Embrace the Shame Closet

One of my favorite episodes of Friends is when we learn that Monica, the hyper-organized, perfectionist, “obsessive compulsive” home keeper has what us classic radio nerds call a “Fibber McGee” closet…which would be the kind of closet you see to the left, one where everything stuffed inside comes crashing down the moment it’s opened. It’s a pretty funny bit when you’re 10 years old and stuck in a car in the 70’s without AC or a DVD player, and frankly it was quite a big hit way back in the 30’s. The POINT, however is that it’s obviously an organizational pitfall that’s been around for a long time, and one that Peter Walsh, Oprah’s resident organizer, believes describes one of five types of clutterers. 

Whenever we hear the word “type” combined with organization in a magazine like Oprah, we get a little excited that the mainstream is catching onto our mission in life and Walsh’s categories DO tend to match up with our PixieTypes to some degree. The Fibber McGee closet, or what Walsh calls “The Behind-the-Closed-Door Clutter” is someone who he equates with the Monica types of the world, or what we Pixies like to call a Classic (SJ). Walsh describes them as “Perfectionists, control freaks, harried working moms, anyone who’s time-starved and overbooked; perfectionists.” However, Classics aren’t always considered perfectionists. They’d rather actually get things DONE and so the ubiquitous junk drawer and “shame” closet was created and frankly stands the test of time.

Walsh also says these types “live(s) in some flawless future universe instead of creating solutions that work today.” This statement, however, just doesn’t compute with a true Classic. Classics live in the now, and they, more than any other type usually have organizational solutions that DO work for them, and frankly, the closet might just be one of them, especially for those harried overworked moms and anyone who is pulled at both ends. And Classics DO tend to have a lot on their plate no matter what’s going on in their lives. They just don’t now how to live their life any other way.

And frankly, this closet of disorganizational shame is also going to exsist for those future living types too, as I’m pretty sure Fibber McGee was NOT a Classic. The types most known for postponing decisions are Funs (SPs), Smart Freedoms (NTPs), and Organic Freedoms (NFPs). And we bet you all have at least a drawer or two that’s stuffed with crap you haven’t decided what to do with. At worst you’ve got two storage facilities (yes, I am guilty of this). Organic Structures (NFJs) and Smart Structures (NTJs) are also guilty of not always knowing what to do with stuff and the minute they put it in a closet it ceases to exist for them and so, well, the junk piles up quick behind closed doors.

In truth, the messy closet is more of a universal organizational problem that affects all the types for different reasons. Walsh’s suggestions for taking care of this problem work best, of course, for Classics, although I disagree with his assessment that your “injury-inducing hall closet is the manifestation of your shame at failing to live up to your own unrealistically high housekeeping expectations.” Frankly I think it’s just a clever short cut that works for you until it doesn’t work anymore. And when you have the time, or want to use that wasted space, you’ll either tackle the project in what Walsh suggests to do in small, manageable chunks, or enlist a friend if it’s a big project and you’re an extraverted type.

But, if you want to live an easier life and follow the pixies motto, we highly suggest that whatever your type, for the time being, you embrace that Fibber McGee closet. As long as it’s not a closet you need to use all the time, but more of a storage unit of postponed decisions, let it go for a while. When you have the time and inspiration to fix it, you will. And either you’ll be able to do it yourself, or you’ll hire someone. Either way embrace that “Shame Closet” as a temporary measure to get or keep your house looking neat and organized as you go about living, as Oprah likes to say, your best life.