The Pile High Club--how NOT to become a member by Heather Lambie
Managing Household Paperwork
Initially, when asked to write about organizing paper at home, I wasn't sure how to attack it. Yes, I'm an organizer, but (gasp!) filing doesn't float my boat. But then I actually thought beyond filing, about all the ways that paper enters and impacts our homes and our lives, leaving miles of piles in its wake. Every day we are faced with sorting and filing mail, magazines, books, catalogs, student projects, medical records, bills, photographs, invitations, money, recipes, and of course, origami! OK, so maybe I won't cover origami in this blog, but I do promise to keep it light, laughable and true to life. Hope you check me out, and often!
I volunteer heavily at my kids' school in a variety of areas.
The school has two fundraisers every year, one a Spring Gala/Auction (on which
I work countless hours) and the other, a fall Golf and Tennis Tournament. One
of the things I volunteered to do this year was to act as a storage unit to house
in my work office the six GIANT boxes of giveaways for the Golf/Tennis Tourny.
This didn't seem like a big job or sacrifice at the time, because the boxes
arrived late August and the event was supposed to take place the first weekend
in October (just a few weeks of inconvenience).
Well the event was cancelled in October due to poor participation
(blame the economy) and rescheduled for January. Then it was cancelled again in
January due to a ridiculously cold and rainy day in Florida (drizzling and 32
degrees with a wind chill in the teens—not
ideal for an outdoor event). The
event has since been rescheduled for the end of May.
Why am I writing about this? Because my simple volunteer
effort has turned into an eye-opener for me. I now know why my clients
sometimes live with their clutter for so long: they don't see it anymore.
When those six giant boxes entered my office in August, they
were an instant eye sore. I had to step around them every morning and I
resented them, the space they took up, and the way they ugly-fied my office. I
cringed at the sight of them and couldn't wait until they were gone. Now
nearing the end of January, five months later, I don't even see them anymore.
They haven't moved an inch. I still have to step around them. But somehow, they
don't bother me. They have become invisible. And that is scary.
To me this is the perfect illustration of why it's important
to have fresh eyes take a look at your space, whether it's a friend, neighbor
or professional organizer. When you live with clutter for so long, you stop
seeing it and that means you don't do anything to remedy it.
At last year's NAPO convention I attended a session by
master organizer Sandra Felton. She mentioned the toilet paper roll method of
organizing. Simply put, you take an empty paper towel or toilet paper roll and
use it like a periscope to look around your house. Somehow, seeing things
individually, without seeing the whole picture, allows you to "see" in a new
light. So take a cardboard roll and
look across your kitchen counters. Look around your playroom or across your
bedroom dresser. You may be
inspired to purge or reorganize that pile of crap on your dresser that you've
walked past and lived with for the past few months (or longer). I will try this exercise myself this
week.
Further still, this experience offered me a secondary lesson
about the importance of saying "no" when someone asks you to house something of
theirs. Whether it's your sister
who doesn't want to get rid of a childhood desk, but doesn't have the space for
it so she asks you to hold on to it… or a father who wants you to keep the
quilt his mother made because it's a family heirloom (albeit a family heirloom
he doesn't value enough to find the space for)… or a friend who passes their
don't-want-anymores to you in a seemingly-kind gesture… DON'T TAKE IT, EVEN IF
IT WAS FREE. Your space is just as
valuable as anyone else's and it is not your responsibility to solve other
people's spatial dilemmas.
Next year, I will help the school by donating my time via an
organizing certificate instead of my very valuable office space.
...
I recently discovered a website by
Smead (best known for office filing products) that is a wonderful interactive
tool for people looking for help organizing their desk space or office (the #1
request I get as an organizer).
The site is called Smead Organomics and it
provides organizing solutions through an interactive website. With January being GO Month, there's no
better time to check out such a site....
I started writing this blog about how to properly organize
your holiday decor as you pack it back up so that you have everything in order
when you take it all out again next December. But there is actually something else on my mind and I figure
there are already enough holiday organizing articles out there already....
My six-year-old son has taken to a very nasty habit lately. No, not picking his nose. Somewhere he heard Sir Mix-a-lot's "Baby Got Back" song and thus he jumps around the house singing the only line he remembers, "I like big BUTTS and I cannot lie..." as he smacks his own rear end. I have to admit that when he does this I want to smack his rear end too (and not in the cute way). It's dreadful, even despite the fact that he doesn't actually "get" what he's doing or saying.
But over this past week while the kids were home on vacation (and my son was driving me crazy with this new habit) I started thinking about some of my own big "but..."s that have recently stopped...
I'm sure all of you are gearing up for Thanksgiving in one respect or another. When you are hosting it or attending it, preparations are in motion. If you are hosting Thanksgiving, I'm sure you have been arranging your home for guests for a few weeks now. If you haven't, I'm sure you are kickin' it into high gear now! Regardless of how much you clean up and clear out the rest of your home, the only room that really matters on Thanksgiving is the kitchen, since that's where everyone will work, eat, and congregate. And when it comes to organizing, kitchens are not for rookies.
I'm
posting pictures of my daughter's Pre-Kindergarten classroom because it is a
case study in organization. I am in LOVE with and in awe of her teacher, who
manages to wrangle 16 very noisy and often whiny four-year-olds for seven
hours each day... and still run a tight ship. It really gives you no excuse to not be able to keep things in control in your own home where you may only have two kids (not 16) and really, you only deal with them for an hour in the morning before school and a couple hours in the evening before bedtime. (I am talking about myself here) ...
My Husband - "Honey, how thin can you spread yourself before you're no longer there?"
Me - "I don't know. But I'm in it to win it, so we may have to find out."
The Sartorialist This site appeases my hunger for all things New York, reminds me of my time there, and gives me great ideas for unconventional looks.
Toffee To Go They are located in Tampa, very near me, but they deliver/ship nationally. They have THE BEST toffee EVER. It's buttery, salty, sweet--all my favorite things in one bite.
The Container Store I know this is a no-brainer for an organizer...but this place really turns me on!
Michael Buble If I wasn't happily married, I might be stalking him. Bar none, the best voice and best sense of humor!
Quotes That Move Me
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf "The truth of the matter is, you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it."
Ivern Ball "Most of us ask for advice when we know the answer but we want a different one."
Ralph Waldo Emerson "The secret of education is respecting the pupil."
Ralph Waldo Emerson "Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen."
Abigail Van Buren "The best index to a person's character is how he treats another person who can't do him good, and how he treats people who can't fight back."
Dorothy Galyean "Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere."
Aristotle "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
Mark Twain "To be satisfied with what one has; that is wealth. As long as one sorely needs a certain additional amount, that man isn't rich."
Jackie Kennedy "If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much."
Paris Spent only one day here (took the Chunnel from London when I was there) but it was one amazing, beautiful day where I walked the flea markets, visited the Louvre, people-watched and used all 6 senses to experience it.
Trinidad & Tobago My husband is from here, so we go several times a year to visit family.
Italy (Milan, Vicenza)
Jamaica
Things I'd Like To Do Before I Die
Run a leg with the Olympic torch before the games begin
See the monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico
Ride a horse on the beach (in the water)
See a prize fight (boxing) in Las Vegas
Run the NYC Marathon I ran the Disney Marathon in 2000 (pre-kids). Would love to run another post-kids, to prove I can.
Have washboard abs.
Eliminate self doubt.
Own an apartment in Manhattan.
Watch the ball drop in Times Square on New Year's Eve.
If you notice any problems with this site, please contact our webmaster.
And if you don't see what you need you are welcome to "ask the organizer" any question!
To see what people are saying about OnlineOrganizing.com, check out our visitor comments.
OnlineOrganizing.com is a service mark of Bradford, LLC.
