Tag Archives: organization
February 3, 2012 Great Changes in Store
I have been away from my virtual universe for a while planning something new for My Organized Nest. I’ve been considering new inspirations, new activities and new directions in general.
I suppose the best time to have done this would have been New Year’s Day when everyone is making changes and making new goals. On the other hand, there’s no time like the present and February 6 will just have to work!
This blog will soon be living up to its mantra of organization even more than it has already been. I hope to create a blog that will be even more helpful for your daily life and your home while continuing to bring a light moment and a smile to your day.
No more hints yet! Come back Monday for the reveal!
Tags: blog, organization
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- Posted under Crafting
November 29, 2011 Don’t Know Where to Begin with Home Organization?
To some people, organizing comes easily. It is a habit, a way of life. These people can organize in their sleep. They can’t possibly imagine why non-organizers are not like them.
To others, organization is equivalent to putting a 1,000 piece puzzle together without the foggiest notion of how the finished picture is supposed to look. To them the best option is to simply light a fire and call it arson.
Do you need a place to begin with organization? Here is a quick rule. When organizing anything, limit yourself to one area or room at a time and finish that room before moving on to another. There are generally four options for any item.
1. Throw it away.
Is it obviously garbage? Old papers, mail, junk that you pulled out of your purse to take care of at a later time. If you are never going to look at it again and you do not need to keep it in your records (such as for taxes, retirement, etc.), erase any compunction you may be feeling from your mind and mercilessly (and immediately) throw it into the trash.
2. Give it away.
Is it something that you never wear or use but that others may? Then give it to a charity such as Goodwill or Salvation Army and take it as a tax deduction. Would a family member or friend love it, use it or wear it? Then ask them if they would like to have it. (A word of caution: no one wants to take all of someone’s old junk. However, if it is in good condition and they genuinely say that they would like it, then by all means, give it to someone you know.)
3. Store it in a box to save for old times’ sake.
Some items, such as your great grandmother’s china dishes, an old book that your father would always read to you when you were a child or a Christmas dress that your mother sewed for you when you were 10 years old, hold very special memories. I am a firm believer in saving some things simply because they are sentimental objects. However, typically you only need to save a sampling of the most precious items. If you save every single thing, chances are that you will never open the dozen boxes that they are stored in to look at them again.
Another option with especially bulky items or large sets is to take several photographs of the items. Then save these files to a much-more-easily-stored compact disc.
4. File it away or make a home for it.
Everything that is left now needs to be put away. Put it back in its original place or make a new home for it. File papers by subject such as health insurance, cell phone bills, craft patterns, recipes, etc. Place other items in cupboards, closets or storage baskets in the rooms where they are most likely to be used. Remember, like needs to go with like.
Tags: file, garbage, Goodwill, organization, organize, photographs, sentimental, tax deduction
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- Posted under Organizing
September 18, 2011 Giving the Benefit of the Doubt
I am going to give Elaine St. James the benefit of the doubt by reviewing her introduction to her book Simplify Your Life first. I am normally the type to disregard introductions as much as possible so that I can get to the “good” part of the book faster. However, typically the introduction sets the tone for the whole book.
She quotes Jerome K. Jerome, an English writer and humorist, before beginning her writing.
“Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need – a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink, for thirst is a dangerous thing.“
Ahhh, doesn’t that sound nice? … more or less? Let’s see.
I love my home; my home is my comfortable refuge and the place that bears my mark in the world. I love simple pleasures – those things that cost next to nothing to enjoy. The summer breeze, the crunch of autumn leaves under my feet, the lapping of waves at the beach, the beauty of a rainy day, the first snowfall. All of these things only need the right attitude and possibly a good friend to enjoy them with. I believe that I have the dearest group of close friends that I could ever ask for. I would much prefer to have two or three friends that know all about me and care for me than to claim the popularity of hundreds. Someone to love and someone to love me would be my dear fiance. A cat and a dog. Hmmmm, would two indoor cats and one outdoor cat be the equivalent? (By the way, while certainly making my life more pleasant, I don’t know that my cats necessarily SIMPLIFY it.) A pipe or two. ***Ahem*** Could I go with a candy bar or two? That’s approximately the same danger to my health. Enough to eat – CHECK. Enough to wear – CHECK. (However, please don’t look in my closet because I would have to clarify that I have MORE than enough to wear.) A little more than enough to drink. Give me water, an occasional Sprite, Simply Orange orange juice and some almond milk and I am good to go.
So…. as for the author, she states that she was involved in the fast-paced hectic lifestyle of the early ’90s and was coming out of the “give me more” attitude of the ’80s. She seems to have been obsessed with organization to the point that she had a “daily schedule, which was laid out in a time-management system roughly the size of Nebraska.” Uffda! Sounds like more work than organization! She suddenly realized that she wanted her life to be much less complicated. She came up with this simplification plan that her husband also signed on to and began to make major (may I repeat, MAJOR) changes.
Their three goals…
1. to have the things in their lives (homes, cars, clothes, diets, relationships) “to be small enough and few enough and simple enough that [they] could easily take care of them [themselves]“
2. to “free [themselves] from the commitments, the people, and the obligations that kept [them] from having time to do the things [they] really want to do”
3. to keep their lives “consistent with [their] desire to live in harmony with the environment”
And her disclaimer that will be important for me to remember as I look through the rest of this book. She says, “Keep in mind that one person’s simplicity is another’s complexity.”
AGREED!
Tags: cats, daily schedule, Elaine St. James, fiance, home, life, organization, simplicity, Simplify Your Life, writing
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- Posted under Managing Time, Organizing
