Posts Tagged ‘organizing’

Clutter

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

I just read an amusing article over at Unclutterer called “What clutter affects an unclutterer?”  The writer is an organizer, but she talked about the areas in her life where she has a hard time keeping things uncluttered.

I thought I’d drop in quickly and share a little bit of mine.

One of the places that I have the hardest time keeping organized is my desk.  I have a small little desk in my office that has three drawers on the left side and a pencil drawer across the lap of the person sitting there.  I have the hardest time keeping those drawers cleaned out.  What’s supposed to happen is that the bottom drawer has photography things – prints and frames and CDs and manuals.  The middle drawer holds office items like extra printer ink, note paper, clip-boards, etc.  The top drawer holds my address book and my Nintendo DS and my music box.  And the pencil drawer holds my pens, pencils, stapler, tape dispenser, etc.

It’s never as tidy as all that.  I’ve got papers in the top two drawers that I need to read and figure out what I’m doing to do with them, but I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet.  Justin’s transcripts from college are still sitting in my middle drawer from when I was trying to decrypt them back in November or so.  I don’t know why I’m holding on to the prints and whatever else is hiding in the bottom drawer.  I’ve got a whole box of photographs up in my closet, too, that I just need to send to a scanner and get put onto discs.  I’ve got more pens and pencils and scissors than I know what to do with.

What I really need to do is get rid of the desk entirely and work on a table that doesn’t have any drawers.  That way I can’t hide anything in there.

So, that’s my long-term tidiness issue.  My short-term problems are:

  • The bathroom, where I tend to drop clothes or whatever else was in my hand when I went to change into exercise clothes or pajamas.  I have a hook on the wall and the back of the door and they tend to get covered in clothing before the end of the week . . . if they make it there from off the floor and the counter.
  • The flat surfaces in my office, where bills, paperwork, and other things that should go in there somewhere just get thrown until I have time to go back and try to put them into the right places.  I have a desk, a table, a trunk, a filing cabinet, and a chair that are all good candidates for having things thrown on them.
  • The front door, where I throw sweaters, jackets, purses, lunch bags, shopping bags, and shoes as I come in the door.  I really need a set of hooks there so I stop throwing them over the shoe rack and the hamper.  Shoes are my biggest culprit.  I keep some shoes downstairs and most of my dress shoes upstairs, but by the end of the week, almost all of my shoes are downstairs.

I usually find time once or twice a week to clean up these problems, especially on Friday afternoons when I get off work early.  But they build up again in a few days if I’m not really diligent about it.  The kitchen could maybe go on this list, if it’s been a busy week and I’ve not felt up to keeping it clean, but the kitchen is an area where I sincerely try to keep it as clean as I can.

Anyway!  Some of my struggles as an organizer.

2
Tags: ,
Posted in organizing |

Organizing my file cabinet!!

Monday, October 5th, 2009

So this is the truly geekiness that is my love for organizing.  I spent almost my entire weekend (the last three days) organizing my file cabinet.

It’s a 2-drawer, double-width file cabinet.  The top drawer is active files or files that are important enough to have up top.  And the bottom is the archive space for things that need to be kept for a while but I don’t need to see, possibly ever again.  But it was a mess!  The last time I went through was probably this time last year.  Things seemed pretty organized up through September of last year in a lot of cases.

The big exception was what was taking up most of the bottom drawer.  Several months ago, we got a box full of paperwork from Justin’s mom—medical records, school loans paperwork, all these things that I’d been wondering where they were hiding and suddenly I had them!  Which was great!  But I didn’t have places to put them yet, so they got stuck randomly into folders and stashed away, with the plans of organizing them “soon.”

Friday afternoon I got home, paid the bills, balanced the checkbook, and decided it was Time to Tackle the Mess.

It’s amazing how something as thin as paper can make such a heavy mess.

Also, it’s sometimes really complicated to work someone else’s filing system into your own.

And yeah, it took me from Friday afternoon all the way through Sunday afternoon to finish it up.  But now that I’m done? Ooooooh . . . .  It’s a thing of beauty.

(Geek!)

Anyway, some thoughts about organizing and how I managed my project.  First off, I went through the active files to see what was happening there.  Mostly they were good.  There were a few that hadn’t had anything added for a while, either it’s someone we don’t use anymore or we’ve gone paperless or something.  If the file wasn’t used in 2009, I pulled it to put with the archived info.  And then I separated the data from previous years and paper clipped them together with a sticky note telling which year it was for.  This one thing is going to be a HUGE time saver later on.

And then I figured out how I was going to categorize the files.  I’d started to do this last time—I had a bills section and a loans section, each holding things that had to do with bills (water, electric, cable) or loans (credit cards, school loans, car loan).  Now I also have Automobile, Banking, and Work categories, and a few others.

I didn’t finish up on the top, though, before I hit the bottom.  I pulled out the things that were basically already organized first, just because I felt like doing the easy stuff first and then the harder, but that’s totally up to personal preference.  Again, I sorted out by year so I could see what was what, labeling with sticky notes for easy reference.  I also put sticky notes on the hanging folders so I could flip through quickly.  This one took me a while to figure out but after digging and digging and digging to find the stupid VSAC folders, I finally just put notes on all of the folders and saved myself much time and frustration.

Slowly, I made my way through old bank statements, medical expenses, pay stubs, and so many other things.  I had to take the papers from my mother in law and integrate them into my own system, which probably took me the longest.  Some of what she sent was duplicates of information I already had, some was integrated, but not duplicated, and a lot of it was totally new to me.  So I found what it was, how it fit into the scheme, and organized it by year.

And then I made up a label template on Word, typed up the labels for all the new folders, categorized into sections, naturally, and printed them off.  A little bit of cutting and labeling, and now my file cabinet is fantastic!

There are still a handful of things I need to address—like how long to keep a few things.  I’d assume I could throw them away, but I’m going to double-check it before I do.  Plus, it’s good research.  I didn’t go through one of the folders yet just because it was more than my brain could handle in one weekend, but I’m planning to get through it “soon.”  I promise!

But it’s absurd how very pleased I am with myself about this project.  I kept dragging Justin in to look at my progress.  I had papers strewn all over the floor of my office, stacks of full and empty folders on my trunk and the top of the file cabinet, and paperclips and sticky notes and pens everywhere.  But the files didn’t have paper popping out of the top and I could find what I was looking for and they’re all paper clipped together with sticky notes saying the year!

And did I mention that the reason that’s helpful is because at the end of the year, I’ll pull out the papers from this year, paper clip them together with a 2009 sticky note and put them in the archived folder, pull out anything past its expiration date, and be done with organizing for the (first half) of the year in less than 30 minutes?  Yeah.  That’s going to be sweet.

These are the kind of things that get me excited.

Pictures!

This is my file cabinet

This is my file cabinet

This is the top drawer.

This is the top drawer.

This is the bottom drawer!

This is the bottom drawer!

This is what I'm shredding so far.

This is what I'm shredding so far.

This is what I'm recycling.

This is what I'm recycling.

And for giggles, this is a paperweight.

And for giggles, this is a paperweight.

Comments Off
Tags: , ,
Posted in organizing |

Stuff is going on!

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Things are never dull, you know?

Justin’s family made it safely into town late Sunday evening.  We had an exciting day.  We got up for church, went grocery shopping, and met friends for lunch.  I went home to have a planning conversation with Amy while Justin got started fixing the downstairs toilet.  After finishing my very fun conversation, I set to work cleaning house while Justin kept on working on the toilet.

The toilet thing was a fun project.  It developed a slow leak several months ago and we just turned off the water and didn’t use it because the fix that was supposed to work—replace the seal at the bottom of the tank—didn’t cut it and we didn’t want to put money  toward fixing a toilet we didn’t even use very often.  Justin ended up replacing the entire interior unit of the tank, including the part between the tank and the base where the plumber had *glued* the pieces together—a move that most plumbers on the internet recommended fixing buy BUYING A NEW TANK.  But no!  My man is awesome!  He removed the parts and put in a new one.  One that’s better, uses less water, and prevents continuous slow leaks.

And I dusted, washed windows, vacuumed, fetched towels, mopped, and cleaned the kitchen.

Justin, my awesome, wonderful husband, cleaned the upstairs bathroom after he finished the toilet downstairs.

A cleaning day when I don’t touch a single toilet counts as an AWESOME cleaning day.

Justin’s family made it into town after we’d cleaned all the important places, before we could clean the offices, mid-way through washing the sheets for Jessi.  After we had showered and ordered pizza!  They got in, settled a little, ate pizza with us, and we all went to bed after a long, long day.

Monday was fairly relaxed.  We went on a shopping trip to Target and the grocery store, but that was pretty much it.  We were all tired from everything the day before.  We went out for fantastic Baja Mexican food at a place in town.

And today Justin and I are both back at work while Justin’s family helps his sister get ready for school—they have shopping to do, a bank account to set up, a beach to romp over.  The weather’s been beautiful, so hopefully they’ve been having a good day of it.

My day has been pretty quiet, with the exception of all these people who keep asking me to scan things and release documents because HEY!  We’re moving projects!  Three at a time, apparently.  It keeps life entertaining.

Plus I got a call this morning asking if I would be willing to represent the 5S program to some Vice Presidents and Directors from outside companies.

Will I what?!  Will I be the face of 5S to outside companies?  Are you serious?!

But apparently she was, so now I have a presentation next Monday.  Informal and including tours to show off things that we’ve got working in our area.  But it’s still a bit of a whammy.  She wants me to talk about the challenges and benefits, my experiences, why they should do it at their company, what the heart of it is, and what’s in it for them.  I started writing down what I think I should say.  I’m up to three full pages of information.  Apparently I have a lot I could say about it.

And then after the presentation, I get to lead the regular 5S committee meeting.

It’s going to be a busy day.

It’s also Jessi’s first day of college.

Like I said, things are never dull!

2
Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Living! |

Last day of my “vacation”

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Okay, quick update because I’ve been lax lately.  Working backwards!

Today:
I got up and went babysitting earlier than I expected, but it was only for an 11-month old and he slept the entire time I was there.

Yesterday:
I worked with the children’s pastor on the store room at the church office and made it go from total chaotic eyesore to a shining example of organization.  Everyone is very pleased.

And then after grilling dinner and chatting with friends online, we drove Justin’s car to the mechanic’s while no one else was on the road.

Wednesday:
Relaxed, did some projects, made lots of phone calls about business license information and finding a mechanic.  Babysat in the evening for a few hours for a house of sleeping children.

Tuesday:
Drove to Macon with my small group leader/friend with her 11-month old, 3-year old, and 9-year old to drop the oldest off with her grandparents and then drove home again.

Monday:
Babysat for several hours for those same kids (I’ve seen a lot of them this week).  I swear I did something else on Monday but I have no idea what it was.

So, my last week of my vacation has been insane.  I made a chunk of change (gifted, if the unemployment office asks) to help with possible fixes for Justin’s car.

He’s been driving my car most of this month because I have a/c and get better mileage.  But also, for the last week and a half, because his brakes went out.  The mechanic looked at it today and didn’t have good news for us.  We’re going to chat about it tonight and go see the mechanic tomorrow morning.

And I didn’t do everything I’d hoped to do while I was off work, but I did have fun doing what I did and it doesn’t matter that I didn’t cross everything off my list.

Bills are coming due in the next couple weeks and if we managed to make it through this whole month without pulling from savings for anything other than paying for our plane tickets for next month’s wedding, then I’m a tickled lady.  We’ll know for sure in two more weeks.

I’ve made some good progress on my small business, learned a lot about the paperwork and how much more I really need to learn.

I learned a lot about IRAs and different money and retirement things.

I’ve slept in later most mornings that I should have but I don’t regret it one bit.

It’s been a nice break, but I’m ready to get back to work again.

After the weekend.

2
Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Living! |

Worst case situation books

Friday, July 17th, 2009

I’m still thrilling about the awesomeness of the community library.  Let me tell you, I never really enjoyed the nonfiction section of my library when I was younger, but now I’m piling in all these books and doing some serious learning and researching.

I picked up a book last week called Get it Together. It’s about getting everything in order in case of your incapacitation or death.  I didn’t know that’s what it was about when I picked it up–I though it was about file cabinets.  But it’s been a really interesting read.  It came with a CD with worksheets.  What you do is work through the worksheets and build a binder that has everything anyone could possibly need in case you end up in a coma or pass on.  So things you’d think about, like assets and children, all the information about how to handle those are written down.  If a plot has already been purchased or any of those arrangements already made, it’s all in the book.  And other things, like employer’s phone numbers and benefit’s information or what bills are going to be due on the house, are all in there.  The people picking up the pieces have a perfect manual to follow and can focus on their own grieving instead of trying to figure out what Fluffy is supposed to have for dinner and whether it has medication to take.

It’s not an easy book to work through, that’s for sure.  There are things that are just uncomfortable to think about, like a letter in the front of the book for the people reading it.  And there are things that will require the use of an attorney.  But it’s really good stuff and I think it’s useful.

And I could use this in my business!  There are a lot of elderly people in the area who maybe haven’t really found the time to work through all of this information.  If I can figure out how to get this all lined up and all, I could help people get this started.  They’ll have to end up talking with their lawyer, but I could help them find all the paperwork that they’ll need to get that started.

Another thing I’ve been working on is a hurricane evacuation plan.  It is hurricane season and if the word goes out to head inland, then there isn’t a lot of time to get everything together and get out of town.  So having a plan is really important.  I’ve been pulling together information from Fly Lady’s Control Journal idea and a special edition of the Savannah Morning News.  What I’m trying to do is create something that I can fit right into the front pages of my address book.  It’s got all the important information like doctor info, insurance info, directions to Luke’s, lists of things we need to grab, everything.  Most of the information is duplicated info because I carry most of that with me in my purse, but it’s the sort of situation where having it really easy to find is key.

I have a checklist that I have to work through and see if I can get any of that prepared ahead of time and tucked away so it’s a grab and go situation.  So we grab the address book, grab the folder of important papers, grab the box of prepared stuff, and then focus on the rest of the list that couldn’t get done ahead of time.

And this is another thing that I could help people do.  I could help them find the information that they’ll need to have on hand, pack up their grab and go box, get them the checklist of other things to take care of if they have to leave, basically do as much as I can so if they have to leave, they have a plan and they’re ready to go.

And,  really, the two things fit together–the folder of important information if you die and the preparedness for evacuation.  All the important papers that you’d want to take with you if you leave the house in a hurry is exactly the same paperwork that you’d pull together for the book for your death.  It could all be one book, one “if the worst thing happens, this is where you look” book.  I haven’t started putting either one together, so I’m not sure it would really work all together, but it’s an interesting thought.

And I think people might be interested in getting some help to get these things together.

Of course, the first step to actually get as much of my own information put together.  So that’s what I’ve been up to the last couple days.  And that’s what I’m going back to work on now.

If anyone has any recommendations on these types of books and information, I would love to hear about it!  And if you’d like to get started on these and would like some information from me about, drop me a line and we’ll get started!

Cheers!

2
Tags:
Posted in organizing |
« Older Entries