Apparently this is not the first time that I have set about "planning" to organize my time and physical surroundings. In fact, I found a journal that I wrote after my junior year in college. On May 17, 1970, exactly 40 years ago, I wrote the following:
...I need to "just basically GET ORGANIZED!
On May 18, 1970, I elaborated:
"If I want to get really organized, it's going to take more than just a couple hours. It's going to involve sorting through things in the attic, like mail I've gotten for the past 20 years until now, putting it all together, filing and sorting and putting it in a useable system. There's lots of resources there, but it's a matter of organizing (just like with tennis--I have lots of ability but it needs to be put into a workable framework and that takes patience to develop and the ability to determine priorities). Besides correspondence, I have books to sort through and put in shelves in Mary Jo's old room and we could work out a way to fix that up as an extra room. After dinner, we can work out a plan of how we want that room arranged and then if we spend a small time each day we can come up with something satisfactory."
Many things have changed in the past 40 years--I have finished college, played and taught tennis professionally, called lines for the Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs match, lived in Texas, California, Illinois, Michigan, and now back in Ohio, got my Master's and Phd, and rode my bike cross country.
One thing has not changed--I still need to get organized!! Apparently, that has not been the priority that those other things were. It's time to make it a priority. Today it is.
After making a one page list of things that I need to do that are related to school, I came up with the following ideas to start in my living room:
1. Video tapes: need to be cleared out of the living room, labeled and put in a central location.
2. Magazines: sort and store.
3. Bills: file receipts for bills paid.
4. Paperwork: shred what is not needed; sort and organize notes, readings for future reference.
5. Clear out furniture.
6. Vacuum and shampoo carpet.
7. When all of above is completed: Buy a big-screen TV (in time for French Open)!
How does that sound?
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7 comments:
Hey sis -
I agree with Trudy - sometimes it's just time to "let go". It's ok! I think a good theme to adopt would be to live for the future. Sure, it's fun to re-live memories, but it's more fun to have spare time to make new ones. I'm just as guilty of holding on to some things, thinking that for sure I'll need it for something and I never do. From your list, I would make each one a work station of let's say - 40 minutes a day for each item - no more.
My one suggestion to make bill receipt filing quicker/easier is to make a folder for each month and file every bill paid in that month in the same folder. That sure cut out a lot of extra work for me once I switched to that. And it's even easy when I get ready to prepare for my taxes. Good luck - looks like you're on track - keep us posted!
MJ
One more thing...do you really need all of those video tapes? Isn't there a way to really condense them like the libraries do - microfish or something - that won't make your room look like a warehouse...? (or just purge...)
Hi Trudy and Mary Jo,
How cool that you both posted comments! I will answer more in full, but thanks for posting comments!! I am already looking at big-screen tvs:-)
Nancy
Hi Nancy!
Wow, how time flies! Also, we now have a machine that converts old video tapes to slim dvd's. Em is an expert at that...maybe she can come over and convert them for you...what do you think? xoJenny
Hi again,
Thanks everyone for your great comments. It feels really good to get such positive feedback. So here is what I am thinking in response to what each of you wrote:
Trudy, I agree that since I have kept stuff for so long, it reflects a recurring problem. I think at one point, I had this notion that I would need to keep information about everyone I had known as friends at some time in my life (plus as Mary Jo and Jenny know, Mom and Dad saved--and still do save--everything!). One good thing about making trips home is that I always tend to come back motivated to get rid of stuff! For videos, that is a good question. Ultimately I need to put them someplace where I can sort through and preview videos that I plan to use for class. I'll get back to Mary Jo's question about getting rid of videos in a minute. For magazines, I have 3 file cabinets in the basement where I have sorted about 5 or 6 drawers for tennis magazines. I have really found it useful to be able to access those because I still use them in research and I would not be able to find them online (I have tried). That is probably the most valuable collection that I have for my research--even Emily agreed:-)
Mary Jo, I also really like your idea of adopting a theme of letting go and living for the future. That is one thing I am seeing. At one point, I realized that I did not need to keep all of the newspapers that I was keeping and got rid of bags and bags of newspapers. I probably still have files of newspaper articles that I have not seen for years, and I could probably throw some of those out as well. There are always the memories of things like baseball cards and Beatles' cards that were once thrown out, and I am just afraid that I might throw out something I would regret. I may need to put things in temporary storage, set a date by which I need to decide and then just get rid of things that I realize I do not need or plan to use.
Jenny, I like the idea of transferring videos to DVDS. In fact, I got a VCR/DVD player that has that capability. The only problem is that I do not know how to use it. If Emily could show me how to do it, that would be great. So, now to the videos--there are many that I use on a regular basis, mostly for classes (e.g., ESPN: Outside the lines; Sportscentury, etc.). That is often one of the things that students remark on, i.e., that they like the videos I show in class. But if I want to preserve them, it would probably be good to transfer them to DVDs. The other videotapes that I have are from Grand Slam tournaments in tennis. Since I do research on media coverage of tennis, I envisioned being able to analyze those tapes at some point in the future. But do I really need all the tapes that I am currently keeping, especially given that half of them are not even marked? Maybe not, but it is hard to think of letting go a collection like that...
Anyway, thanks again for all your feedback!
Nancy
A lot of great ideas - just curious - have you started with anything yet? I'm excited to hear about it.
Nancy - I found a neat website - see what you think...
This is from a blog by Mary Frances Ballard who writes about organizing motivation.
"In education we were told if we kept doing the same old things, we would get the same old results. In other words, we needed to try something new to get different results. I think the same thing applies in organizing.
To get yourself motivated, begin stimulating your brain with new activities in other areas first. Instead of watching the same television shows, watch something different. Even if you don’t like it, your mind will be stimulated in critical thinking.
You can try a new food product or recipe, go to a different grocery store or in reverse down the isles of your favorite store and drive a new route to work. Then start thinking about what needs organizing in your home. You may have some fresh ideas that will get you moving.
You may be surprised at the motivation you have once your brain is engaged in new patterns of thinking. Carol Miller, a quilter, gave me the inspiration for this and I must say it works. Give it a try for at least a week and let me know what happens."
It makes sense to me. It's easy to get in a rut. I'm going to try it.
Ok, here are a few more thoughts in response to the more recent comments you made:
MJ, I like the idea of trying to stimulate my brain to think in new ways about the "problem" of clutter and how to resolve it. One thing I have been thinking about is that organizing, or coming up with a plan for organization is like a puzzle--it helps to do the outline of it first and then look for pieces that fit together to see where they belong. I can sort through things, but until I have a place where they can go, it is something that I will have to repeat. I know that Morgenstern suggests doing things in a certain order--which makes sense, but I do need a system for what I decide to keep.
As for what I have done--I paid my bills--which takes a certain amount of sorting. And I cleared away one container full of stuff so I will be able to move stuff out of the living room to clean the carpet (and prepare for the big-screen tv:-)
The other thing that has motivated me in the past is watching shows like "Clean House." Or at least I thought that would motivate me. I end up feeling like at least my mess isn't as bad as some of those others. Besides, I could get a lot more done if I had that crew working working with me. So, I'm not sure it helps that much in the long run.
Trudy, you're right to question whether I need all that stuff if I haven't looked at it in years. I have a lot of clothes that I can probably part with. So, I am going to approach all this stuff with a new sense of resolve.
Wish me luck! And thanks again!
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