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Published: Wednesday, Jun. 13, 2012 / Updated: Wednesday, Jun. 13, 2012 09:16 PM

Starting a new organization

On a scale of one to 10, with one being totally unorganized and 10 being extremely organized, I’ve always considered myself somewhere in the vicinity of a seven.

That is, until my sister-in-law arrived. Then, I realized, I’m several notches lower on the organizational scale than I thought.

It’s like when you get all dressed up and find yourself thinking, “Wow! I look fabulous.” Then you reach your destination, take one glance at the crowd and think, “Wow. Now these people really look fabulous!”

That’s how this organizing thing went, I considered myself an organized person until I was in the company of a dedicated organizer. She’d enthusiastically ask me things like, “Do you have a label maker?” Or she’d peer into my cabinets and squeal with delight, “Do you know how much wasted space is in there?”

Of course, my answers were “No” and “No.”

That’s why, when my sister–in-law asked if she could organize my kitchen cabinets, I gave her free reign.

I mean, there are two inhabitants at my house. I counted 32 glasses, 13 coffee cups, 16 bowls and I refuse to give up the count on the plastic food containers.

Why anyone would want to remove all the items from my kitchen cabinets, one by one, only to put them back, one by one, in a different order, is something only a true organizer would be exuberant about. Every time I try something like that, I’m left with one, last item that I can’t squeeze, stuff or wedge in anywhere.

Organizing is addictive; once you start you can’t stop. My sister-in-law will organize anything. I took advantage of that. She organized my nail polish, my junk drawer and my recipes. The more I watched her organize, the more I wanted in on the organizing.

But before I could enlist her help with other chaotic projects, it was time for her to go. And not only did she leave me with newly organized kitchen cabinets, she left me with the organizing bug.

Since her departure, I’ve organized three bathroom cabinets and my pantry (thanks to her ingenious pantry shelf solution.)

The other day the phone rang. It was her. She was saying something to my husband about a book called Organizing For Dummies. “Seriously?” I thought. “Now why would I need something like that when I have someone as good as her?”