I am at a cross roads in life and making many changes. I am trying to reorganize our family files, bills,paperwork and make a home work space that is orderly and easy to maintain. Does anyone have ideas that can help at least get me started???
Thank You for the help so far. I need to add that I have spent 3 weeks going through 4 file cabnets and have gotten rid of 2 of them, along with 100 of the hanging file folders. I found things tht my husband had saved since we were first married 39 years ago. I have already gone room to room and have literally looked at everything with the eyes of " I have had and enjoyed this for x years and do I need it now" LETTING GO is GREAT!. So the added imput for that was helpful. I really appreciate the ideas for the pictures as I am just getting ready to think about that part.
So how do I set up the files once I have sorted them??? I have never had trouble like this and my mind has hit numb!! The goal is to have this set up so that I my son with Asperger's Syndrome has a clutter free place to work within and files so that if my family needs find something they can. Thank You all again, for the encouragement.
I really appreciate all of the wonderful input. I have gotten much laughter from the different sitesI have looked up. I have managed to bless the lives of several teachers with the files, reams of paper, craft supplies, and have gone through all the closets and drawers inthe house. The garage is goingto be a new world of challenge. Did I mention that I set up 10 Christmas trees! and decorated weddings for a living?So we are going to find more families that donot have things and give away several decorated trees this year. I will be having a yard sale and will even try selling my husbands wheelchair lift since it isnot needed any longer. So thank you and please know that you have been of great service.
this is great that you are doing this.
if there are items that are not exactly "junk" and that someone else could use but don't really fit in at a goodwill (like art supplies, empty containers, old posters...) take them to the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse on telegraph ave in oakland. they sell all sorts of things for very cheap to artists, teachers, etc.
good luck!
Sort paperwork into piles : pitch, keep handy, file.
Do O. room at a time. Piles/batches of keep/pitch/donate.
Pitch or take to donate location right away.
I like www.flylady.net as well.
Good luck!
The best thing that I did recently was get a giant dumpster. Then, I made a pile in my garage for things that I could donate to charity. Between the donate to charity and the dumpster, I got rid of TONS of stuff. I filled the dumpster (10 yards) and made many trips to the donation center with other things. My rule as I went through one room at a time was that at least 50% of everything that I touched had to go. It was *so* freeing. Perhaps a little drastic, but so great. After 10 years of being in my house, I had collected so much *stuff* that I did not need and it was affecting our lives negatively.
The other thing I have been trying, though it's much harder for me to do, is that if anything comes into the house, something else has to go.
In terms of setting up a work space that works, I've found that Ikea actually has some really good ideas for starting an organized work space on a budget.
Good luck!
I enjoyed Kick the Clutter by Ellen Phillips. It goes room by room and helps you look at everything a little differently and make plans to take care of the clutter problems and then keep them away. Have I put any of it into practice? Very little--I can't stack one pile of sorted papers without kids losing them or tearing them--but I like the idea and it has some good organizing tools.
We have a small rental space and we turned out downstairs closet into an "office." We shut a folding chair into it, I built a desk surface and there are three shelves (I cut corner holes for cables for the printer and computer--printer is above). My file cabinet is underneath. It keeps everything financial in one place and is easy enough to hide by shutting the door. I think a closet idea could work for kids, or some kind of "moving" study space--easy to store bins with everything they need so it can be pulled out and put away quickly.
I did this in our closets: Got fabric bins hot glued a clothes pin to the outside and made a cute computer label such as winter hats, summer shorts. I use these to rotate wardrobes, and the mini items. You just switch out the tag when you change the contents. I think I saw it on marthastewart.com.
Also, I just saw a blog where a lady took the rectangle baby food containers and put all small items in, paper clips, tacks, safety pins etc... Then she make a cute label for the top and shut in in her drawer.
Good luck!
I highly recommend FlyLady at flylady.net Wonderful ideas for organizing everything and the tools to do it. I LOVE their calendar.
I bought Organizing for Dummies. It's been a great help with all my organizing needs, not just in the office, but all over the house. You should check it out!
Whoa! Good for you! I am doing the same this summer. I don't have any grand ideas for paperwork, but I do for photos, if you have a lot of loose photos sitting around, etc. My children send me photos of my grandchildren, etc., and I finally have all my photos organized and in one place.
It is called the Creative Memories Power Sort Box. It is a large box that organizes 2400 photos and the neat thing is that the LID has room for large 8 x 10 photos and 11 x 13 photos!
I have one for each of my children and in case of a fire, I am running out the door with my Power Sort Boxes and my family albums!
View at www.mycmsite.com/marycluley "shop products" "while supplies last." It truly is a SOLUTION to disorganized photos and photos that are turning brown in the old "magnetic" type albums, if you haven't looked in those lately!
I hope you have found this helpful in some way!
As you are probably figuring out most of the process of purging stuff is psychological. For me, it helps when I can give stuff to a place that will appreciate it and benefit from it. To me the item might be something I might need "some day" but for someone else it could be a treasure they find at a thrift store. This has helped me let go of clothes that I will never wear or purses that are in perfect condition but I just don't like. It's a very freeing experience to get rid of stuff. Getting rid of art supplies, or supplies for projects that you no longer care about is great. Books that you doubt you will ever read but you've had it for 25 years because you might want to read it "some day". It feels as if a burden has been lifted - you are no longer obligated to read that book, loose that weight (to fit into the dress) or do that art project. When you review your stuff think, "do I love this?" Paperwork - you really don't need that much. I, personally think the scanning idea is not good because 1) it's another project and 2) it's better to let it go and get into the habit of letting stuff go. Do you need credit card bills from 10 years ago? No. Pictures - dump them in a box but also feel free to toss them. Who's going to look at them? Though, I feel sorting pictures can really slow you down because you start reminiscing. Save it for another day. Good-luck.
Start by sorting. It is the best way to find out exactly what you have and how many so you can really realize how many you need to get rid of. Also, if you don't have a scanner, get one. Start scanning papers that you think you might need later and then getting rid of the paper copy. A shredder is also a must have. You will start to realize how many copies of things you have and how much you really don't need. That makes it so much easier later to find something when you are looking for it. You can just bring it up on your computer and print it out if you need to. You don't need a fancy scanner that costs a ton. Just one that has a feeder. I also do this with pictures as I have family all over the world and they are always asking about old pictures. This way I can let go of originals that I am just storing and send them to the people in my life that would actually display them as I am not fond of pictures on the walls and I can used the scanned copies to do my scrapbooking and card making.
Yes Peg is right FlyLady is the best!
Daily help so you don't get behind!!
Check out flylady.com !
D.~
Check out this website: www.FlyLady.org. It is the best thing that can happen to you. It will show you how to take "Baby Steps" and not feel overwhelmed! You will love it!
Lucy B.
flylady.net
The best!
A while back I found a great book at my library. It's title was something like "How to Organize Almost Anything" (?? - can't remember the exact name). You may want to check your library for ideas.
Good luck - this is a struggle for me too.
Lots of great advice so far - sounds like you have really done alot!
My thought was when I saw the 100 hanging file folders - if you aren't going to use them, call your local school, library, church etc. and see if they need them.
You are so awesome to do this for your son. I work with kids who have special needs and giving them an organized space helps so much. Keep up the good work, mama!
I know where you're coming from. I've been in the same place. A clutter free home (I'm not totally there yet) is good for the mind.
Tips I've come across:
Have a place for everything from paper clips to scissors etc.
When you get something like tape, put it right back in it's place as soon as you're done with it.
Touch mail once: go through it right then. Toss ads, garbage mail, pay bills right then. (Easier said than done but it does work.)
Get rid of everything you no longer need (old frames, mismatched tea cups, chipped bowls.
Place all photos together in a box in one cabinet until you have time to put in a photo album if so desired. (Mine stay in a box. ha)
Donate clothes you haven't worn in a year.
Keep all supplies together: cleaning supplies, laundry supplies, arts & crafts supplies, all desk supplies go and stay on the desk etc.
Call the junk pick up for all true junk.
Recycle what you can.
Give something to someone that they have wanted but you no longer need/use.
I find filiing in alphabetical order helps best so if someone needs to go to my desk drawer they can easily find something: Taxes, Insurance, Car etc
