Organization

I need to be better organization in everything. My computer desk is a mess. I realized when I was filling out the census form that I have no flat surface to set it on. I had to balance it over the wrist guard on the keyboard shelf of this computer desk. How whacked is that?

I just realized that I left the breezeway and utility room out of my list of disorganized rooms. We have things in our cupboards that we never use. We should get rid of them. An hour or two every day would help enormously. I should concentrate on removing the stuff that we need to throw out and do that first. If I can get it sorted by Wednesday, the trash can go out on Thursday. What I need to do is make some lists. If I go room by room and determine what I need to do in each room, I can pick a task a day and do it. Break the job down into smaller pieces and it will be easier to do. Right now, it seems insurmountable, but if I just pick a task every day, I can do it in a few months. That sounds like a long time, but I am talking about organizing an entire house. It is not as though I don’t have the time. I am just lazy.

Filing systems are more or less personal. Sometimes you can set one up and find that it is not efficient which requires you to find another way. There are three kinds of organization for files; by name, alphabetically; by a file number, or by date.

Alphabetically is the easiest, with my bills I would put them in files according to type, electric, gas, insurance, mortgage, water, and so on. Most of my bills are electronic in nature. I use OneNote to control them. I created a bills notebook in OneNote with sections for all the bills, since I pay them online, I often get electronic receipts that I "file" in the section. if there is an accompanying paper bill as there is with some of them, I file them in the filing cabinet. If there is no paper one, but an email, the email goes in the appropriate section in OneNote. This notebook is password protected of course. Security is a topic for another week.

Organization is something that you have to work at every day. If you let it slide, one day turns to two days and then you have a mess. The trick is to maintain it on a daily basis. A To-Do list is helpful here. You can choose to list your tasks in several ways. Right now, I have several To-Do lists based on a particular room. That’s not as efficient as it could be. I could organize the tasks by day, grouping similar tasks across rooms, such as vacuuming or dusting to a particular time each day. Yes, I am talking about a schedule.

All a schedule is, is a To-Do list with time constraints. My morning routine is a schedule, I get up at six, workout for thirty minutes, shower (usually twenty minutes), dress, write for a half an hour (or longer, like today), read email, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, get ready for work (when I was working). For the most part, I maintain that schedule even after I lost my job. The only change I made was getting up at six rather than five as I did when I was working. On the weekends, I usually rise about an hour later, but the routine is the same. Except that while I am writing and reading email, I’m running the clothes washer. Multitasking is permissible.

One of the things I should do is get a plastic tub for giveaways. Rather than wait until a certain time of the year, we could be choosing clothes or other items to give away as we go about our daily routine. Put the item in the tub. When the tub is full, you just bag up the giveaways and call the Vietnam Vets, Purple Heart or the Kidney Foundation, whichever one is currently running a pick up. It spreads the work out over time which is always a better way of doing it.

Having a designated tub for giveaways is good because then everyone knows what that is, assuming you label the tub properly. Clothes can be sorted as we encounter them in the course of choosing our wardrobe for the day. Organization is also time management.

Organization is only as good as your follow through. If you don’t follow through, all the lists in the world won’t help you organize your life. Me, I’m a procrastinator, which means I can find all kinds of excuses to avoid doing something. I’m good at it. I need to overcome that little problem and become less good at it. I need to get off my tail and do some work around this house. I tell myself that every day and I have trouble listening to myself. I must get better at listening to myself.

I need to go over my lists this morning and pick just one item to do today. Depending on the job, I might even pick two. Once I get the initial lists down to a daily or weekly maintenance chore list, it will be easier to keep it up. That’s the key. Get over the hard stuff and what is left is always easier even if by comparison.