11/13/11

Organization


If someone asked me to rank the things in life I care about, they'd fall in this order:
  1. School/Work
  2. Organization
  3. Social Life
  4. IS JUSTIN BIEBER REALLY THE BABY DADDY?!
Those four things often keep me up at night. Not really, but they are things that I think about more than I should. I know it's really weird to have an entire blog post, in a series devoted to sharing what you've learned in life, about organization. But you have to know somethings. One, I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. So for me, learning how to organize in a way that keeps my anxiety down IS a part of life. And two, I have a reputation for canceling plans with people because I feel like it's more urgent to clean my room. If that doesn't back up the big part organization plays in my life, I don't know what will. 

Think about it this way. Life is already so weird and crazy. You have things coming at you a million miles a minute constantly. So you can either live in chaos, and deal with adapting to things as they come AND digging through boxes of stuff to find what you need to adapt. Or you can open up a neatly labeled box, get out what you need, adapt and move on with your life. I chose the later. 

By no means am I an expert on this. I'm just really good at figuring out how I need things to be arranged for my well being, and my anxiety levels to be down. (However, if you DO need an expert, I'm obsessed with iheartorganizing.blogspot.com and her incredible ideas)

For me, if my stuff isn't organized, then I can't focus on what needs to be done, I start focusing on cleaning things. So having defined spots for everything helps me accomplish everything.

But, let's go through how I do it anyway, shall we?

I divide my organization of my room into a few sections. Make up area, closet, desk/ office area, and jewelry.

Closet


Basically, I have my jackets, dresses and vests on the left side, then a hanging shoe rack, and a hanging folded clothes rack that holds all my cardigans and t-shirts, then another shoe rack, then any shirts that need to be hung and any pageant clothes that aren't in storage for whatever reason. I have it all organized by color. Then on the top shelf of my closet, all my jeans are folded and put in piles depending on their style. It makes it so much easier in the morning to know roughly what I want and just go right to that spot.

I wish I could tell you that it still looks like this, but while I was sick, I decided to boycott doing laundry, and it's all sitting in there waiting for me to put it away. Oops.


Make-up area

Here's the thing. When you do pageants, you get lots of free samples. So I have way more make up than I will ever be able to fit on my face. I go through every couple of months and clean it out, but it's still a rather large collection. My nails are also ALWAYS painted, so I have tons of nail polish. 

I used to keep all my nail polish in a shoe box, then upgrade to a silverware organizer. Recently I repainted this cabinet thing we had, and now I use that. It's so much easier when I can see what colors I have. 


Jewelry

If I can't see it, I forget it exists and never wear it. And then I end up buying something that's exactly the same. So To help me visualize what I have, all my necklaces are hanging on a bulletin board. For my earrings, I found a metal letter holder with little holes that they go on. My bracelets are all in the silverware holder I had been using for nail polish, and my rings are in a bowl. I also have a little plate that I got for 75 cents at Target for my special stuff, like the necklaces I inherited from my Great-Grandma. 





Desk

I would say I spent 90% of my home time over here, studying, blogging or working on lesson plans. 


I use that planner to keep track of what blog posts I want to do. I try to write them a day in advance so that I can schedule them to post early in the morning, but sometimes it doesn't work out. On Saturday or Sunday I sit down and write in what posts I know I'm doing (like the 20 by 20 posts, or Awkward and Awesome) and any ideas I might have. That way when I sit down during the week, I'm ready to talk. 


I have a big white board calendar that I use to keep track of due dates and things I have going on. I also have a what to do post it note list to keep me on track for school assignments, and big work deadlines. 


I had a really big issue with papers being every where. I had essays I had written, school papers, pictures kids had made me, and printer paper. So I made some magazine holders from old boxes, and popped the papers in. Last Christmas, I bought Cody a Super Nintendo, and it has a bad habit of taking over my room, so I put all the cords and games in a box as well, and the Nintendo next to it. It was such an easy way to get rid of a big mess, but he can still get to it easily. 


Inside my desk used to be a straight up disaster. I had no clue where anything was. But those little plastic bins are life savers. All my pencils and pens have one bucket, my markers have another. In the next drawer, I have a bin for art stuff, and a bin for index cards (I spend more money on these for school then anything else). I also have a large collection of Thank you cards. When I see some I like that are on sale, i buy them and save them for when I need them. 





Now be honest. How freaked out are you now that you see how organized I need everything to be able to be productive? Anyone else need organization or they can't function?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by today! I always thought I was cool ;) It's nice to know someone else agrees! Thank for boosting my ego.
Stop by again!

GingerPeachT said...

Lol wow, you have to be organized with all of that or you would go crazy!!
I'm more of a clutter free person. I can't go to bed if there are clothes on th floor. I can't watch a movie if the living room is a mess. Normally I clean the kitchen before bed so I don't wake up to a mess but that's been slacking. So yeah, I have some OCD issues with clutter lol

KnittedFox said...

My ideal closet is what yours looks like. If only I could keep my closet organized after making it so nice. I can keep it good for a day or two... a week would be nice though, or you know, always. xD

I wish I could be as organized with all aspects of my life- it's hard to me to keep a routine going. My planner I use for a week or so then forget about it for a few weeks, then use it for a week or so when I remember I have it. >.<! Gotta keep with it and I'll eventually get there.

To be honest, learning to crochet was easy. My Mom had a VHS instructional video by this woman she knew which was great. After getting the hang of holding yarn and a hook, it was easy.

The yarn brand "Lion Brand Yarn" has a great series of videos on their Youtube channel all on teaching the basics step by step. There is only two things you need to know about crochet, and everything else is a variation. You should definitely try it out!

Hope you had a great weekend!