Getting Organized in 2010 : Mid-January Update

My resolution to get organized this year continues. I’ve decided to make this a twice monthly feature.   Some slow but steady progress has been made, in my fight over storage issues, over the past two weeks. 

Getting my Schedule Organized

Since the end goal is to be organized in all areas by the end of the year, one of my small projects was finding a day planner that would  hold up in my purse and  I would actually use.  I found a small Day Runner in the pink ribbon selection at Staples, that I’m quite pleased with.  The outside is mostly black, but has cute stripes inside and a spot for business cards, most importantly, it seems sturdy enough to hold up to the wear & tear I’ll give it.  Once I pick up one of those giant wall calenders for my office, I should have the scheduling part of  “operation organization” covered.

In the Kitchen

After I’d tossed out anything in the pantry that was past date, or would end out just sitting around for another 6 months, I washed down all the shelves.  Rather than repainting them as I’ve done in the past, I lined them with contact paper.  It will be easier to maintain. 

I still want to add a couple wire shelves, to improve the capacity, but the pantry is functioning better already.

  Toys

It may seem counter intuitive, to buy another toy, when you are having trouble keeping the ones you already have in check, but that is just what I did.  As I wrote about last week, I got a great deal on a Kid Kraft play kitchen, for my daughter.  While I did think it would be a fun addition to her room, and a toy she could grow into… I was looking at the storage potential it had.  I found it to be the perfect place to store her play food, tea set and a few odds & ends.

Get Out of my Life

It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in a house in 10 years.  Big Sisters is coming on Monday and so far I have 4 bags of clothes, 2 bags of toys and 1 of household items.  I’m sure I will come up with a few more bags tomorrow.

Getting rid of stuff can be hard for some of us.  I was raised in a “pack rat” household, and getting rid of items which still have value can be a bit hard for me.  Eventually I hope to be able to look on my stuff with a cold eye, and say do I love it or need it, if not it’s out, but I am still at the point of ridding myself of the things I either never really liked, or know I won’t use.  The tougher cuts will come later.  I live in a Victorian era home, and simply don’t have much storage.

I’m pleased with my progress so far, and am eager to continue on this organizational overhaul.  My new motto is…

“A place for everything and everything in it’s place” ~ Benjamin Franklin

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