Getting Organised

After a long sleep in, breakfast of pancakes with cottage cheese, jam and nutella, we spent Sunday morning cleaning. I don't mean just a dust and a vacuum and the job is done but actually going through every shelve, drawer and corner and throwing everything that isn't needed out into the trash. It feels fantastic. Now I know where my sport magazines lie,where all my writing materials are, teaching books, and wedding magazines and planning. It's all sorted and organised so that it will be much easier for me to find when I need it all.

Unfortunately I know that within a week it will all be disorganised once again. I'd love to be pedantic about keeping things clean. When I have books, magazines and everything else all over the place it drives me up the wall. My sleep is disrupted, I feel tired and unmotivated. Obviously something needs to change. I dread parting with things. This time around I am going to have to be tough on myself. Today we threw out about four bags full of rubbish. Once it was all done, it felt like a huge relief, a weight lifted of our shoulders.

The next four weeks I'm going to focus on getting a little bit more organised so that I am more productive and I'm not losing things when I need them the most. The only way to do that is go shopping. I will need to buy a small bookcase or some shelves, photo albums, three four-ring binders, magazine stacks, and a few other bits and pieces. That will be the fun part. The next four weeks I will slowly start to part with items I really know I don't need and make room for things that I do.

Week 1 - Organise my writing. Get folders and file ideas under categories - woman's, commercial, parenting, TEFL, education, health and fitness, travel, other. Dispose of any useless pieces of paper that are never going to be used. Bundle all the magazines that I want to write for so that they are all in the one place. Recyle all the magazines that I know I will never read again. Clean up my computer files so that everything is easy to manage, find and use.

Week 2 - Go through all my TEFL books, notes, magazines and miscellaneous items. Recycle all the loose papers that are not used. Sort through work contracts, attendance lists and other items and file them into three folders. One for each school that I am employed by.

Week 3 - Sort through all my clothes, shoes, bags and accessories. Last year I disposed of about three bags full of clothes I no longer needed. Some went to a younger family member and the rest went to a charity bin. I need to do that again, and this time be more generous with what I throw out. I can honestly say that I only wear about 50% of the clothes I own. The other simply take up space. This week I will be making more room in my wardrobe.

Week 4 - Sort through all the miscellaneous items left over. Get rid of any magazines that are collecting dust, empty chocolate containers that are never going to be used for anything, used up perfume bottles that don't need to be left as an ornament on a bookcase.

Once all that is done I anticipate being a much more productive individual. I will no longer be wasting time searching for the items I need to do my job. My living space will also become a much more pleasant and ergonomic place to be in. A couple of hours a week is all it's going to take.