Q: “My Husband Wants to Keep Everything. I Want to Toss Everything.”
“It’s not your job to make sure that your husband is as organized as you are or that he meets your expectations. It’s better to give yourself permission to move on and to focus your time and energy on organizing your own stuff to your liking.”
Q: “My husband and I struggle with organizing what’s in our storage. He wants to keep everything, and I want to toss almost everything. His clutter overwhelms me. How can we come to a happy medium?”
Not everyone — not even the people in your home — will share your ideas about how much stuff to keep. And that’s okay. You don’t have to see eye to eye with your husband about how much stuff either of you like to have. There’s no right or wrong to it, as long as your home is habitable.
But you can try to agree on stuff-free zones in your home. Common spaces, for example, can be free of extra stuff. If your husband gets more stuff, it can go in storage or wherever his stuff currently lives, but it can’t go anywhere else. These are not hard and fast rules; the point is to come to an agreement that suits you both.
[Read: What Will It Take for My Home to Stay Organized Forever?! (Or At Least for a While Longer?)]
Keep in mind that even with stuff-free zones, your home might not be completely organized to your level of satisfaction. But trying to force your husband to do differently won’t work. It’s not your job to make sure that your husband is as organized as you are or that he meets your expectations. (In my home, I only organize myself unless others ask for my help.) It’s better to give yourself permission to move on and to focus your time and energy on organizing your own stuff.
Home Organizing Habits: Next Steps
- Read: How Can I Keep My Many, Many, Many Hobby Supplies Organized?
- Read: Saying Yes to Mess
- Read: Don’t Organize It, Purge It — 10 Things to Throw Out Now
The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “Your Organized Home: Functional Organization for Your Life Phase Right Now” [Video Replay & Podcast #463] with Lisa Woodruff, which was broadcast on July 19, 2023.
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