become more organized

This is the time of year that I find myself looking for certain recipes. While I have most of my recipes either in a binder or in a recipe box, I often flip through every page in the binder looking for a particular recipe. I’ve decided to make tabbed pages to separate them into categories:

• Appetizers
• Main Courses
• Desserts
• Beverages
• Adult Beverages

Pretty basic, but that will help a lot! Don’t know why I didn’t think to do that sooner.

In a nutshell, that’s why it’s important to me to be organized.

In the past year it’s become even more real to me just how short life can be. You never know when it’s your time. I want my life to be in order so as not to be a burden to my loved ones when it’s my time. I’d like everything – finances, household, benefits, will – to be in order so they don’t need to worry about that.

Making a few critical decisions, clearing out stuff and organizing what’s left just makes life easier all the way around.

I got my free annual credit report. I’m actually mad at myself that I waited so long to do this. It wasn’t difficult at all. I took 10 minutes to look it over and make sure everything checked out, and feel a lot more organized for doing so. It’s good to know how you look to creditors when you apply for a loan or credit, and if there are any mistakes needing to be fixed.

For anyone who hasn’t done this yet, it’s super easy and important to check. Just go to annualcreditreport.com (don’t confuse it with the jingles you hear on TV and radio – it’s not the same) and you can choose your free report from one of the three main companies (Experian, Equifax or TransUnion). You can actually check your credit for free once every 4 months (probably a good idea) if you rotate which company you use (just get one report at a time). Just be sure to go through the above website to be certain it’s free (and secure).

I do believe with each item removed I find myself a little more organized. The more I have, the more to become disorganized. Simple as that. If I can stay on top of my clutter, removing it as (or before) it enters my life and set more processes in place, I think I’ll be successful with this goal.

Getting there!

In all this checkbook craziness, I found the remote control that goes to the TV in my bedroom. It’s been missing for about 3 years. I realize that probably sounds like my house is some sort of disaster. It’s really not that bad…the remote was put into the pocket of a bag when the TV was moved, the bag was placed in a closet, and I just haven’t even looked in the bag since then (I know, this bag and anything else inside sounds like something I really don’t need, right?). I suppose most people have something like this in their home. I avoided the bag like the plague because there was a dreaded project inside – paperwork I needed to go through. Rather than dealing with it, this bag of paperwork was like a skeleton (figuratively) in my closet (literally). Now that I finally decided to tackle this project, I’m feeling so good about it (the project is taking some time, but I’m getting there). This motivates me all the more to declutter and become more organized. I feel like I’m really starting to see progress and get my surroundings in order.

I’ve always been good about balancing my checkbook…until one day it stopped balancing. I guess, it’s not that big a deal as the credit union says I have more money than I say I do, but it drives me nuts.

Last night, I finally sat down and started to go through each entry and each monthly statement to find the problem(s). So far, I have found about $97. It may seem ridiculous, but to me that’s huge…and I’m not done with the project yet. I’m already feeling relief just from the piece of the project I’ve completed. Once complete, this will also help me declutter – I’ll be able to get rid of those statements! This is a big step in getting me organized and keeping me that way.

This may seem obvious to most people, but I’m becoming increasingly aware that organization is not just about stuff, although that’s a huge piece of the challenge for me. The bigger part for me is putting processes in place. Making sure my lunch is made the night before, the coffeemaker is ready to turn on by timer in the morning, having set times when I begin my “wind down” process at night and get my butt out of bed in the morning. Organization in all facets. When I think of running my life as a well-oiled machine, it makes me smile. Is that crazy? Perhaps a little too “detail oriented” (that’s the replacement phrase for “anal retentive”, I’ll have you know)? I’m beyond denying myself for appearance sake. I want to be organized. I want to be on time (meaning EARLY) for everything. I want to be relaxed, knowing that I’m organized. Yes. Organization of the stuff needs to fall in line with the processes.

I have a hanging file on my counter to sort the following:

*Bills to Pay
*Statements/invoices to File
*Items to Take Action on

I’m hoping using this will help keep my counters and tables organized. I can’t stand the mail pileup. The clutter makes me really upset. I’m not the disorganized mess it looks like I am and I feel the need to prove it to myself. Here goes.

That’s what I’m working on. I’ve been pretty good with this when it comes to most things. But just off the top of my head, there are a few areas that I need to work on finding effective, consistent places for:

• Mail to go through (It seems I have MORE junk since I requested to have my name taken off mailing lists.)
• Bills to pay (Those that I’m able to set up with automatic payment are set up that way and I don’t get paper statements. Believe it or not, there are still a few companies not offering this.)
• Any outgoing mail

I know there’s more, but that’s the bulk of it right now. Basically any flat surface (kitchen table, dining room table, kitchen counter, dresser, etc.) becomes a hot spot for paper clutter. That is my biggest downfall and I need to do whatever I can to fix that. I mean, my dog has a basket that holds his toys and I don’t have a consistent landing pad for my mail? Seems a little lopsided.

I cleared my dining room table and kitchen table this weekend and felt 80% better, but I know the problem won’t be SOLVED until come up with an actual system. We’ll work on that this week.