Day 151--Back to Square One

So, I look around my house and I see that I'm back where I started. Well, mostly anyway. Papers piled high around my desk; I literally cannot find anything I'm looking for lately. Sticky floors, unmade beds, baskets of laundry, unpaid bills, unfinished projects... There is no organized bliss here. Nor has there been for a long, long time. I look back on day 60--organized and CLEAN bath toys. It's been a long time and, believe it or not, they are in dire need of a fresh clean again. I'm in survival mode, for the most part, and it's really a place that I don't like to be.

True, some good things have come out of the last 91 days. Just one week ago, I pulled together an enormous garage sale and got rid of about 20 boxes of old toys, clothing and knick-knacks, plus some large pieces of crappy furniture. And I made around $600 bucks in the process! I've also been dabbling with some healthy, sneaky cooking techniques and have learned some great, new recipes for my family. And I've planted a garden...twice...maybe thrice. (My two-year old LOVES to dig in the dirt and I think he's tampered with most of my seeds...I'm hoping the plants I planted yesterday will be big enough to emit a DO NOT TOUCH message when he wanders near the garden from now on.) So, all in all, I haven't been a complete loser/slacker/basket case over the last 3 months.

Yet, there you have it...3 months. 3 months since my last post and I don't feel like I have much to show for it. Even though my garage is a lot less full, you wouldn't know it to look at it, because it's still as unorganized as ever. (Except for this one little sweet area near the family "lockers" where I set up a little bench for taking off shoes, etc.) Tomorrow is June 1st and I'm petrified, because, not only does that mean that the year is almost half over, but, much more critically, it means summer is on me and summer is my ultimate non-productive season. Usually too hot to do much of anything but hide out in the basement or lounge around, trying my hardest not to work or do anything physical where I'll be working up a sweat. And my kids are home...surrounding me with their bickering and teasing and running and screeching. Me, with very good intentions at having a productive summer full of participation in programs at the library and lots of good old fashioned WORK WORK WORK. Me, always giving in around mid-morning of some mid-June day and shooing Davis off to play somewhere, anywhere, even though his jobs aren't done and probably never will be, just to retain some little kernel of that sacred thing called sanity.

8 days...It all begins in 8 days. And my expectations are no different than they ever are, you know. I'm already envisioning what skills we should learn, what kind of rewards program to instigate, how to motivate my kids into getting a move on in their day. How quickly will I be disappointed this year?

Well, no need to dwell on the inevitable. Just hang in there, Sara. One day at a time. That's the whole point of this blog, isn't it? So, I have one goal for today and only 30 minutes to complete it. I want to see my desk again. I want papers filed in their files and the excess thrown away or dealt with. Davis gets home from school in 30 minutes, and you know it's all downhill from there...Ready, Set, Go!

Day Sixty--Organized and CLEAN bath toys

One trick that I have learned in keeping belongings manageable is by creating "boundaries" within your space and learning how to stay inside those limits. For example, I have one bookcase in my house that is designated to children's books. When the shelves on the bookcase start to overflow (I have a tendency to acquire quite a number when it's garage sale season,) I know it's time to discard and condense, so that I stay within the boundaries I have created specific to children's books. This is great, because, not only does it give limitations on the amounts of books we bring into the house, but it also allows us to cycle through more books than we would have otherwise.

So, the same goes for almost every other space in my house, including the one designated to bath toys. I have a medium-sized plastic basin under the bathroom sink that holds all bath toys. It's amazing how quickly they accumulate--birthday presents from grandparents, Christmas stocking stuffers, cute little novelties in Easter baskets, McDonald Happy Meal toys that kids are dying to take in the water. My bin is often overflowing and toys are scattered in the cabinet, because they do tend to accumulate, even without you knowing it. However, the size of my basin and the rule I follow in limiting space allows me to keep my bath toys from taking over my life.

So, today, I went through the basin, washing everything thoroughly, including the basin. I used bleach-water to clean the toys. This is especially effective at cleaning mold out of the little squeeze toys that start to look black on the inside. I also discarded a few foam toys that were starting to break and looking pretty old. After I put everything back in the basin, looking very fresh and clean, and my daughter came upstairs and said, "Hmmm....it smells like a swimming pool up here."

Day Twenty--Organized Birthday Cards

Snail Mail is starting to become a thing of the past. It's a little sad, but it's hard not to be caught up in the instant accessibility of email, instant messaging, posting with facebook, texting, buying (and sending) gifts online, etc. etc. However, as a kid, there was something magical about going to the mailbox on your birthday. It was usually the only time you were allowed to and really the only time you even cared to. It was the only time you could expect there to be something for you! And, oh, the joy if there was more than one! A card? Maybe even a package? If it was a card, you felt to see how bulky it was. Kids have a sixth sense if there is a few dollars folded up inside a mysterious envelope. It was exciting, but most importantly, you felt loved. To this day, the family members I am closest to are the ones who made the extra effort, such as sending a card or making a call on my birthday.

And so, years later I desire to create the same kind of relationships with my own family members. Especially my nieces and nephews. We are miles apart and see each other about once a year. I want them to know that their Aunt Sara thinks of them and cares about them. I especially want them to know that their cousins care about them and that we are thinking of them on their birthday. And so today, I made some quick little birthday note cards, using a set of pre-made blank cards and then stamping an image of a birthday present on the front of it with the word "happy!" I made enough for each of my nieces and nephews. I already have their birthdays written down on the calendar, although it would be smarter of me to have them alerted to my phone. One baby step at a time, here...

I also decided that an easy gift to give is a Target giftcard, which is right around the corner from me. And what kid doesn't like shopping at Target? My kids would spend forever in the $1 section if they could. I bought a bunch of $5 gift cards, enough to cover me for the next six months, at least. All I need to do now is addresses and stamps and they're ready to be filled out by my kids and sent off in time for each of their big days.

I love giving and I often feel bad that I can't be around for each of their birthdays. I know it's not important to everyone, but it's important to me to do this little thing and let them know we are remembering them on their special day...

Day Nineteen--An Organized Car Kit

With an upcoming trip to Utah this weekend, I took the opportunity today of cleaning up and organizing my car kit. My car kit consists of all the basics I need to keep me and my rugrats sane and happy, whether we're in the car for six minutes or six hours. When I took it out today, it was a complete disaster. Mostly it consisted of wadded up trash, papers from school, and discarded coupons I'd never gotten around to using.

I keep my car kit in a black canvas box-like container made specifically for organizing things in cars. It has a strap on the back so it can actually hang from a seat and make things more accessible. I just keep mine down on the ground and it works out great. Here are some of the items I try and keep it stocked with:

• Snacks. I always try to have some kind of a carb (crackers), a protein (beef jerky), and a treat (usually candy used for bribes.)
• Bottled water. I always try and have one or two in my car for those times I forget to bring along my regular bottle of water.
• Wipes and diapers. Can never have too many of those, right?
• Books and cds. My kids love audiobooks, especially if there is a book to go along with the cd. I keep several in the car with me at all times and we rotate through them frequently, bringing out a new batch. I also keep a little booklet in the car that contains easy travel games to do with the kids, to help keep things interesting.
• Hand lotion, hand sanitizer, and sunscreen, if it's that season. I also keep a separate, well-stocked first aid container under my passenger seat.
• Notepaper and oodles of pens. Let's face it. Pens disappear in cars the same way socks disappear in the dryer. I always stock my kit with too many pens, knowing eventually, I'll end up with zero.
• Restaurant gift cards and coupons. If you're going to use them, this is where you'll want to keep them and not back at home, tucked away safely in a file or drawer, miles and miles away from the restaurant where you are currently pulling up to the drive-through.
• Last but not least, a mini clipboard. My clipboard is the perfect size for attaching coupons, letters that need to be mailed, checks that need to be deposited, plus it makes a great writing surface when you have to write something. It's nice to have the things you need to do all clumped together in one spot.

I also took the opportunity to revamp my car's emergency kit. This kit is NOT complete, and is currently lacking in most of the real emergency type equipment, such as road flares, ready made meals, adequate water and a fire extinguisher. I pray I never have to really use any of those things in an actual emergency; at least not until I get my emergency kit up to par. However, I do participate in a number of other real emergencies of a more mild manner. "Mommy, I'm starving!" "Mom, I have to go to the bathroom NOW!" "Uhm...mom, I didn't bring any shoes..." "Mom, I'm bored..." I think you get the picture.

Aside from my everyday car kit that contains a lot of necessities within arm's reach, I designate another bag to things of an urgent, yes less frequent, nature. Extra socks, flipflops, underwear, more diapers and wipes (because you never want to be without those), extra snacks, candy, and water, plus an extra set of coloring books or activities, just in case they happen to get bored with the ones they brought. Like that is ever going to happen, right? I use an old freebie diaper bag, which is great because it is a compact size, yet has lots of pockets for separation. I throw it all in there and then roll up a compact blanket on top. Voila! Who's ready for a road trip!?!

Day Eighteen--An Organized Photo Shoot

One of the things that challenges me to no end is getting the kids' pictures taken on their birthday. I avoid it like the plague and then, of course, feel extremely guilty when I look back and find a big 3-year gap between pictures and I find myself trying to remember what they looked like during that time. All right, it's not really that bad, but it is something that stresses me out. It's not the actual picture-taking itself that I find worrisome, it's the aftermath of trying to sift through forty or so pictures with a salesperson breathing down your neck, trying to get you to purchase the $90 package, while juggling a hungry, ornery, active toddler that all of a sudden is no longer interested in any of the toys he was trying to get at the whole time he was supposed to be smiling and charming for the camera.

So, I took Tyler to the Target Portrait Studio to get his 2-year old pictures taken today. (I can't believe my baby is turning two!) Of course I took coupons and I decided I needed a plan of action before I got in there, so I would know exactly what I was after and wouldn't get sucked into buying more than I needed by the sheer pressure and confusion of that critical decision-making moment. I pulled the whole thing off pretty well, although I wish I had taken a few more things into consideration that I will definitely keep in mind for next time. These are the tips I would suggest:

1. Decide what you are going to be using the photos for. Who are you buying them for? Will they be hung on the wall or in albums? What sizes do you need? For me, I typically buy an 8x10 for my mom, a couple 5x7s for my in-laws, and a 5x7 or 8x10 for myself, depending on how much I liked the photo. Maybe I'm weird, but I don't usually put their photos on the wall (unless I LOVE the photo), but keep them in a book, so a 5x7 is just fine with me.
2. Decide what your favorite background preferences are. Some times too many choices are just that--too much. The photographer asked me today which 3 backgrounds I wanted. I made the mistake of going along with it and picking three, even though the brown is my favorite. I love the way it warms up the skin and it looks so much better in my house. Plus it was a nice compliment to the blue and gray shirt he was wearing. As it was, I ended up picking a couple of pictures with a gray background, because they were the ones of him smiling, but, oh, how I wished they had been against the brown background. Know what you like before you get in the photo studio (you might research your options on the studio's website first) and don't let the photographer talk you into something you really don't want.
3. Come with a budget in mind. For me, I come in with two figures. The bottom number is my budgeted amount--I know how many pictures I need and what sizes and I figure out the actual cost. But I also go in with a higher number of what I'm willing to spend if, for some reason, the pictures are phenomenal and I can't live without them. As it was, today I actually came in lower than my bottom number, because, unfortunately, the pictures weren't the greatest and I just wanted a couple copies for his birthday and the grandparents.
4. In actually choosing the pictures, first find your favorite two, if possible. I like to do that first thing, if it's actually obvious, because then the final decision just seems to go a lot quicker for me. If there's more than two, great! Count yourself lucky and go from there. However, like today, I didn't have any favorites, so I had to try and choose the best ones and then whittle them down from there. As it was, I ended up choosing the only one where he was smiling (with the boring gray background) and another with him peeking through a number 2 (just to show that it was for his second birthday.)
5. As far as timing goes, if it's for a birthday, I suggest making the appointment for 2-4 weeks before the birthday. If you do it at least 2 weeks in advance, most photo studios will have your pictures back by the birthday so you can frame them and show them off for the big day, which is kind of fun. But more importantly, I have found, I am more likely to get them done if I do them in anticipation for the big day, rather than as an afterthought when I lose much of my momentum and it becomes easier and easier to procrastinate.

Someday, it is my hope to pull off a photo session with one of my kids with near perfect organization. I know I don't have the ultimate control, especially when it comes to their particular performance, but the more I know what I want, the closer I think I can come to getting it, so that, at least, is a start.

Day Eleven--Organized CD's

I wish I could say I took on the mountain of a task of organizing ALL our family's cds today, but I took on the much smaller task of organizing just one person's--my daughter's. For Christmas we gave her a cd player. Her old one broke a couple of years ago, long before she even knew how to operate one, and it has been so much fun watching her choose a cd and know just what buttons to push to make things happen. Curious George and James and the Giant Peach are coming alive to her and music just makes her so happy, she'll stay and play in her room for hours now. Unfortunately, all our kid cds were scattered throughout the house in different locations, so she was feeling a little limited (I was feeling a little limited) to the particular cds she was listening to.

First, she and I went around the house and collected all the different kid cds--some were in the kitchen, some in the basement, and lots had ended up out in the car. We then sat down and went through them all, me explaining what each one was, and she choosing the ones she wanted for her very own. I gave her her own cd case and showed her how to put each one in the sleeves, explaining how the case protected the cds from getting broken and scratched and instructing her to keep it out of her baby brother's reach. (Of course after listening to her tonight play about 30 seconds of each cd, I was not surprised to go in after she was asleep and find the majority of them stacked around the player and the rest scattered on the ground. I can see I will have to reiterate the lesson of cd protection tomorrow!)

The last thing I wish I had had time to do, and would like to do in the near future, is personalize her little cd case somehow. Put some cute paper with her initial on it and just make it a bit more girly. It won't matter--she's already so happy with all the music and story possibilities already at her fingertips--but it will make me happy.

Day Nine--An Organized Church Bag

Today while my husband took a trip down memory lane, cataloging and posting old pictures, I decided to use my organizing task for something urgent for the day--organizing my church bag. I'm not talking about the kids' bag with all the toys and goodies that get pulled out, but never played with, and strewn across our entire pew and all pews within a 10 ' radius. That bag is beyond my control at this point in time. But since I was called as a Miamaid advisor 2 months ago and I actually teach every couple of weeks now, I thought it would be appropriate to have a bag packed and at the ready.

The first thing I chose was an appropriate bag--something just big enough for my binder, manual, scriptures and a few other things, but not too big, since, unfortunately, it is not the only thing I have to haul around each week. (I would probably eventually prefer a bag just slightly larger so that it can fit larger prints in it, but for now this one will suffice.) I then filled it with the goodies one always needs when giving a lesson--pens, pencils, extra paper, a highlighter for marking the lesson. I even made myself an eraser out of some heavy duty foam and put it in a bag with a couple pieces of chalk. Voila! The bag is ready! (There's even room for a few crayons and a bag of cheerios in there!) The last thing I decided was to print off the lesson each time I teach, rather than hauling my manual to church, both freeing up space and allowing me to mark up the lesson as much as I want. A simple thing, but it's ready for the rest of the year!

Day Five--Taming the Junk Collection Monster

We all have them--junk baskets, junk bins, junk drawers. A place to collect all the miscellaneous treasures that we're just not sure what to do with it at the moment. Good organizers go through them frequently and "dejunk," eliminating the unwanted and assigning homes for the homeless.

One tip suggested by most organizing gurus is to take around a "collection basket" as you clean from room to room. They suggest putting anything that doesn't belong in that room in the basket and then putting it away when you come to the room it does belong in. The image I have in my head is one of a pretty girl skipping from room to room, a small basket dangling from her arm as she carefully picks up a few wayward socks and unmentionables, tosses them in a laundry basket, and then skips off to enjoy a nice afternoon out with her friends. It is nothing like the reality of the two ginormous laundry baskets now leering at me from the counter, daring me to just try and take them on this afternoon. Junk Collection Basket Monsters, you're on!

Now, in all fairness to the baskets, I should mention that they were not originally intended for the collection, examination, and eventual distribution of JUNK. Last year, I asked my husband for new laundry baskets, thinking that with more baskets for holding laundry, I would have an easier time of folding and getting it put away. Wrong! I ended up having 4 baskets instead of 1 that camped out in my bedroom, clothes molding slowly into a wrinkled, decrepit state until I'd desperately need something like socks or clean underwear and I'd violently dig through them, tossing half the pile onto the floor where it would resids until next laundry day when, not knowing what's clean and what's dirty, I'd pull it all into the hamper and start the vicious cycle once again. I came to the realization that, in the case of laundry, less is definitely more, and went back to the one basket routine, storing my wonderful big baskets out in the garage until I need them for such special occasions as this one.

One of the frantic little tricks I have come up with is the collection of wayward items right before company comes. No matter how scheduled I am and how hard I try to get all the final cleaning done before a special event or someone comes to visit, there is always a pile of papers that didn't get looked at, a bunch of receipts I'm not sure what to do with, socks that don't match, things that need fixing, items that need to be returned, recipes I want to make, toys that are missing a piece (and I know I just saw it around here somewhere!), and all the usual odds and ends that don't have a home yet. One of the main reasons I started this whole organizing crusade was to learn how to make more appropriate homes for things preemptively, thus making the junk basket unnecessary; but for the moment, it's really the best strategy I have, 20 minutes before my mom and brother show up for the holidays and the place looks like a tornado swept through the area. I collect all the casualties and debris in the basket, the place ends up looking immaculate (seriously, the difference is astonishing) and no one is the wiser that a big, scary monster is lurking up in my closet, just waiting for my guilt and the New Year to kick in.

So, now two weeks later, this is what I'm faced with. Two monstrosities full of at least a hundred random items. My strategy is this: divide and conquer. I make sure I have plenty of clean counter space--anything on the counters, I either put away or I throw into the collection baskets. I designate certain areas of the counter to certain rooms--basement, garage, office, my room--and I begin to pull out items and assign them to a room. For my kids' stuff I have small, colored baskets that I purchased specifically for the collection of their wayward belongings. Periodically, I take the baskets around (nightly would be ideal, if I could ever get my act together) and then I give it to them to put away. These little baskets have come in handy, especially on occasions like this one. I also keep a waste basket and a garage sale box nearby, because at times like these, I become aware that my family owns way too much stuff and I become hyper-critical of the things I decide to keep. I start evaluating why something doesn't have a home in the first place and if I'm really as committed to owning that particular treasure as I think am. If I feel myself waver in the slightest, I toss it. (One of the perks in having an annual garage sale, by the way, is that, if you have the space to collect and box things up during the year, you have a second chance at reclaiming something you tossed. Just knowing that makes me more courageous to eliminate things and, when garage sale season comes around and I get out all those tossed treasures, more often than not, I'm happy with the original decision.)

It ended up taking me just over an hour to completely clean out those two baskets, by the way, and put all the stuff away. I hung one basket, now empty, out in the garage and the other one is sitting pretty for me in the laundry room, just waiting for a nice fresh load of laundry tomorrow. Hurray!

Day Four--Organized Cleaning Supplies

Today challenges me. Still under the weather from a Christmas cold and playing catch-up from the holidays, I waffle back and forth among several potential tasks and try not to succumb to the temptation of just bagging the whole dang project. It's Tuesday, and already I'm seeing all the little things--stray socks, dirty dishes, toy cars, baskets full of Eden's many collections that "collect" anywhere but up in her room--creep in around the house, adding up to chaos and potential catastrophe. My schedule is in place. I know what I should be doing, but somehow I can't pull myself together. I can feel it in me--the desire to ignore it all, stick a frozen pizza in the oven, put my feet up on the couch and play angry birds for the next hour. Well, I'm not going to give in! I'm not going to let it all fall apart at this point, (although, now that I think about it, the frozen pizza idea is really not a bad one tonight.)

So, I picked something fairly simple to organize today, based on an inexpensive purchase I made at Target. Cheap towels and washcloths were made even cheaper by being clearanced at 50% off. I bought a set of 4 hand towels and 12 wash cloths for $3. They're not the kind of plush towels I like to use in the bathroom, but terry cloth makes great cleaning cloths as they soak up moisture really well. I put them in a basket with several microfiber cloths that I use for dusting and I now have a whole bunch of new "rags" ready for cleaning in the new year.

After I finished that, I figured I ought to get the whole job done, so I got out all my cleaners and made sure they were all full and in good condition. I make most of my own cleaners, so I also made sure they were labelled correctly and the bottles in working order. With children in the house, I prefer using cleaning products such as baking soda, white vinegar, and plain ol' dish soap, so the cleaners are pretty safe and chemical-free. My favorite all-purpose cleaner is warm water and 1-2 T. dish soap. (I also add 8-10 drops of an anti-bacterial essential oil, such as tea tree oil.) The dish soap is diluted enough, so that it doesn't foam up, but still has the wonderful degreasing powers it is meant to have. I use it every day on my counters, quick spills on the floor, smudges on the wall, and a quick spritz on dirty dishes makes them easier to scour before loading in the dishwasher.

I keep all of my weekly cleaning supplies in a caddy in my laundry room. I would LOVE to be at the point of keeping a small stash in every bathroom, but with young kids--one in particular who loves to spritz things--I'm not quite there. I have very limited space, so my caddy is small and I try to keep to using basic cleaners.

I also made sure my kids cleaning supplies were in order. A while ago, as I was researching better ways of getting my kids to do their jobs, I came across an idea that really made sense to me. One lady said that kids take more responsibility for their chores when they have their own set of tools. So I tried it. I went out and bought each of my kids a plastic bucket at the dollar store. We filled it with their own spray bottle (they get to make their own "potion" which they love,) a sponge, rubber gloves, a scrubby brush, and a rag. I was amazed at the immediate results. They actually enjoyed chore time after dinner. My son was busy spritzing away and wiping down the kitchen table. My daughter was busy spritzing away and wiping down the little bathroom (I had to touch it up a bit afterward, but, hey, it got done!) Afterwards, I gave them each a reward sticker and they got to decorate their bucket with it. Voila! Clean table and bathroom and about 15 minutes of relative peace.

So, cleaning supplies are organized and ready to go...(when I actually get around to cleaning something...ha ha ha.) It was relatively easy, but, hey, it had to be done. And hopefully by choosing a simple task, I've saved up a bit of energy to pick myself up off this chair and go get that pizza in the oven now. Here's to a more challenging task tomorrow...

Day Three--An Organized Christmas

I have found that one of the best ways to be prepared and organized for the Christmas holidays, is to get organized after Christmas the year before. And so today, I turn on Josh Groban's Noel one last time for the season, and I collect the holiday decor from each of the rooms, strip the tree, and pack it all away for the next 11 months. It's a little depressing, really; but as I say goodbye to each precious memento that I've painstakingly collected over my life, I can feel a tiny drop of anticipation for the next time I'll reopen the boxes and take it all out again. The key is to pack in an orderly fashion, so that the experience will be a pleasant one, come next December...

A few tips on packing holiday items:

• I try and group things by room, if possible. When that's not possible, I try and place the first things that should be hung (such as Christmas tree lights and ribbon) at the top of the box, so I won't have to go digging around for items. This is especially important with Christmas tree items, as we often decorate the tree separate from when I decorate the rest of the house.
• As you pack items, take into consideration if it's an item worth keeping. If it's something you haven't used in a year or two, ask yourself why not? And if the item is not worth keeping, toss it or donate it, and free up the space for more worthwhile treasures.
• I dedicate one box to children's items. This has soft items, such as stockings, pillows, and stuffed animals, unbreakable ornaments, and our Fisher Price nativity set. They are so eager to help when I break open the Christmas boxes, and if I have one dedicated strictly to them, the chances are significantly higher that they'll leave my own precious decor alone and go to town on their own. That's not to say they won't be putting their paws all over my stuff once the holidays have started, but at least I can get them out of the boxes and into their appropriate homes first.
• If you're really zealous (I was not this year), you can label the outside of your boxes with a specific list of items that go inside that box. That way, there is never a question as what to put away where, and you can keep all the appropriate packaging inside the box at all times. For me, this is a little hard as I am constantly adding to and taking away from my collection, so, for right now, I opt not to do a labeling system.
• As you pack, keep an inventory of decor you have and decor you would like to buy for the next holiday. For me, that includes stocking hangers, possibly matching stockings, a bigger Christmas wreath, and more outdoor decor. It's a lot cheaper to shop Christmas clearance sales and garage sales throughout the year, than pay full price in December.

After my packing is done, I also take the opportunity to sit down and mentally and emotionally process the holiday. One of the great tools I have used over the past few years is a free printable Christmas planner from organizedhome.com. You can print off worksheets for things like Christmas Memories, New Year's Resolutions, Holiday Traditions, Holiday Values Worksheet, and a Christmas Debriefing. On these pages, I record what was really important to me during the holidays and make suggestions for things I could do better the following year. It may seem a little time-consuming and unnecessary, but I have used these worksheets for the past few years and have helped me to identify what's really important to my family during the holidays and how we can create the atmosphere and memories we want, again and again. Just remember to read what you wrote the previous year as the upcoming holiday approaches.

My Christmas treasures are tucked safely away. All boxes are stacked in the garage, ready to go up to the attic. I've mentally processed and made the lists I need for next year. My house has a more simplistic, yet fresh feel to it. Ready for a tiny breather before the onslaught of the next holiday.

References: www.organizedhome.com, www.christmas.organizedhome.com

Day Two--An Organized Journal

One of the things I've decided to do in keeping with 365 days of organization is to devote a part of my Sundays to non-household organizational tasks. One of those I feel is important is journaling. Since writing is my biggest passion, I have always been a diligent journal-keeper. I have a box full of journals from my youth upstairs in my closet--some are school notebooks, others fancy themes like Ramona Quimby and Laura Ingalls. When on an 18-month mission I kept not one, but three rather large volumes full of journaling. I just love the process of finding precisely the right words to describe a moment, of accurately articulating a feeling, so that later, when I reread an entry, I can experience the sensation all over again. And yet, the more kids I have had, the less time and energy I have in a day, and journaling has quickly fell by the wayside. It is something I have a longing for. It is something I know will bring me some needed fulfillment and, well, bliss... It is time to organize myself to include the art of journaling once again.

Before choosing a method of journaling, the first step is to identify the purpose behind journaling. Journals have played many roles for me over the past thirty years. They have been a place to record special moments and feelings, so as not to forget them. They have been a place to unload my mind of ideas, tasks, stories, and worries--thus capturing them in a concrete form while clearing up my mind for more ideas, tasks, stories, and worries. They have been a place to vent frustrations and even great anger (oh, how well I know that sensation), enabling me to sort out my emotions and keep me from injuring my loved ones with unnecessary explosions of anger and resentment. But if I had to name the single most important purpose behind journal-writing, I would say that it is to create a record of one's life--a written history, whether for future generations or for your own personal reference. Those other aspects are important and often necessary, but the older I get, the more I find that I want to keep a solid, running history of my life. Something that will keep me alive and immortal for many years to come.

As I decided on a method of writing, I decided that I need something different than my standard notebook and pen. As much as I love the art of writing, there have been too many times when I have left it behind on a trip, misplaced it, or been too lazy to go retrieve it when I had something to write about. And since I will be transcribing my journals on the computer anyway, it seems a more logical form in the long-run. I thought about just writing it in Word on my computer--something I have tried before--but being limited to accessing my journal on one computer has it's own set of hindrances, and where there are hindrances, there are often excuses and things left undone.

I have decided to try an online diary this year, so that I can access it wherever I am, especially on trips, and hopefully on my phone, if I upgrade to the Pro version. The website I have decided on is Penzu. com. They are completely private and have a lot of capabilities, such as picture uploading, that I would not be able to do with a written journal. I'm all signed up. It will even email me weekly reminders, so that I can write in my journal each and every Sunday this year. Plus if I sign up for the Pro version, not only can I access it using my mobile and write in it anytime, anywhere, I can add multiple journals to my account, making journals for each of my kids or creating an Ideas Journal or a Frustrations Journal, keeping unnecessary things out of my personal history. And when the year's all up, I can print it and store it away somewhere for future generations. My online journal is up and running. I'm feeling ready for a guilt-free, inspired, blissful year of journal-writing.

Day One--An Organized Schedule

Scheduling is one of those really important things to me. I owned my first Franklin Day Planner when I was a Freshman in High School and continued using one until I graduated from college. One of my favorite things about being on a mission was Sunday afternoons when I would painstakingly fill in all the little lines on my blue planner using a VERY sharp pencil. Now that I'm a mom and a housewife, I find that my schedule isn't as rigid as it once was--it's more of a long, long, VERY looooong list of daily, weekly, and monthly "To Do's." I can clean my bathroom this morning, this afternoon, tomorrow, next week, or even not at all. There's no one to report to but myself. The problem is, I've found, often if I've missed the proposed window of doing something, it becomes easier and easier to procrastinate doing it. Thus, scheduling is still crucial to getting things done.

Other than specific appointments that have to be done during a certain time, such as hair appointments, classes, meeting someone for lunch, I've found that my other responsibilities lie in the following categories:

• Home Office (Paying bills, organizing papers, phone calls, emails, budgeting, etc.)
• Cleaning (daily, weekly, & monthly tasks to keeping the house tidy and livable)
• Laundry (perhaps my downfall--can't seem to get a handle on its endlessness)
• Shopping (I've found it's best if I can do it all in one big stretch during the week.)
• Exercise (This is a must for me and so I schedule it in religiously!)
• Showering (It's really sad that I have to schedule this in somewhere, but if I don't, it really doesn't get done...)

Perhaps this is too much of a confession of my total lack of self-discipline, but if I don't have it written down, it often doesn't get done. Therefore, I have come up with the following workable schedule for myself for the next month. I imagine I will need to tweak a few things, but I have based a lot on trial and error from the past year and I think I have come up with what will work for me.

7:00--Wake Up, Breakfast, Morning Routine

8:30--Davis off to school, Morning Clean-up

9:30--Eden off to Preschool (Tues/Thurs)

10:00/11:00--Exercise at Y & shower

(10:00--Library day)

12:00--LUNCH

1:00--Naptime/Quiet Time for Eden (shower for me if needed)

1-3:30--My Projects--a chance to check off some "To Do's" and work on being Organized! :)

3:30--Clean-up, begin dinner preparations

4:00--Davis home, after school snack

5:30--Pre-dinner clean-up

6:00--DINNER

7:00--Bath and Books

8:00--BED

Weekly To-Do's:

Monday--Office Day (pay bills and catch-up on paperwork; straighten office)

Wednesday--Library Day

Thursday--Shopping Day

Friday--Cleaning Day (do my chores and laundry)

Saturday--Cleaning Day (help kids with their chores and laundry)

Now perhaps this is laughable for some. Perhaps it's completely obvious to others. But for some reason, I can't seem to get it together. I try for a while, give-up, and go back to gliding along, content in my ignorance, but not really happy. It's bliss I'm after here, not mediocrity. Is it my season? Give me a month...we shall see...

The Plan

It's simple. 365 days. 365 tasks to complete organization. The problem I am often faced with in organizing is that it becomes overwhelming. I begin one task only to be side-tracked by another task and then another, only to end with several partially-completed things still in utter chaos. The plan is to have no plan--no layout, no blueprint, nothing set in stone as to what I will accomplish each day. Just one important task that will bring me closer to organizational bliss. It could be small, such as organizing a drawer or it could be big, such as organizing a closet. Some things may take several days or even a week. The important thing is completion and consistency.

I plan to keep a running list of needful tasks at hand and to be in-tune with what is needed on that day or during a specific season of the year. (For example, Spring is the perfect time for organizing the attic, organizing the garage, and organizing a yard sale.) I also intend to use Sundays to complete non-household, more meaningful tasks, such as archiving journals, pictures, and working on family scrapbooks.

Behold, I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass."

(Alma 37:6, The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ)

365 days. 365 steps to complete organizational bliss. I can do this!

The Realization

I realized something today. This is my life. This is what I've become. A slob. At least that's how it appears as I walk from room to room, trying not to step on smooshed-up peas from dinner and saltine cracker crumbs from lunch. (There are probably still some soggy, yet hardened cheerios from breakfast there too.) The desk in my home office is constantly piled with papers, cds, pens and pencils, and all kinds of misc. paraphenelia. No, I take that back. Not piled. There are no piles. That would mean that there was at least some kind or order to the perpetual office mayhem and that the organizational process simply broke down in getting the piles filed away in appropriate places. No, this is more like a conglomerate of neglected, homeless waifs, waiting for me to take pity on them and tuck them in nice and neat somewhere they belong. I stare back at them...clueless. Not knowing where to begin. My "formal" livingroom currently has a half-opened umbrella on the sofa, several dress-ups on the floor, opened piano books that we haven't used in our house in two years, several empty shoeboxes and a grocery bag, an unopened box of Staples printer paper waiting to go back to the store, and a garbage bag of crumpled wrapping paper leftover from Christmas morning.

The thing is, deep down I'm an organized person. I have always enjoyed the deep-cleaning of drawers and closets, eliminating the unused and honing in on the simple and needful. So why then doesn't my house exemplify this? On some level, at some point, I lost it all. I gave up. I'm sure it has something to do with me running a house full of 3 young children (not to mention a husband whose strong point does not lie in the art of organization...) Many tell me to let it go. That it's not my season and to enjoy the season I'm in. Believe me...I've tried. But I'm starting to realize that there's no bliss like organized bliss. The kind of happiness that only comes whenwhere I can sit down in a quiet, clean house with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book. The kind where I can put my feet up, take in a deep breath, let it out again. The kind where the fingernail clippers are right there where I left them and I don't pull my hair out trying to find someone's birth certificate right