Operation Organization

How did everyone do this week? Did you get your office/desk cleaned out? I cleaned out the closet in my office sometime last year and have kept it pretty nice. I didn't have to deal with that.

 But, when I looked at the bottom, I realized that my hoarding of boxes and bubble wrap has returned. I straightened it all up, but didn't get rid of a single box. It's hard to cure problems like this. What would be best for me would be for someone else to just come in and get rid of it all. Hey wait, that's what I used to do for people! I never knew I needed to hire someone like me for myself. Maybe if I "pay" myself and turn it in to a real "job" I could get rid of stuff. I was easily dispassionate for other people---even ridiculing them when necessary---"and you need 12 bottles of celery seed because??? You need 5 years worth of craft magazines because?" It just might work.

I straightened up my desk drawers---they weren't too bad either. I purposely picked the desk/office area this week to give me some time to do a couple of things most people don't have---a mud room where we keep our freezer (although I'm not ready to tackle defrosting the freezer yet) and a cedar coat closet. I asked Butch to help me with them, so we made a "date" to do it---Tuesday at 11 a.m. Scheduling works for us. Before we began, I asked him how long he thought it would take. He said at least 30 minutes each. I said 15 minutes each, tops. I set the timer. It only took 10 minutes for the mudroom, then 31 minutes for the coat closet. It feels so good to get junk cleaned out. At one point, Butch held up a coat that was on the floor and said, "this looks like a lining for a coat." I looked at it, all puzzled, turned it this way and that, and then realized it was the quilted coat I'm using NOW. I grabbed it and hung it back up. I noticed that I didn't have a problem getting rid of any of his coats!

What can you do with five minutes:
Clean out your purse.
Unload the dishwasher. No one likes to do this, but in the scheme of things, what's 5 minutes. Plus if you don't do it, things will not be put away correctly and your newly organized cabinets and drawers will be a mess in no time at all. Just do it.
Set a timer if you don't believe me. 5 minutes--maybe less, guaranteed!

On to this week's assignment. I'm giving you a break as I have a busy week myself. I leave for St. Louis on Friday, so won't have time for any household chores this week. Do your hall closet. That's it. Easy---30 minutes tops. THEN---go back and finish something from one of the previous assignments. You have a week to get more done. I'm not sure what I'll assign next week since I'll still be out-of-town. Actually, yes I do know what I'm assigning. Think about it. What kind of assignment could I do AWAY from home?

Weekend re-cap tomorrow. Wishing you an organized week.