Keeping it Simple

 Do you struggle with organization? I didn’t used to, but a bum hip for a couple years, and a husband who needed both knees replaced, and yup, the house got out of control. When you add that to working, helping out with my grandkids, and being involved with family and it’s hard to know how to catch up. 

 

I will admit to sometimes being an impulse buyer and one Saturday while grocery shopping, I saw a calendar-planner and bought it. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but lofty dreams of order amidst chaos hooked me, so I brought it home and stuck it in my purse. 

Monday morning, after getting to work, I grabbed it, got my cup of coffee and opened it up to see how inspiration would hit me. I suppose it was partially being frustrated at being at work and having so much to do at home – I am never so motivated to work around my house as when I am at work. 😂 But I realized this little planner could help. I decided I would start writing down 2 or 3 things that I wanted to get accomplished when I got home and see if I could get those things done. Now there were some criteria: 

 

1.     It had to be a quick task – able to be completed is a few minutes – no longer than 10.  

2.     It had to help my overall goal of household organization – I tend to get sidetracked easily and can get lost organizing my drawers, which is great, but not obviously needed.

3.     If it doesn’t get done, there’s always tomorrow.

 

That was it. 

 

The things that get done are crossed off, and anything that doesn’t get done moves to the next day. And I found, after a couple days, that some afternoons when I got home, there was something else that also really needed to get done, so I would do that, but I added it to my list, to help remember what I actually accomplished. 

 No guilt, no pressure, no long projects. 

 

It is so simple, but has been incredibly helpful in my organization and productivity. My biggest project right now is a mess – literally overwhelming. I can’t tell you how many times I have walked into that room to start working and walked back out because I didn’t know where to start. In scheduling my tasks, I have focused on that room and while it is still pretty bad, this method is helping me restore order, one quick, focused task at a time.