When we were first married, I quickly realized that my husband and I had different ideas of what it meant to keep house. To me it meant everything was put away in its place. To him it meant everything was put away in its pile. I didn’t know what to do with this. Pile? How can it be put away if I’m still seeing piles?
It was clear what I had to do. Correct his bachelor ways and teach him the proper way to put a home in order. After all, I didn’t want our home to look like his office. I’m sure you can imagine how well that went over!
He is a professor, and his office has piles of papers and books on every flat surface. Even though that would overwhelm me, he knew what was in those piles. He could put his hands on pretty much any paper he was looking for.
As a teacher, I knew my students had different learning styles and I had to try to teach with that in mind. After I became a professional organizer and took classes on these concepts, I started to understand that my husband and I had different organizing styles. I had to work with those styles and figure out a way we could both feel at peace in our home. I dubbed these styles, Innies and Outies.
As an Outtie, he is a visual organizer. His mind says, “Out of sight. Out of mind.” He forgets something exists if he can’t see it. Hence the piles. If there is a flat space, it has something on it that he needs to see.
As an Innie, I like things inside cabinets and drawers. In file folders. I like clear spaces, visual tranquility. Out of sight. Peace of Mind is my mantra! I’ve said it over and over. I can’t relax in a cluttered room. I feel like I’m sitting in a big “To Do” list.
I learned that he needs to see his things as much as I need to NOT see mine.
Cassandra Aarssen, also known as The Clutter Bug Lady, describes herself as a "recovering Super Slob." She came up with the idea, and I whole heartedly agree with her, that within the Innie and Outie category, there is a micro and macro organizer in each. We’re going to unpack these organizing styles and see how each may manifest in a home and office setting.
INNIES
A Micro Innie organizer’s home has a lot of clear spaces. There is not much on counters or table tops, but inside the cabinets, you will find all sorts of organizing bins and baskets and jars that hold all their stuff. They don’t mind lids, as that adds to the visual tranquility.
HOME: If we used a linen closet as an example, The Micro Innie organizer's linen closet would have towels on a shelf, all folded the same way and grouped by size/use. Each sheet set would be folded and tucked into its corresponding pillow case or in a labeled container, probably separated by size and season.
OFFICE: In an office setting, if you pulled out their desk drawer, they would have subdivided organizer trays that contains all their paper clips, staples, binder clips (by size). They have organized the supply cabinet to the Nth degree. Colored copy paper is on the shelf in the order of the rainbow, and each color is divided by the depth of the hue (from lemon to goldenrod!). Each office supply is in its own matching little basket. The pens are separated by color and type and the staple supply is divided by Swingline and Bostich.
They are detail oriented and like visual simplicity. They can have perfectionist tendencies which may result in clutter, because they want to put things away perfectly. Having someone to talk through this hesitation is helpful. If this is you and you are thinking of a career change, call me. Many Professional Organizers are Micro Innies.
A Macro Innie organizer on the other hand, also has a lot of clear spaces, but when you open a cabinet, who knows what you might find inside! They are a big picture, creative thinkers. They often have trouble letting go of things since they “might be able to use that again.” There is often an emotional attachment to their items.
HOME: The Macro Innie organizer would also have all their linens in the closet and the sheets and towels would be on the shelves, but in no particular order. Fitted and flat sheets of all sized are stuffed inside. The macro category is “linens” They don’t need more division than that.
OFFICE: In an office, All their supplies are in a cabinet or drawer, but in no particular order. The MACRO category is OFFICE SUPPLIES. Their file categories are broader in nature.
Their clutter shows up as piles, but behind closed doors. Sometimes they get accused of “stuffing” things inside cabinets, or quickly clearing surfaces into “doom boxes”. This results in having duplicate supplies.Macro Innies need quick easy storage. Larger baskets or bins work, since they think in larger categories. No lids for them! They want to be able to simply drop things in. They don’t mind digging around in their bin to find something, but the key is the ability to easily drop things in the bin where they belong. Labeling the bins is helpful.
OUTTIES
The Micro Outties like to see what they have, but they like it contained and styled.
HOME: Ideally, there would be no doors on their linen closet. They would store the sheets folded together in a pretty open basket. Towels and washcloths might be rolled on open shelves in the bathroom.
OFFICE: They have files in a holder on their desk so they can see them. No manilla folders, though. Theirs have color and style. They have everything they need on their desk. They may have piles, as they usually have several projects going at once. Anything in the desk drawers and file cabinets are things they no longer need to access.
Because they are visual organizers, clear bins, hooks, open baskets, open shelving, and open decorative jars make them happy. They like labels, especially if they are pretty. They are detail oriented. They have piles, which become clutter, because the top of the pile is hiding what is underneath. The goal is to take those horizontal piles and create visual vertical storage, either on the desk or by utilizing wall space or shelf risers. Bonus points if it is pleasing to the eye!
The Macro Outties are usually highly creative and have everything they need out in the open. They have a harder time letting go of things because they see the possibilities of using it in the future. They need to see what they have, but are not hung up with how it looks.
HOME: They would have the sheets in the laundry basket and clothes on a chair. That sounds like a ding on Macro Outties, but 1. I’m married one and I love and respect him like no other. And 2. I have found that Macro Outties tend to be big picture, out-of-the-box thinkers. They are not bogged down with details. Their mind is already processing the next thing.
OFFICE: They definitely have piles, but they are probably a little more random than their Micro counterparts. If there is a flat surface, it has something on it. They often have duplicate office supplies all around their office.
Many Macro Outties have tried and failed to get organized and may feel ashamed of their space. This breaks my heart! I’m here to figure out a system that will work for them!
Again, hooks, peg boards, open, clear bins, open shelving, and shelf risers are their friends. Moving those horizontal piles to vertical keeps the papers visible. They thrive on large visual categories. Labels are KEY KEY KEY for the Macro Outties. Can’t stress that enough. The bigger the better.
SO…..
You can see, we are all organized in our own way. Part of professional organizing is making observations and asking questions to find the best fit for each organizing client.What did that look like for my husband and I?
HOME: I noticed the neatest part of his workroom has alwyas been the peg board. We reused old kitchen cabinets when creating his workshop in our present home, but all of his stuff ended up on the counter in front of the cabinets. When I suggested we take off the doors, so he could see his tools, he was so excited with this suggestion. “That’s a GREAT idea!!!” He hangs most of his clothes (visual) and keeps his closet doors open (a practice I have just learned to be at peace with.) BUT, I can still organize the heck out of that space! I put his sweaters and athletic pants on an open shelf. We hung up his baseball caps, and we put up decorative hooks so he could easily grab or hang his hoodies in the winter. I vertically “file” his t-shirts in his drawer so he can see them all. Basically, we were able to have all of his things easily visible, but not overwhelming our shared space.
OFFICE: His work office has built in closets and drawers which are organizationally useless to him. He has recognized his need to see his things and has borrowed my label maker to label those drawers so he would remember what was in them. When COVID hit and he was working from our basement family room, we bought some extra shelves for our IKEA bookcases. This created shelf spaces of about six inches, instead of the more standard twelve. These shorter shelf spaces kept his piles visible, without having them all over the floor or ping pong table, leaving the clear spaces I craved in our home. (See what I mean by “creative thinking/problem solvers”?)
I can’t make him be in Innie. But I can figure out a way that we can live under the same roof while still respecting our organizing styles.
There’s no judgement, just solutions. Because “All God’s creatures have a place in the choir.” No matter what your style is.
Laura ~ your organizing girlfriend
Comentarios