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Post by Owl on Nov 10, 2011 0:47:26 GMT -5
OMFG - 19 hours since I posted first
[Owl] Not ignoring things is like an obsession, like I couldn't walk past the AA briefcase I have that was still in the hallway from Tuesday (almost Thursday evening now) - had to put it away.
[WorldlyGoods] you really took that to heart, Owl. well done.
[Owl] Yes - but I need to build it into a habit consistantly. [Owl] I have a beginning at least [Owl] Also slightly distracting - like I said I am going to get stuff from the car, so far I've moved the case in the hallway, returned a spoon to the kitchen from the hallway, now getting the broom becausee the birdies have messed up my garden bed looking for worms - so I sweep the soil from the concrete back into the garden bed - then I guess I'll put the broom away - although it doesn't have a home yet. And only then can I get to the car
[WorldlyGoods] my world and welcome to it, Owl
[Owl] It is like someone has turned on the "I can't leave something un-done gene". It is like tight fitting clothing and electric fleas. [Owl] I know what it is called in AA speak - A profound psychic change.
Going to get more stuff out of the car.
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Post by eagle on Nov 10, 2011 1:01:15 GMT -5
Hi, I'd like thoughts and maybe pictures, of what works (or doesn't) for organisation for you? It might be how pantry/food is done or laundry organisation - whatever comes to mind. Looking forward to your posts. Owl. Owl, laundry organization for us is based on our space and although it works, I'd prefer something better. I don't particularly like keeping the laundry hamper in the closet, where we currently do, but it fits best in there and that's where we dress & undress. The problem is the odor, therefore I keep a can of lysol spray next to the laundry hamper & spray into the hamper periodically. We use a 3-compartment laundry hamper, wherein the clothes are pre-sorted as they go into the hamper: whites, darks, light colors. Besides the odor problem, the other problem is the distance from the hamper to the laundry room. Another is bending over to get everything out of the hamper, as I am short and reaching in isn't as easy as it used to be, I am noticing. But those are minor issues. Before we moved here, we lived in a house where this same 3-compartment hamper fit well in the master bathroom & that worked quite well, as odor control seemed easier that way. The distance to the laundry washing area was about the same there as it is here. For the actual washing & drying & putting away, we have our laundry room set up with a folding table & short rod to hold hangers. The table doesn't fold; I do the folding on the table, which is actually mounted to the wall. I don't hang clothes from the rod above the folding table, except for items that don't go into the dryer. Clothes that I hang as they come out of the dryer go onto a very small wall-mounted hanger rack (holds maybe 4-6 items at the most), then I transport those to the closet when done. I fold and/or hang laundry as it comes out of the dryer right there in the laundry room. No laundry baskets full of laundry to carry to another room to fold, etc. I also don't use a laundry basket to carry them when I put them away either, although I could if I wanted to, I just prefer not. In granddaughter's room, on the second floor, she has her own laundry hamper (plastic with a flip-top lid & air holes to prevent odor build-up), which she uses when she visits. I do one load of laundry per day. Not everything even goes into the hamper, of course, that's basically for clothing. When I change the sheets, they just go directly into the washer immediately. Same for throw rugs, wash then dry, then back on the floor. My MIL & FIL keep one laundry basket in there bathroom on the closet floor (they used to keep it under the bathroom sink, but after her amputation they cleared that area so her wheel chair would have access). Dirty clothes & towels go into the basket as used, and laundry is washed as the basket fills up. Their laundry 'room' is really just an alcove off the dining room, sort of like a closet. So MIL folds laundry at the dining room table.
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Post by Script on Nov 10, 2011 2:49:11 GMT -5
For me, who is NOT tidy by nature and who HAS various health issues, I had to banish the word LATER from my vocabulary. Do it now..........that is ALL that has ever worked for me. I had TERRIBLE problems for about 35 years with PAPERS at home. Then I bought an item that is similar to what is shown here: www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_skuset.asp?CatIds=3%2C41%2C60,64&name=CA%5FSK%5FSTAPLES+Business+Depot+%2D+Hanging+File+Racks It is a plastic desk-top storage rack that holds just a few hanging folders. I have it on the END of a large counter in the kitchen pantry: near the telephone. I have several folders here, but PRIMARILY two mega-important ones: *BILLS TO BE PAID *GARBAGE INFO [complicated recycling rules, the city trash day calendar, extra tags for extra bags, info on special recycling enviro-days etc] I have one large square decorative box for things that have to go UPSTAIRS TO THE OFFICE to file. When I open the mail standing up by the recycle bin, I have limited myself to just a few choices: *whatever I don't want goes right in the trash; if it has my name on it, I rip it up in several pieces *bills go in the BILLS TO BE PAID folder *receipts or tax info go in the UPSTAIRS box *money, cheques, gift cards: right into my wallet to deposit or spend *an invitation or other announcement-type thingy: pinned to the bulletin board. *magazines or things to read: to a magazine rack beside the phone. That is ALL I allow myself NOW, after decades of home disorganization and madness. I don't save coupons, but if I did, I would put a COUPON folder next to the BILLS TO BE PAID in the plastic file rack. Sure, this is a very simple system. But I have to open the mail ruthlessly every day and MAKE IT WORK. I am motivated because....... I remember one truly ghastly year when I did NO HOME FILING for the whole entire year. NOTHING. I was running a business here and needed to prepare all sorts of statements for tax purposes. Every single paper that had come into the house was UNFILED: just floating around loose in bags and laundry baskets; my office looked like a paper bomb had hit it. It was beyond dreadful. I think I cried during the zillion HOURS I had to spend to sort the mess. I swore this would never happen again. I had to have the tax stuff ready promptly, as our taxes were prepared by the accounting firm that sent me MOST of my paying work. If my stuff was messy, inaccurate, late, or in any way UNPROFESSIONAL, I'm sure they would have STOPPED SENDING ME WORK........
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Post by Owl on Nov 10, 2011 9:45:03 GMT -5
Script, I bought one of those small hanging file racks very recently - I do have a two draw filing cabinet that needs attention in due course. Tonight I've used your example above as a template for what might work here. Tomorrow, I'll need to arrange it so it works here for me. Regards, Owl.
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Post by flymomrn on Nov 10, 2011 9:51:14 GMT -5
I have found that photos help us keep things where they belong. I take pictures of the room/drawers/closets etc all cleaned up and organized and have them printed in a book. When I tell the kids to clean the room, I give them the picture and tell them to make the room look like that. It works well for the kids and me.
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Post by ClutterBlind on Nov 10, 2011 16:23:28 GMT -5
if the time it takes to put something away properly is longer than the time it takes to get it out i need to start worrying about what in the world i was thinking with how i'm organising/storing that item. As DJ says, if follow through is complicated, difficult, overly time-consuming and/or requires a lot of slide-puzzling to achieve, then there IS a problem with the system. Personally, throughout my life I've tended to create extremely detailed systems, which I've frequently been totally unable to maintain; my systems were usually overly time-consuming, and often slide-puzzling. Yes, I've read how if something is too difficult to put away, one may tend not to put it away. I was never taught how to organize correctly. So I don't know how to be SIMPLE but effective. In the past, my perfectionist streak made me over-analyze and create complex systems, that seem perfect once everything has been put away, only to realize later, that it only works one way: putting stuff IN the first time - that turns out to be the last time. I don't realize how hard it is to get back out, without displacing several other items. Or to get it back in again, it is too long and tedious for my REAL tendencies. One needs to be really HONEST about whether one will DO the process one has set up. I read once where if people have a problem putting clothes away on hangers, than to place a lot of coat hooks against the walls to hang things from. Make the homes for items where you tend to drop them, or nearby enough, that you will actually go there and put the item away.
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Post by ClutterBlind on Nov 10, 2011 16:37:18 GMT -5
Today, I'm 'trying on' the idea that I need to deal with each item to its conclusion. I have to consistently remind myself that things aren't -done- until i actually finish them including clean up. I'm not done getting dressed & putting on makeup until i put my makeup away. I'm not done sewing something until i put the sewing machine and tools away. I'm not done picking up the mail until i toss trash and file the rest Interesting concept. I have never thought of it all as one continuous process or loop. One of my biggest problems is leaving stuff out after using it. Sometimes I think I will get back to something, especially if it is a craft. Other times, I say that word, LATER, only later never comes to put items away. I never realized that I split up a process that should be thought of in one continuous step.
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Post by Celeste on Nov 10, 2011 16:52:09 GMT -5
Lots of good ideas here.
One question which helps me, particularly with paperwork, is to ask "If I was looking for this item, where's the first place would I go?" The answer tells me where it should go.
Organize for retrieval rather than storage and make categories broad for faster filing. This makes your filing system simpler too.
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Post by Owl on Nov 10, 2011 19:32:05 GMT -5
Breakfast - Mini wheats and milk and coffee and milk
So coffee pot cleaned and pre-loaded last night with water and ground coffee and placed on the stove. Bowl already washed from dinner last night. Cereal pre-measured so I control my intake - also added fibre.
Breakfast time: stove on, milk, cereal and cup readied.
Coffee poured. Breakfast eaten.
Food diary updated, dishes in kitchen. breakfast bowls soaking, milk container empty and in recycle bin, coffee pot dismantled and soaking, cereal container put away - so I can declare breakfast finished
This new bug of mine is amazing
During soaking the dishes I dropped the soap I have in the kitchen, so I needed to pick it up. I spilled coffee grounds while putting them in the bin, so needed to sweep them up.
Going to take medications now.
Consuming medications required me to immediately put the empty blister pack in the recycle and the empty medication box to be broken down and half shredded with my name details and the rest placed in the recycle bag.
I'm still somewhere between horrified / aghast and enthralled / amazed. It's distracting and empowering.
I posted a thread asking for help with Organisation. Instead I became 'possessed' by not leaving something 'undone'.
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Post by ClutterBlind on Nov 10, 2011 20:43:38 GMT -5
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Post by Freedom on Nov 10, 2011 20:59:54 GMT -5
Owl, I'm kinda sharing your new bug! Completing the circle! very zen, as DRenee would say!
This thread has really gotten me thinking about how my systems have evolved. Making the bed, for example. Originally, that meant smoothing all the blankets, pulling the bedspread up and tucking it under and over the pillows. Nice and neat. However, that meant wrestling with the bedspread. I went to a comforter instead of bedspread, but then I got a comforter cover and matching shams. They looked very nice, but this included wrestling with the pillows.
I have donated the shams, and put the comforter cover on a heavy blanket. My comforter is my bedspread most of the year, the comforter-cover-blanket is for colder weather, an extra blanket lives at the foot of the bed. Getting up means that, from under the covers, I pull up the sheet/blanket/comforter(s) on the inside of the bed (not against the wall, but not convenient to get to); then roll out; then pull everything up to the bottom of the pillows. There.
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Post by rnabckly on Nov 10, 2011 21:35:08 GMT -5
Very zen I say!!
Renee
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Post by wynken on Nov 10, 2011 23:17:52 GMT -5
wtg Owl with finding things that can be done to completion. and especialy wtg with doing them.
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Post by lizzie on Nov 11, 2011 0:30:18 GMT -5
I have a row of cardboard boxes with lids on, on several shelves of a bookcase. Craft stuff, photos, letters etc - all sorts of stuff in them. Used to have a name tag clipped with a bulldog clip on the front of each box.
But after a while, I realised I found the box I wanted faster if I had a photo of the contents on the front of the box. This works for kids too! The picture leads to faster identification. If you did not have a photo (I used polaroids) you could cut out a pic from a magazine, or print one from the interwebs, or even attach one of the items onto the front of the box (eg a battery, or an empty battery packet logo).
Otherwise, I found that things were rather "out of sight, out of mind" for me, also, and so didn't get used.
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Post by angela on Nov 11, 2011 16:14:41 GMT -5
I've gotten some good information on this thread for myself too. I like the "slide puzzle" metaphor. I have often thought of the moving around of large quantities of stuff as a domino type game, one piece has to fall into place before the next one can.
I'll take some pictures of my organization area today that are working. I will say this for myself. I am terribly out-of-sight-out-of-mind so my natural tendency is to leave things out on flat surfaces so I remember I have them. I have tried doing things like writing inventory lists for things in the kitchen cupboards for menu planning. It is partially successful.
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