How to Get Your Reluctant Partner on Board With Organizing: Couple Struggles Part 3
For more on organizing for couples and the issues that come up, check out the earlier posts in this series!
Today, we’ll explore what happens when one partner either doesn’t acknowledge that disorganization is a problem, or doesn’t want to participate in the organizing process. It’s really tough to organize your home when one half of your partnership doesn’t want to get involved in the process or see any value in the result! I actually see quite a bit of this, and the pattern is fairly similar. Here’s how it generally goes:
One partner is responsible for the upkeep of the home, and they’re at the end of their rope. It might be because they don’t have enough time, they’ve outgrown their skill set, or life circumstances have added complexity to a routine that used to be comfortable. Either way, their home isn’t working for their family, and it’s stressing them out big time.
The other partner isn’t stressed at all! Their day to day experience hasn’t changed much, so they don’t see the problem as significant, or something that requires their input.
So what’s a frustrated person to do when their spouse doesn’t think that they’re part of the problem… or even that there’s any problem at all? My solution is the “show, not tell” strategy. I work with the half of the couple who recognizes the need and asks for help, and we let the progress we make speak for itself. Here’s how that can play out in practice:
I worked with one couple to declutter an all-purpose storage room and garage in preparation for a remodel to create a home office. The husband is really successful, driven guy whose career demands that he spend very little time in the home, so it falls to the wife to run the household. She’s also incredibly busy with growing her business and parenting two young children, and she feels a significant amount of guilt and shame that she’s allowed parts of her home to become cluttered.
At the beginning of our first organizing session, my client and I couldn’t walk very far into the room. About halfway through the second session, we started discovering boxes of the husband’s old school work, papers, and memorabilia, and by the end of that day we had cleared approximately 3/4 of the floor space.
I encouraged the wife to show him the progress, and ask him to take the time to go through his own belongings to contribute to the success of the organizing project. She was realistic - he doesn’t have time, she explained, and when he’s home he wants to be with the kids. All fair, I told her, and we’d organize the space no matter what happened with his stuff. But as I left, I encouraged her again to invite him to participate in his own way.
When I arrived for the third organizing session, the room was even clearer - the husband had been impressed by our progress and inspired to contribute! He had sorted through all of his papers and downsized the collection significantly.
This only happened because we showed him what was possible in the space, rather than trying to convince him of the value of organizing or forcing him to participate during the organizing sessions. We respected his ownership of his own things, and inspired him to engage.
As a matter of fact, I still haven’t met this husband, and that’s ok! The point is that the space that was completely stressing out my client is getting organized, and enabling her to move forward on the remodeling project.
It’s not for me to dictate who should handle what in a household - those sorts of negotiations are not in my scope of work! Instead, it’s my job to meet each member of a couple where they are, and to move the project forward productively while respecting each of their time, needs, and belongings.
Looking for more advice on organizing with your spouse or partner? Check out the next two posts in my Couple Struggles series:
Part 4: 4 Powerful Strategies for Getting Organized As A Couple
Part 5: What to Do When Your Partner Wants To “Just Get Rid of It!”
If you and your partner aren’t seeing eye to eye on home organizing, I can still work with you to declutter and organize your space! Click here to schedule a consultation with me.
LMW
