I have a handmade notebook with forms I've made to "organize" Christmas.
One of the forms is to record who we receive Christmas cards from and who we send them to. I have columns (after the name of who I sent to) for checking off codes. There's a column to check if I send them a family newsletter inside their card, another column to check if I send them a picture and a column to indicate whether I mailed the card or hand delivered it to them.
I have a roster with all the addresses and the updated (new) addresses. I think the old addresses are still there too. Don't know why I keep those, just do.
I have several forms to plot out what stores I plan (or still need) to shop for gifts at. There is a chart to list what gifts I have purchased and for whom. I keep planning pages from Christmas Eve's past (that's when we have all of our kids and grandkids over to our house for dinner and give them the gifts from us). I list the menu and beverages served.
I wish I would have thought of writing down the gifts I gave them a long time ago (for their birthdays too). One year my grandson opened one of his birthday gifts from us, it was a DVD, and he told me that he already had it ... and we had given it to him!
I have aluminum buffet trays and warmers ... somewhere. We use them on Christmas Eve and also on New Year's Eve. I haven't seen them in awhile. I wonder if I got rid of them last year ??
Did they finally wear out? I don't remember ...
Monday, December 7, 2009
paper pre-sorting
If you don't have OCD, you won't understand this. If you do have it, you'll know what I'm talking about before I even get it all typed out.
I put together 5 banker's boxes and labeled them: school, home files, Christian, scrapbooking, cards & my writing. These are the main categories of all the papers I have. I have boxes and boxes of papers. Some boxes need to be sorted, some need to be filed. I think they have all been purged of trash ... I think. Back to the boxes I labeled -- I set them out and went through a box of papers that needed to be filed. These papers had been purged of trash but all the categories were mixed up in this box. As I picked up a paper, I would place it in one of the 5 banker's boxes.
My plan seemed to go smoothly until I came upon some papers that I didn't know exactly where to place. Uh oh. Sub-categories. "Subcategories" are a sign to me that I'm thinking too much (too obsessively). For instance, if I continued thinking about all the sub-categories, I'd end up with tabbed dividers and manilla file folders inside the bankers boxes. Now was not the time to break the boxes into sub-categories. If I did that now, my processing of this box of papers would come to a screaching halt.
I started making a "misc other" pile. I told myself not to worry about what I was going to do with these papers.
I did have a quick thought (fear actually) that I could end up with 10 or 15 banker's boxes labeled (because of the sub-categories) and that would be overwhelming. I tend to make things into something much bigger than it needs to be. I can exhaust and frustrate my own self like no one else can.
I was excited about this sorting plan. I tried to tell my husband about it. I should have known better. He didn't "get it" and he wasn't enthusiastic about it. I'm fortuante that he allows me to have/use the boxes in the first place. Best to share my organizational brain storms here, with you.
Have to keep going, keep clearning out the dining room.
I put together 5 banker's boxes and labeled them: school, home files, Christian, scrapbooking, cards & my writing. These are the main categories of all the papers I have. I have boxes and boxes of papers. Some boxes need to be sorted, some need to be filed. I think they have all been purged of trash ... I think. Back to the boxes I labeled -- I set them out and went through a box of papers that needed to be filed. These papers had been purged of trash but all the categories were mixed up in this box. As I picked up a paper, I would place it in one of the 5 banker's boxes.
My plan seemed to go smoothly until I came upon some papers that I didn't know exactly where to place. Uh oh. Sub-categories. "Subcategories" are a sign to me that I'm thinking too much (too obsessively). For instance, if I continued thinking about all the sub-categories, I'd end up with tabbed dividers and manilla file folders inside the bankers boxes. Now was not the time to break the boxes into sub-categories. If I did that now, my processing of this box of papers would come to a screaching halt.
I started making a "misc other" pile. I told myself not to worry about what I was going to do with these papers.
I did have a quick thought (fear actually) that I could end up with 10 or 15 banker's boxes labeled (because of the sub-categories) and that would be overwhelming. I tend to make things into something much bigger than it needs to be. I can exhaust and frustrate my own self like no one else can.
I was excited about this sorting plan. I tried to tell my husband about it. I should have known better. He didn't "get it" and he wasn't enthusiastic about it. I'm fortuante that he allows me to have/use the boxes in the first place. Best to share my organizational brain storms here, with you.
Have to keep going, keep clearning out the dining room.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
For the Love of a Box
My brother and I were the last ones to leave the park after a family reunion. We made sure all the trash was thrown away. There was a big empty cardboard box sitting on one of the benches. Earlier in the day it was packed with chicken from El Pollo Loco.
I admired the box. It was sturdy. It had handles (holes) on both sides. It had a lid that flipped up. It was clean (no stains inside). I was tempted to take it.
I carried the box over to where my things were gathered. I said to my brother, "Here's a good box." He agreed.
The box was larger than a Banker's Box which meant that it would not stack uniformily with my other boxes. As much as I admired the box, I was able to leave it.
Later that evening, I mentioned the box to my mother. She said she had seen the box and SHE had thought about taking it home too. She said it was a very good box.
My aunt said if she had seen the box, she probably would have taken it. She said she could use a good box. If we weren't so far away from the park now, one of us might have gone to see if the box was still there.
I admired the box. It was sturdy. It had handles (holes) on both sides. It had a lid that flipped up. It was clean (no stains inside). I was tempted to take it.
I carried the box over to where my things were gathered. I said to my brother, "Here's a good box." He agreed.
The box was larger than a Banker's Box which meant that it would not stack uniformily with my other boxes. As much as I admired the box, I was able to leave it.
Later that evening, I mentioned the box to my mother. She said she had seen the box and SHE had thought about taking it home too. She said it was a very good box.
My aunt said if she had seen the box, she probably would have taken it. She said she could use a good box. If we weren't so far away from the park now, one of us might have gone to see if the box was still there.
Friday, December 4, 2009
A GOOD Day !
I cried myself to sleep last night.
I knew I HAD to get some stuff out the door. I am the main clutterer. They have their's too, but mine has reproduced uncontrollably for years.
Now to the GOOD day : ) Today, I was determined to sort and purge ruthlessly. I opened the back of my van and filled it up with donations to take to Goodwill. I made myself sort through a box of papers. I emptied two other cardboard boxes and put them in the recycle can. I told my daughter to go and get one thing from her room that she needed to get rid of. That item was donated to Goodwill as well.
Any progress I have made is only by the grace of God. He is the one who is doing the work inside of me. And that's what it is, an inside job. I can't declutter and stop hoarding on my own. It's not my willpower at work. He is breaking this bondage in me.
I knew I HAD to get some stuff out the door. I am the main clutterer. They have their's too, but mine has reproduced uncontrollably for years.
Now to the GOOD day : ) Today, I was determined to sort and purge ruthlessly. I opened the back of my van and filled it up with donations to take to Goodwill. I made myself sort through a box of papers. I emptied two other cardboard boxes and put them in the recycle can. I told my daughter to go and get one thing from her room that she needed to get rid of. That item was donated to Goodwill as well.
Any progress I have made is only by the grace of God. He is the one who is doing the work inside of me. And that's what it is, an inside job. I can't declutter and stop hoarding on my own. It's not my willpower at work. He is breaking this bondage in me.
A Bad Day, part 2
Two things bothered me about my daughter moving that stuff yesterday.
1. It was blocking access to that side of the room. I couldn't get through.
2. Everything was out of order. I didn't know what was where. I labeled the boxes but the boxes were not neatly stacked and the labels were not all facing out.
I have found that if a stack of boxes can be placed on wheels of some sort, they can easily be rolled out of the way. Most of the boxes that were in the dining room were on a rolling cart. She did not leave them on the cart. The cart is against the wall, folded up. Now I will have to move the boxes one at a time to get past them.
1. It was blocking access to that side of the room. I couldn't get through.
2. Everything was out of order. I didn't know what was where. I labeled the boxes but the boxes were not neatly stacked and the labels were not all facing out.
I have found that if a stack of boxes can be placed on wheels of some sort, they can easily be rolled out of the way. Most of the boxes that were in the dining room were on a rolling cart. She did not leave them on the cart. The cart is against the wall, folded up. Now I will have to move the boxes one at a time to get past them.
A Bad Day
Had a really bad day yesterday but it was the bad day that birthed the good day I had today.
My daughter started clearing the dining room (of my clutter) to make a place for our Christmas tree. I was away from home. When I came home and walked into the dining room I saw some open space. At first I liked seeing the space, but all too quickly I realized WHY there was open space. Something (a lot of somethings) were gone!
I looked into our office/work room/library/storage/etc ... room. That's what I was afraid of !! Everything she had moved was put into one side of the room -- the side where my scrapbooking materials are and the file cabinets. I could no longer walk into this area with the boxes everywhere.
I did not react well. I got mad. I vented. I left home. I went to a store and looked around. I tried to find SOMETHING to buy to make me happy. Didn't find anything that I really wanted to spend money on. Shopping just to make myself happy has lost it's joy (which is a GOOD thing).
My daughter started clearing the dining room (of my clutter) to make a place for our Christmas tree. I was away from home. When I came home and walked into the dining room I saw some open space. At first I liked seeing the space, but all too quickly I realized WHY there was open space. Something (a lot of somethings) were gone!
I looked into our office/work room/library/storage/etc ... room. That's what I was afraid of !! Everything she had moved was put into one side of the room -- the side where my scrapbooking materials are and the file cabinets. I could no longer walk into this area with the boxes everywhere.
I did not react well. I got mad. I vented. I left home. I went to a store and looked around. I tried to find SOMETHING to buy to make me happy. Didn't find anything that I really wanted to spend money on. Shopping just to make myself happy has lost it's joy (which is a GOOD thing).
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