Why get up day after day and go to work?  Why do the laundry? Why budget and pay bills?

These tasks bring order to the business of life.

Some people don’t clean their home. They don’t pick up after themselves.

Orderliness can be described as “arranging myself and my surroundings to achieve greater efficiency, using our time, money, and possessions to meet our needs.” One example of orderliness, which we often take for granted, is when people work together. At school, a bell rings and students walk from class to class, with backpacks, carrying the books, pencils and paper they need. Orderliness happens when students walk in cooperation.

An alarm just went off in your head because we all know THAT KID!  They never have their homework. They aren’t prepared. They disrupt class! The absence of orderliness is chaos and confusion.  Much time and energy is lost when things cannot be found.  Without orderliness, they fail to realize what they are doing.

Typically people don’t purposefully try to live a life of chaos.  However, the demands of life often turn people’s lives into a chaotic mess.  People want substance or some purpose validating why they get up and do what they do each day. Orderliness is associated with cleanliness, diligence, and the desire for symmetry. We find ways to be organized, to de-clutter and maintain an orderly environment to reduce tension and provide tranquillity. The possessions we have are enjoyed when clutter is removed. Excessive desire for orderliness is associated with the obsessive-compulsive disorder. On the other side, excessive disorderliness associates with hoarding and a tendency to be impulsive.

Orderliness can be seen in everyday life. We teach children to set the table. They learn how to write headings on a paper. There is a sequence to suiting up for a sporting event. If you put your helmet on, your jersey won’t fit over it. We clean a room from top to bottom because gravity causes it to fall to the lowest level.

Orderliness in the home includes:

• Having a place for every possession and being willing to get rid of things in order to have sufficient space
• Learning to take the time to put things back after using them
• Budgeting the income to meet each family member’s needs

Edmond Burke once said, “good order is the foundation of all good things.”   Rewards of orderliness are peace, achievement and enjoyment.