"But I don't know where to start..." That's NO EXCUSE!

You've probably all heard me say (at one time or another) that "I don't know where to start!" Maybe you've even said it yourselves:-) Yesterday, when I met with Trudy, I heard myself saying it once again, until I realized that it was just an excuse. I had to decide if I was going to continue to make excuses, or determine to move forward. I have chosen the latter, but as always, I need your help.

Trudy gave me some suggestions of things I need to do to get started. Of course, now I cannot find the paper on which I wrote her suggestions, which is one of my biggest frustrations! However, I am going to use that as motivation.

Here is what I remember:

1. Post "To-Do" list on blog entry. [I did that last night--see previous entry].

2. Set up Google Calendar. This is what I have so far: http://www.google.com/calendar/render?hl=en&tab=wc

3. Look online for new desks to put in office, which I am preparing to set up in the front bedroom (formerly a mess). The desks below are examples of some that I found online. As you can see, these are quite nice, but I have no idea what they would cost. One of the things that sometimes deters me from organizing is that everything I have is such a mishmash. I would like to have things match, and maybe even get furniture that I don't have to put together:-)

These look like sets that belong in a house that is bigger than mine, but they also contain some elements that appeal to me. I like the arrangement of the one below with the desk in the middle, and lots of storage. I am also looking for a desk on which I can put the keyboard. The desk I now have has a small slat that pulls out. In order to type on it, I cannot sit close to the desk. Also, the monitor is about 6-8" higher than the height of the desk, which gives me a crick in my neck whenever I use it!

The next one has a lot of storage. I'm not sure what kind of wood I would like in the room where I will have my office, but I am thinking lighter rather than darker would be better. Most of the book cases I have are some variation of oak, so that would always match. I don't think any of these examples are oak.

The next one looks neat and functional and would fit with anything I have. Let me know what you think of the three arrangements. In addition, if you come across something simpler, let me know that too. I found these at the following website: http://www.closetfactory.com/home-office.php

Continuing my "to-do" list:

4. Clear out stuff in front bedroom so I can move office into it. Thankfully, Lori helped me to get started by transferring a lot of stuff to the basement. I still need to put all of my video tapes somewhere, but I will return to that later.

5. Once I have cleared everything out, I can sweep and clean the carpet to get it ready for setting up the office.

There is one more link that I found while I was searching online and that was Julie Morgenstern's website, so I wanted to include it here: http://www.juliemorgenstern.com/Organizing.php

Tomorrow, I will continue with steps 4 and 5, AND will post another blog entry so you can see how I am doing with the "To-do" list.

btw, several people said they could not remember how to post a comment on the blog. One way is to sign in to your gmail account. The other is to write a comment, and then when you go to post it, it will ask for the account or password that you use. I'm not sure if that helps, but I hope it does. Thanks, in advance for everyone's help and support!