Clearing the clutter

I'm not worrying that I'm lagging on the recommended timeline from One Year to an Organized Life. I'm progressing, even though not as quickly as the book's pace. Progress is progress.

As part of the Organized Life plan, I am supposed to purge the kitchen. So far I have purged and organized the two pantry cupboards, the glasses cupboard, the freezer, and the baking cupboard. I've recycled, given away, and thrown away about two paper grocery bags full of clutter. I will finish the cupboard purge while on February break. Won't our daughter be thrilled! But we'll do it on Monday or Tuesday so as to get it out of the way early.

The office purge project (from One Year to an Organized Work Life)is also progressing. Friday night I organized my physical desk top into a top to bottom prioritized to do pile, a to go somewhere else pile, and a to file pile and then put away things on the desk out of place. I then did the same with the second desk in my office which my daughter uses when she's there doing her homework after I pick her up from a school activity.

On the clutter catching book shelves in my office, I identified four containers to archive and moved two to my Admin Asst's desk with a note to label and then archive, please. The next two are labeled and just need to go to the archives. I put away the menagerie of glass animals and the paper environs our daughter created for them months ago. (They're intact in the big blue toy tub kept for little library family members to amuse themselves while visiting--a tradition begun by the former library director and one I really like.)

On Saturday, I spent time at work after the Y workout and before dinner out with my husband and yoga book group. I took care of the pressing priority of press for the upcoming fundraiser which the Mayor will attend. (Exciting, and can't be put off.) Then I started at the top of the prioritized pile and got to work writing notes to staff members, taking things to other staff members (the donated Jenga game for Unplug and Play, for example), and completing tasks. The pile was half its size when I left for the day. I also tucked a few things in my work bag to take care of on Sunday night after our daughter's basketball game. I'll work on those small and quick items on my laptop while in the living room with the family.

Next step at home: Hubby will make two shelves--one in the pots and pans cupboard and one in the cabinet formerly holding the microwave. I'm also going to call the cabinet maker to put doors on that cupboard. It will be a few hundred dollars well spent to keep the contents out of my sight.

Next step at work: The to file piles. One is easy as they're already labeled and in folders. The larger pile is not labeled and not in folders, so I'll grab the tools I need before I go to my office on Monday and spend an hour getting the filing done. Planning makes it easier to focus on what needs to be done, and it is difficult to plan when you're under deadline after deadline. But making it a regular habit pays you back in its weight in platinum.