You will achieve a grand dream, a day at a time, so set goals for each day / not long and difficult projects, but chores that will take you, step by step, toward your rainbow.
--Og Mandino
--Og Mandino
I'm an organizer freak, I admit it. I love organizing tips and tools, and The Container Store is my mecca. One of the best gifts Al ever gave me was a label maker. But what I found at the bookstore has got to be the best thing ever!
So, let me set this up for you. I am a list maker. Not just "a list" maker, but many lists, with sublists and subcategories. I've even made a list of things I need to make a list for. And I write them down on whatever I have handy, so I find them in pockets or in my purse or in a basket of yarn. The problem is that since I'm an "all planning and no follow through" kind of person, all these lists are doing is cluttering my house.
Enter the most amazing book ever! A book of lists!
Organize Now! A week-by-week guide to simplify our space and your life. Here, in 234 pages, is every list I've ever made and some I haven't but should have. Instead of me writing all these lists on slips of paper and being frustrated because my lists need to be better organized, here they are in a spiral-bound book, which is designed to look like a day planner (which is what attracted me to the book in the first place).
Jennifer Ford Berry takes weekly installments to get you organized. With checklists, tips, ways to stay organized for the whole year, and places for notes, she outlines everything to organize your papers, your things, each room in the house, storage areas, and special events like vacations and holidays.
It's a beautiful thing. And here's the really amazing part--I'm using it! I can't seem to keep it to a week because everything takes longer than I think it will, but my goal is that by the 2009 holidays, we will be living in a house where there's a place for everything and everything is in its place. Since Al is seriously thinking of putting in his retirement papers next year, it would be one less stressful thing if we had all the house stuff in order so that he could focus on adjusting to a civilian life.
The only hard part so far was the suggestion that I write down my top 10 priorities and schedule time in my planner to contribute to my priorities--it can be something as simple as calling Mom. The problem is that I couldn't come up with 10. I'm not sure what that says about me. Am I ignoring some priorities? Am I not being honest with myself? Is my life really that dull that I can't come up with more than 5 priorities. I think it's like my kitchen in San Antonio. It was the largest kitchen I had had, and I excitedly called my mom to tell her that I actually had empty spaces in my cabinets. "Not for long, I bet," she said. And she was right. By the time we moved again, my house-hunting parameters included a big-enough kitchen for all my stuff. So, although there's an opening right now on that list, I'm sure I will fill it up.
I've got lots to do, huh? I've found that if I will leave the tv off, it's amazing how much I get done. I've replaced the tv with podcasts. However, I'll waste hours looking up podcasts on iTunes. I've traded one procrastination tool for another. Oh well.
So the theme for the rest of 2009 will be "Organize This!"
And because I can't have a post without pictures of the cutest dog in the whole wide world, here's one of Cosette doing her latest trick and one of her in her favorite place on the couch.
