It's hard to believe it's the last day of March already! I want to sincerely thank the Two Writing Teachers Gang for all of the work involved in hosting the Slice of Life Challenge. I am thankful to be involved each March.
I was eating lunch with my kindergarten team this week and the topic of keeping a clean house came up.We were talking about the art of the pile, or piles, in some cases. Here's what I have noticed: it's all about the piles.
There are 6 different types of pile people.
The 1 Pile Person:
I have one pile of mail on the counter that I will be sorting and putting away as soon as the children go to bed this evening. This is a very small pile and is always gone by the end of the day.
I may have been this person briefly before marriage and children.
The 2 Pile Person:
I have one pile of mail and one pile of child or work papers. The mail pile will be taken care of each week when the bills are paid. The child/work pile will be dealt with during the week as well, as deadlines approach and paperwork needs to be turned in or completed. These piles are generally small and come and as frequently as each day.
I was this person after marriage and before children.
The 3 Pile Person:
I have one pile of mail. I have one pile of paperwork that I need to do something with soon. I have one pile of stuff I don't think I can throw away but I don't know where to put. These piles can be of various sizes. These piles can be shuffled from place to place or be hastily tossed into baskets before company arrives. But...these piles don't go away. They rotate, they increase and decrease in height, but they do not leave.
This is me now. I work hard to limit the piles to this amount so that I can at least maintain them.
The I Know I Have That In a Pile Somewhere Pile Person:
I have more piles than I can count. At one point, they were somewhat organized for a day or two. There are typically too many piles to maintain any organizational system and for this reason, I have given up. When asked to locate something, I begin looking in the closest pile and make my way through all them until I find the needed item. I am the person that needs extra copies of things sent home from school. I am the person who needs second reminders because I probably lost that paper in one of these piles, but it's probably maybe here somewhere.
I know people like this and it drives me crazy. I am slightly too OCD to have this many piles or to not know where things are. My piles are at least organized chaos.
The Horder Pile Person:
I am just one life tragedy past this ^^ person. I have many, many piles. I started putting piles in baskets to clean the house for company, but I never emptied those baskets. Then I needed to go buy new baskets because my old baskets were full of stuff. Suddenly, I couldn't walk through my house and I ended up on a tv show.
Um...no. Just no.
The I Never Have a Pile Person:
I have a spotless home. I have the ability to put things in their proper place at all times. I have been known to clean my cleaning supplies. I might need a hobby. I am one of the wonders of the world.
This will never be me. Ever. Not even if I tried and had nothing else to do with my life. I'm completely at peace with that.
My colleagues and I were debating how many piles we have. I'm pretty sure I fall into the 3 Pile Person arena. I have the pile of mail that needs to be handled or looked at. I have the pile of kid stuff that is either waiting to be put away as a keepsake or to be thrown away after the kids are in bed. I also have the "other" pile. This is the pile of stuff I can't throw away but don't know where to put. It ends up staying on the counter until company is coming and then it gets moved to a basket that lands on my bed. Over the years this is the technique I've developed. If I put it on the bed, I have to move it or deal with it before I can go to sleep. If it's in my way, I'm more likely to deal with it. If I use a laundry basket I will have to empty it before I can do laundry, and in a family of 6, that is pretty soon.
Which type of Pile Person are you?
Love this! I am a 3 pile person: one pile of bills/mail for hubby, one pile for me, and one pile that hides in the "drawer of danger" that I don't know what to do with. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a three pile person- but... sometimes I know something is in one of them and I can't remember which one. I fight my pile self all the time and wish I were not a pile person.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely a multi-pile person. I have at least 2 in my classroom. Sometimes three. At home I also have 2-3. OMG. I am a serial piler!
ReplyDeleteIf you consider the dining room table its own pile, then I am a one pile person. :)
ReplyDeleteVery funny observation! My husband would be in the category of no pile, whereas I fall into multiple piles in my office. I don't really pile things other than in my work space.
ReplyDeleteLove this! I had a friend who used to call their piles "glaciers." I guess because they became ancient and frozen. Your post is inspiring me to deal with my few too many piles. After report cards, that is...
ReplyDeleteHA! All I really need to say here is, jaguar. I am a jaguar piler at least sometimes. YOU know this means I might get lost in my piles. I tend to pile in this way when I am overwhelmed...mostly my whole adult life. However, I have lived the two-three pile life. It is quite nice when compared to the jaguar kind of life. I don't like living in piles. It becomes consuming. However, when I get in a purging kind of mood, it feels great to rid myself of the piles. I would hate to take that joy away from myself so therefore I will pile so as to feel the joy of throwing away, sorting, recycling, or shredding the piles when the time is right. So liberating. ;)
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