Okay, I mean it. I have to get organized. Many of you who know me are laughing, and that's okay. I hope some of you are saying, "Amen, me too sister!" And, I hope a few more of you are saying, "I can help you with that." Praise you if you can, the good Lord knows that my parents tried for years. They still try. My poor mother-in-law who is a very clean and orderly lady, is frequently appalled by me. In her house, everything has a place, and she puts it back there. She has tried to create this system in my house, working herself ragged when she visited, but sadly it never sticks. Now don't get me wrong, my house is clean, it's just not organized. We waste so much time as a family looking for lost shoes, shin guards, library books, phone numbers – you get the picture. It drives me nuts.
For the next week or so I am going to talk about some organizational challenges I am having, and I hope you'll share your ideas and solutions with me. If you are a big mess like me and you have an organizational challenge you would like some help with, write to me and I will include it.
It's been awhile since I have had a monthly drawing, so I am going to host a drawing this month for a $10 gift card to Target. Use your gift card to buy file folders, labels, plastic tubs, whatever you may need to help get organized too! Every time you leave a comment between now and Oct 10th, you will be entered in the drawing.
So today's challenge – my office. I have wanted my own office for 10 years. In our new house, I finally have one. It has a great walk in closet, plenty of room and opportunities, yet as you see – it's a big mess. It seems to be the dumping ground for school, church and house paperwork. There are piles of the kids' artwork mixed in with books for writing projects, crafts and family photos. So how do you organize your home office or workspace? Start sending in those ideas, and get entered in the drawing.
12 comments:
So feeling unorganized is incredibly overwhelming all the time. I (having just moved) know the feeling. I have a few suggestions. One throw it away. Part of the reason we get unorganized is we have way too much stuff. While art projects are awesome and we treasure every one of them, we can't keep them all. I keep them around in on the fridge for a week and then I move them to a temp box, this box sits on a shelf and I just dump them in there. I go through the box when I can (I strive for once a year) when I see the projects again and I cannot remember their signifigance, they are gone. I have found that makes me treasure the ones I do keep. I then move the treasures to an acid free storge box (The Container Store), where they are not cluttering up everything. I know some people take pictures of the stuff and then develop little pictures of the artwork and put that in a baby book too, I am not that organized. You need to just go out and buy some shelves of some sort and give yourself a chance to be organized. I was not until I had shelves put in around me and then I found it easier to be organized than un.
Lastly, you have to make the decision. Its just like any other habit that's hard to break, instead of putting things in a pile, put them away, or buy a bin for shoes and then be super diligent about making everyone put their shoes in there. Don't let things pile up, then you will NEVER tackle them, they are just a TO DO list with a voice and shape and who needs that! You will relax and enjoy your space more if they are gone.
amen sister! i'm part laughing and part in total agreement. sometimes i have the best intentions just the piling gets the best of me. one thing, after just recently being in your house your office needs something! you could really use some organizational furniture, shelves, filing cabinets. i have a fantasy of having magazine bins on the walls (you know the ones they sometimes have in drs offices) and filing things in there right away. having a spot for everything.
the most recent organization change i've made and am proud of is our art supplies in the kitchen. i used to just pile them ontop of the fridge and things would slide off and bonk people on the head. i got storage cubes from Micheal's. 4 in different shapes and sizes. i love them because i'm more apt to say YES! let's color if i can easily get to them. and the draws pull right out. so if we want to draw i pull out the drawer of paper and the drawer of markers and set them on the table. voila! it's a change i've actually been able to make and kept with.
baby steps, baby steps. one thing at a time! i'm still eagerly awaiting my garage office to be done so i can finally set things up permanently. i've gotten into a grand habit of not being organized because i just cannot be so with the space i currently have. so we can't find anythign at the moment. but i have high hopes when i get to move out there!
Hi Wendy. Here are my best ideas for organizing kids' paperwork.
At the start of each school year, I buy a large, plastic envelope or expandable file folder for each of my kids and label it with their name and their grade/age. When they bring a stack of papers/artwork home, I sort through it immediately and put everything I want to keep in it. I don't keep everything they bring home, but I do include lots of art, photos, creative writing, report cards, letters from their teachers, etc. At the beginning of the summer (or when the file starts getting too thick), I go through their file and take photos of the art, saving only a few of the best pieces. I make prints of the rest and include them in their scrapbooks on a page titled "Sarah's Art Gallery" or something fun like that. Even if you don't scrapbook, you can still keep the photos, or put them on a disc.
Archiver's has some great 12x12 plastic boxes that are also great for storing kids art work, especially oversized stuff, and they stack neatly!
Someone already said it, but the key for me is dealing with paperwork ONE TIME. I don't make stack to deal with later...I sort/toss/file the mail every day after I check it, and the same with the kids stuff. Thankfully, everything comes home on Thursday, so I know that on Thursday night I'll be sorting/tossing/filing.
Sorry this is so long.
Why is this such a universal problem? I struggle with this all the time too, and it kills me because I was practically Martha Stewart Jr before I was married and had kids. So much easier when it was only YOUR stuff floating around the house!
I am in agreement with Jinny. Some things just need to be thrown out, recycled, donated, etc. Looking at the picture of your office, I would agree that some shelving, bins, cabinets, whatever your organizational furniture of choice, would really help you. It will feel instantly better when everything is at least up off of the floor!
I like Jinny's plan with the artwork too. I did that last year, kept everything in a huge portfolio, then when we overflowed that, another portfolio. Then I just went through it about a month ago, keeping the treasures and recycling (in the dead of night so as not to upset my preschooler!) everything else.
Maybe deciding what you want to have in your office and what you don't will help too. Do you want your office to include organizational space for your kid's school stuff too, or just limit it to your own personal projects? You said there was a walk-in closet too - how fabulous! I've seen people install those wooden dowels to hold rolls of wrapping paper in office closets - that would make Martha very proud!
Perhaps the best place to start is a list of everything you want to do for your office, how you want to organize things, what supplies you will need, and just pick one thing to do each week, or 1 hour each evening, or whatever your time frame is. Good luck!
Good luck. I need help too!!!
It's my opinion that you are either organized or you are not, and no amout of lables, files, organizers or other such "organizational helpers" will do the trick. It's a personality trait that some people cannot tolerate the clutter and never let it happen and others tolerate it much better, and said clutter is a constant in their homes.
I'm right there with you! I am in the process of organizing my office at this very moment. The most helpful thing that I've done is to put up a card table with a pretty table cloth to cover it. On top are inboxes for incoming mail and papers. I have a total of 8 inboxes ($5 a piece at the Container Store)-- 2 rows of 4. My categories are receipts, calendar items, important school papers, art work, bills and to file papers. I have a couple of extra inboxes as I am sure I will find a couple more paper categories. I plan to go through them when they fill up. I have a ways to go on getting the rest of my office organized, but this little system seems to be keeping my papers organized without too much effort. Good luck!
I'll give you my two cents on Thursday! Live and in person!
:)
Joanne
Wow. There are lots of responses on this subject or is it the gift card offer! I agree with Michelle that I think some people are organised and some are not. I'm in the not category but I can do little things to improve my organisation.
For example I was always misplacing notices from the school. The solution was to commandeer a set of Ikea drawers that Jack had previously. There were 6 drawers just slightly bigger than a sheet of paper. Each child had 3 drawers each - one for art, one for work completed in class and the other was for notices from the school. When a drawer became too full I just went through that drawer and emptied it a bit. It meant I could always find the list of parents' telephone numbers to arrange playdates!
In the kids' bedrooms we bought more Ikea storage (you might gather I love that shop) and got the kids to label their own drawers and what they wanted to put in it. It gave them ownership even if some of their categorising was a bit strange.
Don't worry too much about mess. We will have enough time when the kids have left home to get our homes tidy and then we'll probably be wishing for another art project.
Might one of your girls have the gift of organization? If so, put that child on it with the promise of m & ms. Hey, it worked for potty training. I am finding that my new kindergartner is dying to exercise her new found leadership skills. She puts together a to do list and calls out commands to her little sister and brother as good as any army drill Sargent I know. Delegate.
When you strike gold and come up with the magic answer please let me know. I was not born with the organizing or the cleaning gene. I guess I would rather "feel" organized but I like to "see" a clean house.
We are constantly moving toys and kids things around in hopes of finding the "prefect" match of convenient play areas for the boys and calm and serene area for adults.
I don't have any magic answers but I applaud you for tackling this task!
do you have an ikea? it is a great place to visit and get ideas. Actually it is better to go through their catalog first decide what you NEED and then go visit the store. 'it is a great space with a lot of potential...can't wait to see the picture.
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