30-days-organized

Getting organized - day 3

Blog kitt decided around 14:04 on 10 January 2008 to publish this:

Oh, day three is here, in my progress of getting organized, and all I can say is, "Whoops."

I can honestly say despite opening the site up to the world, I wasn't really expecting the world to show up at my doorstep. I'm both excited at this, and a bit, uh, nervous maybe? Should I start censoring now before the NSA/FBI/CIA/DHS shows up? (DHS always reminds me of Dobson High School when I see it, and not the retarded name for the newest government bureaucracy created by the worst president this country has ever known.)

But I digress. I'm getting organized today.

Day 3: Use reverse psychology on your closet. Studies show that we wear a scant 20 percent of our wardrobe 80 percent of the time. To free up closet space, try reversing all your hangers so the hooks face you, Walsh (the guy from the first tip) suggests. As you hang up clothing you've worn, turn the hanger around. After a month, you'll know which pieces are in your rotation and which to oust or place in deep, deep storage.

Wow. This could be one of the most brilliant organizational ideas ever.

If only I actually hung anything up in my closet.

I have about 1/5 of the master bedroom closet hanging space, which is about 3 feet of hanging space. I guess I could do this trick for Kris, and see what comes out of the closet for him. Or, I could take everything out of my dresser and pile it up into one big pile. Only the items I take out of the pile, wear, wash and fold could be put back into the dresser. After a month I'll know what I wear and what I don't.

Or, I could take today's 20 minutes and just clean out the closet, getting rid of mid-90's era dress slacks and business suits that just.don't.work with my current working style. No need to wear suits when jammies will do just fine.

Oh, and Kris made the bed this morning.

Getting organized - day 2

Blog kitt decided around 15:09 on 9 January 2008 to publish this:

The second day of my blindly following the suggestions of a magazine article, on my way to Destination Organized™ in 30 days. Second day, all of two days, dos dias, whoa, twice through the solar rotation.

Yeah. Two.

The second entry reads:

Day 2: Follow the 20-minute rule. Rather than wait for your big Get-My-Life-In-Order weekend, straighten your stuff in discrete, doable time frames. "Take 20 minutes to clear out your fridge or stort through your jewelry box," says Lisa Zaslow, founder of Gotham Organizers in New York City. When the time is up, keep cranking of you're in the groove, or stop midblitz and continue tomorrow."

Okay...

Twenty minutes, eh? I decided to summit Mt. Laundry in my twenty minutes: sorting the clothes, starting a new load of laundry, shifting around the clothes from dryer to baskets, folding the newly cleaned clothes and finally (finally!) putting away the clothes that were folded last week and still sitting in the living room.

I took longer than twenty minutes. Why did I ever think laundry would take only twenty minutes?

Wait a second... am I supposed to make the bed again? Is this the same thing as the Twelve Days of Christmas where the recipient receives 12 partridges and 22 turtle doves?

Getting organized

Blog Instead of being asleep at 14:19 on 8 January 2008, kitt created this:

According to Self magazine, by using "surprising strategies to save time, energy and [my] sanity," I can get organized in 30 days. Given the amount of stuff in my house, the level of disarray, and the strength of my resolve to deal with this issue now, I figured, hey, I'll give this a try. I tore the article out of the magazine and decided my 30 days starts today.

Okay, here we go.

Day 1: Make your bed. It's the fastest way to render your boudoir peaceful and presentable. "Your bed dominates the room, so when it's tidy, everything else looks better," says Peter Walsh, author of It's All Too Much (Free Press). If tucking in a top sheet and blanket in the early hours feels onerous, use a comforter with a washable duvet cover. Smooth the fluffy expanse for a Zen effect with zero effort.

So, I made the bed this afternoon. The bedroom has been one of the places I've been working on keeping clutter-free, having moved everything out of the room when the new carpeting went in early November. Kris has a few items on his side table, but anything other than the clock is whisked away in short order.

Okay, so the bed is made. Do I feel more organized yet?

Um.... no.

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