was taken on Day 3. We have stopped hauling until we can get some shelves and bins in place. We are out of floor space to stack stuff. I actually knew that I had all of this crap.(I told the Queen that I would moderate my language.) It's one thing to know that you have it in half a dozen outbuildings, but it's a whole different story to see it piled into a 1500 square foot room. WOW!!!

As I surveyed the heaps a few days ago, the verdict was undeniable. I have to get organized. I pulled out a book that I had purchased a few months ago. It combined organization and weight loss. It's called "Does this clutter make my butt look fat??" I'm not sure that the basis of the book is sound, but there are some good pointers on organizing. I'm not sure the book is enough, I may have to call in a consultant.

How badly do I need to get started on this? I figure that I can save thousands of dollars on repeat purchases. Just before Christmas, I bought a blue-striped shirt at Belk. I liked it, I had several compliments on it. Apparently, I liked it so much that the week after Christmas, I bought another one just like it. I didn't realize it until I was putting some clothes into my closet and realized that the one in my hand matched the one on the hanger in front of me. Yeah!! It's time.

No time to waste. I am starting on my clothes closet, also known as the place where plaid shirts go to die, tonight. I would love to write more, but I have to get organized.