Organizing Class #1

Our stake is offering a 7-week course on getting our homes in order! It's taught by Marie Ricks, and it's awesome. Better yet, my neighbor came with me and we had so much fun! So here's what I learned:

-It's MUCH easier to handle small tasks on a regular basis than tackling a whole mountain at once ("Important things never happen all at once, they happen steadily.")

-Let go of the guilt: so what you didn't read the January Ensign, it's okay to recycle it and move on to the February one instead of trying to read both in one month. Rule applies to other periodicals.

-Only keep 1% of your child's schoolwork. Keep a 2-inch binder with a divider for every year up until they're 20. Put a small representation of what they've accomplished in there, including pictures of big things that won't fit into said binder. (Unless you are a Grandma, and then it's more than OK to keep 100% of the things they make!)

-Order is NOT about time, it is about DECISION.

-Don't get distracted! Stick to the task like a magnet till it's done. If you don't have all your materials where they are supposed to be, you'll have to wander the house looking for them, and chances are you'll get distracted and not finish paying the bills (or whatever other task you were trying to get done)!

-Laundry: You'll be doing it for the next 100 years, so get over it and stop your grumbling. Just do it! (And put it away while it's still warm. ??? Not sure if I can do that.)

-Simplicity is more important than beauty in a home.

-Have a proper landing/launch pad for things to come in or go out (library books, checks to cash, shoes to take off, cell phone to charge, etc.) and you'll leave the house with more confidence.

-She asked us to get rid of 50% of our things. Starting with old bras. And socks and shoes. And jewelry. The list goes on. But if you have 6 old bras in your drawer, toss 3! Or all 6.

-If it's usable and needed, go ahead and keep it. If it's usable but not needed, share it with someone else (D.I.). And if it's not usable and not needed, throw it away!

-She has 4 file folders on top of her desk that she goes through once a week: To Do, Bills, Pending, and To File.

-If deciding on certain chores for certain days of the week doesn't work for you (which it doesn't for me), try numbering your chores instead. This was probably the most intriguing idea I heard all night!

-It may sound simple but there are problems and there are solutions. The problems don't always make it over to the solutions, so think of something that bothers you or that takes up too much of your time or whatever and try to solve it. Example: You usually have a lot of weddings to go to each year. To make things easier, think of one gift, get it when it's on sale, and buy in bulk. Now you don't need to decide what to get every time someone gets married. Another example: This lady has "inherited" 40 boxes from her parents and grandparents. There are a little more than 40 weeks left of the year. Set aside one day each week when you will tackle 1 box. And then set a time constraint so you don't lose track of time (only work on those boxes for 2 hours every Monday). By the end of the year, you will have solved your elephant-sized problem!


Pretty cool stuff, huh. This is exactly what I need right now. And I'm so excited!!! So excited that I'll try to share with you every week what I've learned! But check out her website first, it's pretty cool.