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Peter Walsh

Design professional and star of TLC's Clean Sweep

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Organizing expert, author and personal consultant

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The latest news on this change — carefully culled from the world wide web by our change agents. They do the surfing, so you don't have to!

Do Your Chores!

Organization in the home is all about chores. Chores imply habits, sometimes those that occur on a daily basis, like washing the dishes or making the bed. Others are spaced out, but nonetheless, the tedium of doing the same thing over and over can naturally get to you.
 
Author Akiko Busch says that it is this repetition and “pointlessness” that really bothers her. Why do a certain chore when it will only become undone in another day? Well, because, “stable domestic life seems to depend on a multitude of such tasks.”
 
Busch goes on, disagreeing with Albert Einstein, who stated that the definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior over and over, and expecting a different outcome. With chores and organization, you hope it all turns out the same each time, but know full well it may not. In other words, the laundry could get dyed pink from a stray red sock!
 
Even if all goes well, a family member could become ill, a tree could fall on your house, or any other number of chaotic surprises. It is for this reason that we stay organized and keep up with chores—so that the surprises aren’t as earth-shattering and we can retreat back to that stability when necessary. [Nytimes.com]

Posted: 5/22/08