What Are You Organizing For?

When you think about organizing or getting organized, what is your purpose?  What is the appeal for you?  Do you feel better when you are organized?  Are you tired of looking for things?  Do you feel overwhelmed by stuff?  There are lots of reasons to want to get and be organized, but when you find your reason - organize to that reason.

I watched an organizing video by someone who was over and above organized.  And it was Too. Much. For. Me.  She had every paper color coded by year and pattern.  Her sticky notes were organized by her color and her light bulbs had labels.  There was a recycling container by anything she might ever throw out - light bulbs, batteries, papers (I'm not against recycling, but there were too many for me.)  I'm sure that for some people, this type of organizing works great, but I couldn't handle it or live like that.  So I'm not organizing to reach that type of perfection.  I am organizing so I can find what I want when I want it, so I can use the things I have, so my house isn't overly cluttered and so I can live the way I want to live.

In the past few months I produced a play, "As You Like It."  I was in charge of costumes and scenery and many of the props.  Seven years ago, I produced a different Shakespeare play.  When I went to costume, do scenery and props, I could easily pull out the things I used seven years ago.  I knew where they were, they were accessible and not ruined..  Why?  I have a system in my house of where things are and where they belong.  It includes taking care of the things I have and using them.  My system and organization helps me to do the things I want to do.

What do you want your organization to do for you?

Flow

A few years ago, I chose the word flow as my word for the year.  I loved focusing on it and getting my house moving in a more flowing direction.  Stuff comes in, stuff goes out.  There is so much that is better with flow!  When things get stuck and stagnate, that's when you really start having problems in your house - you can't find things, there's no where to put things, there are stacks and piles.

Here are a few things that benefit from good flow in your house:

* Mail and papers.  Most of the mail and papers that come into your house can be sent right back out again.  You don't even have to let them come in.  You can stand at the recycling can when you get your mail.  But chances are, plenty will still make their way in.  But don't leave it in your house!  Create a good flow and don't let all that paper get stagnant.  At least once a week, I gather all the loose papers in my house and quickly sort them.  Most get sent out.  Here's my recycling pile this week:

I do this at least every week and that is still the size of my "out" pile.  Yours may be bigger or smaller.  But the more you move out, the more you don't have to deal with again.  

* Clothes.  You have clothes that don't fit, that are falling apart, that you won't choose.  Give them flow.  You let them come in and let them go out when they aren't fulfilling their purpose.  I went through my clothes about 2 months ago.  I filled a black garbage bag plus a few smaller ones with things to move out.  Move them out!

* Food.  The food in your house needs flow.  Food that sits is wasted food.  It rots, get stale, rancid or moldy.  Create flow in refrigerator, cupboards and counters.  I was so sad to find a box of healthy crackers on one of my shelves that expired in 2017.  I don't buy crackers much and I guess I never decided it was time to eat those.  By the time I tried them, I just had to throw them out.  That's flow, but a better flow would be to have eaten them.

* Toys.  Toys need flow - especially cheap toys that are fun for a few minutes and then are never played with again.  You can give these toys flow.  They fulfilled their 5 minute purpose - then let them move on and out.  If it helps, you can call them temporary toys.  Let them stay a day, a week, or even a month.  But once it's been long enough - move them out.  Give them flow.

Can you have a blog, abandon it for 10 years and then come back?  So much has happened in 10 years.  Those 4 little kids have grown up.  We've added one more baby who has already grown up to age 7!  The challenges of having littles - so many toys and needs and growing have changed.  When I look back on my posts from back then, I still agree with them.  I've also grown and become even better at organizing.  I have new ideas and lots of things I want to blog about.  So, at least for a little while, it looks like I'm back.

Don't Leave Anyone Out

I think I've been leaving my 5-year-old out. Whenever I have something I'm working on or need help with, I'm quick to call my 11-year-old and my 9-year-old. I also really like to know where my 2-year-old is, but somehow my 5-year-old scrambles through some things.

But this summer has been fairly crazy for me - so much that my hands, my husbands hands, my 11-year-olds hands, my 9-year-olds hands, and my 2-year-olds hands haven't been enough. I've had a few moments when I have NEEDED my 5-year-olds hands.

I have needed them, I've asked for them, and they have come. And they have helped. They have cleaned off a kitchen counter minutes before a party was going to start. They have cut cantaloupe, loaded the shoes in the shoe box, straightened the living room, put away the blocks, helped the 2-year-old get dressed. They have carried things to the car, cleared the table, and built lots of Lego cars. And everything he has done has blessed our family. And it's blessed him. I've seen how much he can do. He's seen how much he can do. And if he didn't already know how to do it, now he knows!

I'm grateful that I remembered to include him. And I hope I always do!

Get the Help You Need

We planted corn this weekend. My job was to furrow the rows while my husband tilled and my children planted. Part way down one of the rows, the furrow fell of its handle. I didn't know how to fix it, so I decided to till while my husband fixed the furrow. I've been gardening all my life and I had tilling experience (3 feet of garden a few weeks ago while my brother got a drink), so I figured I could till. (Tilling has never been my job). I did great until I got to the end of the row. I've watched the guys turn the tiller around easily at the end of the row, but when I tried, it barely turned and the tiller and I kept heading off towards a wood pile. I yelled, I tugged, I yelled, I tugged and missed the woodpile, but I was still tilling up grass. I yelled. I could see my husband and daughter yelling at me to do something, but I didn't know what. Finally, I understood. Let go of the handle. I let go and the tiller stopped. The lesson? Sometimes you just need someone who knows more or has done something a little bit more than you around. I've been gardening forever, so I thought I could do it, but I still needed some training. So do your kids. Maybe so do you. Maybe so does your husband.

When it comes to organizing, that means organize with your children. Let them see how you do it. Give them opportunities to help. Help them see how to do it.

When you are tackling something new, try it. Do everything that you can do and then get help. I'm in the middle of planning an event that is 10 or more times bigger than anything I've ever done before. It's so big, I almost don't know how to do it. But there is someone on the planning committee who has done it, knows how to do it, and can do it. I'm learning how to think big. It's kind of exciting. I've also had help learning how to raise chickens, learning to write HTML, and learning how to put phone numbers in my phone. Sometimes you just need help.

(I have pictures coming, but they're in an email and I can't figure out how to get them to my blog. My email/picture mentor will be helping me with this soon).

Be Ready and Do It When the Time Is Right

It's been raining all week at our house. The ground is sopping wet and saturated. But today it stopped raining, so I went outside and weeded. There were plenty of other things I could do today, but the time was right, so I went. The weeds came out easily and in no time and I had lots of piles of weeds all over my yard (but no longer growing in the ground).
There are lots of things that are easier to do if you do them when the time is right. Here's a few things I try to do that are much easier if I wait and prepare for the right time.

* Weeding.

*Copying. If I know I have copying coming up (anytime), I try to get it ready. Then if I don't need it immediately, I just leave it around my house. Almost inevitably, someone will need to copy something before I need my copying done and I can send it with them. It combines 2 copy trips into one and eliminates something from my "to do" list.

* Projects. I happen to have lots of projects going on at my house all the time. I like to have an idea of the things that are coming up in my head. That way, whenever I am shopping, I can be looking for the things I need for those projects. They may be months away, but if I get the things I need when I'm already shopping, I can usually save money on them, and be done without an extra shopping trip.

* Scheduled times in my life. (There is another post dedicated to this topic). I have scheduled times when I work on our finances, send big emails, and even write in my journal. Since I have a set time to do those things, I don't need to worry about them - or even think about them - at other times. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I have a time for those things - and when I do, I try not to spend any more time thinking about them.

What things work for you if you wait until the right time to do them?

Organizing My Blog

There is a never ending list of things that can be organized. My past month has been full of a 2,000 mile, 5 day family vacation; an (approximately) 2 week, 20 people family reunion at my house, and everything it takes to get ready for both of those. And the whole time, my blog has sat neglected.

I've thought about it a lot. I've had ideas for posts and even composed them in my mind. I've thought of things I want to change and update and improve. But I haven't done any of it yet. And that's ok. For the past month, it was more important - and I chose - to do other things with my time, effort and energy. And that's exactly what organization is about - choosing the things that are important to you and doing those things. I'm not ready to say my blog is clutter. But at different times of our lives, almost anything can become clutter. We need to clean it out and clear it out forever - or until it's important to us to make room for it again.

So I'm hoping I'm back. I'm going to work on improving my blog. I'm hoping to go back through and label my posts so it's easy to find posts of topics of interest. I'm hoping to post on a more regular basis. And I'm hoping to remember to take pictures! And I'll do it, as long as it's one of the important things in my life.