Organization
We're slowly beating the house into shape, working together for a while every morning. I am signed up for FlyLady again, and am using her missions/zone of the week as a guideline for what I tackle on any given day. The boy is a lot better at the decluttering side of things, and I am better at cleaning, so that's how we roughly divide it. This morning, for example, I cleaned out the silverware drawer and the utensil drawer, rearranging both and sorting out a bunch of redundant items, then cleaned off/rearranged/dusted the top of the fridge, the top of the china cabinet, and the top of one other set of kitchen cabinets. Michael decluttered the shelf in the bedroom which had become a generic dumping ground for random cables, cartons, and other odds and ends, then wiped down the bottom ledge of the shower. It doesn't sound like much, but every day it gets a little better.
One of the projects on the horizon for me is my craft closet. Currently, everything craft-related has been jammed in there somewhat helter-skelter, mostly in containers which were acquired for previous residences and aren't optimal for either the space or actually doing any projects. I've decided my first crafty genre to rehab is going to be scrapbooking. I really enjoyed making scrapbooks for my future MIL and the pages I managed to finish for my parents for Christmas last year, and since Katrina I've had this urge to document (for various reasons). In December when I was working on those books, I realized two things. The first is that I worked much faster on FMIL's book because I had a small set of photos to work with and wasn't overwhelmed with sorting through a huge stack every time I sat down to work on it (ie, the bricks-not-walls approach to crafting). The second was that, for the period of time I was working on those books, I kept everything related to the project lumped together so I could just grab it and work for an hour or so when I had the time to spare.
These were pretty good lessons to learn, so I'm applying them while thinking about how to organize my space. I'm going to try to put all of the scrapping supplies into containers that will be easy to pull out, work with, then put away, without having to dig through an enormous box to find the alphabet stickers or fancy stickers. I've also ordered this photo box system and am going to spend some declutter time sorting through the piles of photos waiting to be scrapped and toss (I know, gasp!) the ones which no sane person is going to want to see ever again while collecting the ones I actually want to put into a scrapbook into smaller sub-categories (ancient history, SCA, Kenyon, family, holidays, med school, etc). The theory is that when I have a little time to work on it, I can spend those couple of hours actually putting the scrapbooks together instead of being overwhelmed by piles of stickers, papers, and random disorganized photos. It'll take time on the front end, but I think in the long run it'll mean I end up with actual scrapbooks and not just piles of wishful thinking.
The other project I am pondering is some kind of greeting card organization. I would dearly love to be one of those people who remembers to send birthday cards. I mark them on my calendar, I buy cards in advance, I put reminders into iCal which fuss at me a week in advance, I add to-dos on various lists and star them and put them in red, and yet somehow I am late every single time. We're not talking the random classmate who sat on the other end of the row in Pathology, either -- I can't even manage to remember to mail my sister's card on time most years. It's embarrassing. So I've been thinking about what I need to make sure that I manage to do this. One thought is FlyLady's, to set aside one day a week for correspondence. I'll make it a weekly task, and try to remember to sit down at least once a week. The other is to make sure that when I sit down, I have everything I need to actually send the card (see above paragraph...). This is taking some thought, as most of the current systems I'm not terribly good with, obviously. In order to send a birthday card, I need 1. the card, 2. the address, 3. a stamp, 4. a pen. I think that's all. (Let me know if I'm wrong here.) I also need to remember what day the thing is due, and to mail it some time in the week before so it gets there within a reasonable window before the birthday, if not on it exactly. So here's my current plan, as it's evolved thus far.
1. A box. Possibly a filing box, or the box my photos are currently in which will be vacated after previously-mentioned organizational fiesta.
2. File folders or dividers. One for each month, plus some additional ones for events like babies, thank yous, sympathy, etc.
3. On each monthly folder, staple/glue/duct tape/rivet/otherwise attach a list of all of the birthdays, holidays, and other notable events which occur in that month.
4. Acquire cards. I actually have a ton of cards, since I have this habit of seeing cards and going, 'oh that's perfect for so-and-so! I shall get it and then I will remember her birthday this year!' except then I forget to do so. When I find cards for particular people, just go ahead and address them right that minute (worst that happens is they move and I have to find another envelope/put a label over it, right?) then put them in the appropriate month folder.
5. Acquire generic stamps and put them in the box.
6. When the reminders pop up on the calendar, add the task to @correspondence to-do list. When I do a weekly correspondence blitz, I will then have a to-do reminding me to do that card, the card in the folder, the name and date on the monthly folder list, and then I'll remember to send them.
7. Put the assembled card by the door in the to-be-mailed location. Gets put out with the mail the next morning and tada, I have remembered birthday.
8. Profit.
Okay, not actually profit. But you get the picture. What this means is I need the box, the folders/dividers, the cards, the monthly birthday breakdown (hello, print from iCal with Birthday calendar only selected...), some stamps, and a pen or two to keep in the box just so I don't have any excuses whatsoever at all in the slightest. And then I need to remember to do correspondence once a week. That is, unless I manage to find a way to make the cards jump out of the box and follow me around hollering at me until I remember to send them. Hmmmm....
After those two areas, I get to approach the rat's nest of yarn and UFO pile, the quilting cotton shoeboxes, and the stash of sewing stuff (including a box full of gorgeous fabric I will never, ever turn into garb but can't bear to part with). I picked the easy ones to tackle first!
In any case, this has been a riveting brain-dump about trying to get my life under control before I start intern year, after which point if it wasn't a habit before, it ain't happening. (Or so I'm told.) I don't know that any of it is of any interest to anyone other than me, but I suppose that's why I posted it in my LJ instead of someone else's. I feel better now, in any case!
One of the projects on the horizon for me is my craft closet. Currently, everything craft-related has been jammed in there somewhat helter-skelter, mostly in containers which were acquired for previous residences and aren't optimal for either the space or actually doing any projects. I've decided my first crafty genre to rehab is going to be scrapbooking. I really enjoyed making scrapbooks for my future MIL and the pages I managed to finish for my parents for Christmas last year, and since Katrina I've had this urge to document (for various reasons). In December when I was working on those books, I realized two things. The first is that I worked much faster on FMIL's book because I had a small set of photos to work with and wasn't overwhelmed with sorting through a huge stack every time I sat down to work on it (ie, the bricks-not-walls approach to crafting). The second was that, for the period of time I was working on those books, I kept everything related to the project lumped together so I could just grab it and work for an hour or so when I had the time to spare.
These were pretty good lessons to learn, so I'm applying them while thinking about how to organize my space. I'm going to try to put all of the scrapping supplies into containers that will be easy to pull out, work with, then put away, without having to dig through an enormous box to find the alphabet stickers or fancy stickers. I've also ordered this photo box system and am going to spend some declutter time sorting through the piles of photos waiting to be scrapped and toss (I know, gasp!) the ones which no sane person is going to want to see ever again while collecting the ones I actually want to put into a scrapbook into smaller sub-categories (ancient history, SCA, Kenyon, family, holidays, med school, etc). The theory is that when I have a little time to work on it, I can spend those couple of hours actually putting the scrapbooks together instead of being overwhelmed by piles of stickers, papers, and random disorganized photos. It'll take time on the front end, but I think in the long run it'll mean I end up with actual scrapbooks and not just piles of wishful thinking.
The other project I am pondering is some kind of greeting card organization. I would dearly love to be one of those people who remembers to send birthday cards. I mark them on my calendar, I buy cards in advance, I put reminders into iCal which fuss at me a week in advance, I add to-dos on various lists and star them and put them in red, and yet somehow I am late every single time. We're not talking the random classmate who sat on the other end of the row in Pathology, either -- I can't even manage to remember to mail my sister's card on time most years. It's embarrassing. So I've been thinking about what I need to make sure that I manage to do this. One thought is FlyLady's, to set aside one day a week for correspondence. I'll make it a weekly task, and try to remember to sit down at least once a week. The other is to make sure that when I sit down, I have everything I need to actually send the card (see above paragraph...). This is taking some thought, as most of the current systems I'm not terribly good with, obviously. In order to send a birthday card, I need 1. the card, 2. the address, 3. a stamp, 4. a pen. I think that's all. (Let me know if I'm wrong here.) I also need to remember what day the thing is due, and to mail it some time in the week before so it gets there within a reasonable window before the birthday, if not on it exactly. So here's my current plan, as it's evolved thus far.
1. A box. Possibly a filing box, or the box my photos are currently in which will be vacated after previously-mentioned organizational fiesta.
2. File folders or dividers. One for each month, plus some additional ones for events like babies, thank yous, sympathy, etc.
3. On each monthly folder, staple/glue/duct tape/rivet/otherwise attach a list of all of the birthdays, holidays, and other notable events which occur in that month.
4. Acquire cards. I actually have a ton of cards, since I have this habit of seeing cards and going, 'oh that's perfect for so-and-so! I shall get it and then I will remember her birthday this year!' except then I forget to do so. When I find cards for particular people, just go ahead and address them right that minute (worst that happens is they move and I have to find another envelope/put a label over it, right?) then put them in the appropriate month folder.
5. Acquire generic stamps and put them in the box.
6. When the reminders pop up on the calendar, add the task to @correspondence to-do list. When I do a weekly correspondence blitz, I will then have a to-do reminding me to do that card, the card in the folder, the name and date on the monthly folder list, and then I'll remember to send them.
7. Put the assembled card by the door in the to-be-mailed location. Gets put out with the mail the next morning and tada, I have remembered birthday.
8. Profit.
Okay, not actually profit. But you get the picture. What this means is I need the box, the folders/dividers, the cards, the monthly birthday breakdown (hello, print from iCal with Birthday calendar only selected...), some stamps, and a pen or two to keep in the box just so I don't have any excuses whatsoever at all in the slightest. And then I need to remember to do correspondence once a week. That is, unless I manage to find a way to make the cards jump out of the box and follow me around hollering at me until I remember to send them. Hmmmm....
After those two areas, I get to approach the rat's nest of yarn and UFO pile, the quilting cotton shoeboxes, and the stash of sewing stuff (including a box full of gorgeous fabric I will never, ever turn into garb but can't bear to part with). I picked the easy ones to tackle first!
In any case, this has been a riveting brain-dump about trying to get my life under control before I start intern year, after which point if it wasn't a habit before, it ain't happening. (Or so I'm told.) I don't know that any of it is of any interest to anyone other than me, but I suppose that's why I posted it in my LJ instead of someone else's. I feel better now, in any case!