Off the Beaten Plan

plan: to devise or project the realization or achievement of

Browsing the archives for the Organization category.

Where Should the Desk Be?

VIKA AMON/VIKA CURRY - Image from IKEA

I’m still in love with the desk. Have to get that out of the way.

And I love having it in the living room – after the kids have gone to bed.

My issue is: this weekend when I was supposed to be working hard on a couple of big projects, I instead found myself on the couch (at my parents) or in the chair (at home) watching TV or the same movies as the kids.

My husband suggested moving the computer (and desk) out of the room. My immediate reaction was NO! I can’t! I love having it in here, being able to play on the computer without leaving everyone, or what they’re watching, etc.

But it makes sense. If I’m going to be working at the desk, I need to be working at the desk. Not playing on the computer, or watching a movie, or getting distracted by the kids.

*sigh*

I need help deciding what to do – keep it in the living room, and still feel like part of the family, or move it to the dining room wall, and actually get work done?

Where Should the Desk Be? was published on April 11th, 2010, with the tags , , under the Organization category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Keeping it Clean

So. At work two weeks ago, I cleaned up my desk. It was wonderful. It’s actually still clean, which is absolutely beyond cool, because usually when I clean, it doesn’t stay that way.

It’s not just my desk that is still clean, by the way. The side table next to my rocking chair and couch? Still clean. The couch in my dining room (don’t ask)? Still clean. I can’t tell you how good this feels, and it gives me hope.

What if I did this for absolutely everything in my house? Got these little areas cleaned up, one little spot at a time – the side table next to my love seat, under the television, the couch in my bedroom, and the top of the bookshelves lining my living room – these places could all be cleaned up. And what if I did it? Would they stay clean?

They might. It’s gratifying to keep things unmessy. It’s super easy to put things where they belong, when they have a place.

Perhaps I’ve spoken too soon. Maybe things won’t stay that way.

But maybe they will.

How do you keep things clean?

Keeping it Clean was published on February 10th, 2010, with the tags , under the Organization category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Getting Back on Track

to do...done!I haven’t done much reading lately due to my November commitment. I also did absolutely no web design, nor did I do anything, actually, to help support my family. December is also a rocky month, and so my goals are not too high, but I here is a quick list of things that I would like to accomplish and work back into my daily routine.

  • Regular reading of actual books currently purchased and on my bookshelf.
  • Design of real estate website templates for my coworker who then creates the actual sites.
  • Wii Fit exercise – at least 30 minutes/credits per day.
  • Walking – a few times a week with a friend who could use the company, I think.
  • Publication of new Squidoo Lenses. I’ve been nominated for Giant Squidhood, I just need another 40 lenses or so, and could write about…
    • The books I’m going to read.
    • Things I’m learning in my design travels.
    • Life experiences I’ve had and how I’ve dealt with them.
    • My favorite things.
    • My vacation to Prague two years ago.
    • My father’s disease.
    • The tattoo I recently started planning. (Excitement!!)

If I could get a schedule going, where I do X on Monday, and YY on Tuesday, etc, that would be the bomb. Having a schedule is, in my experience, the single best way for me to get things done.

When I went back to school in 2000, I began working the night shift at my job. I had the absolute best job, because I got to work for two hours, and study or read or whatever for the remaining six. My schedule was strict. Beginning at 11 p.m., I would work until midnight, where I would then take one hour to surf the Internet, chat, play games or read. Then from 1 a.m. until I was either done with my homework, or if it was a project I couldn’t complete in one night, until 4 a.m., I would study my ass off. Then from 4 a.m. until my shift was over, I would get to do whatever again – work, play, read, chat, whatever. Do you know what happened to my grades when I started that schedule?

I got A’s everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. It was a wonderous thing, especially since I had never considered myself anything more than a B average student.

So that’s the deal. As I work through December, I’ll keep giving updates. Maybe Monday mornings will be my update days, as Sunday evenings are usually the evenings when I have the least time. :)

Getting Back on Track was published on December 3rd, 2009, with the tags , , , , , , , , , , under the Organization, Planning category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

My Incoming Drop Zone Dream

Photo by Dave Di Biase

Photo by Dave Di Biase

On Wednesday I was talking about how I need some sort of organization in my house where when I enter, I can drop off all the crap papers I’ve brought home, my kids have brought home, and that came in the mail.

That same day, I found my solution.

It’s not cheap, I’ll warn you now. To get what I think I want will probably be upwards of $200. But it is a perfect solution. Exactly what I was looking for, and exactly my style to boot.

On Wednesday, Brian at Unclutterer.com posted about how he keeps his project clutter under control. Of course I checked out the link in the post, and I was greeted by this beauty – the elfa Drawer System. It’s amazing. Perfectly sized drawers (letter paper sized) that slide completely out letting you take a project with you (as Brian does), or bring all the bills to the desk (as I would).

There is also a very cool tool that lets you design your own elfa Drawer System – the elfa Custom Drawer Planner. I think the 10″ system will work best for me (with a depth of 20 3/4″ which you can’t find until checkout – the only irritant I’ve found so far), and I want something tall. Something I don’t have to hunch over to reach. Although…setting up four of these in a row would make a nice standing work space for the kids and their homework. Or the 45 1/2″ high one would be a perfect standing work space for me when I’m filling out the paperwork I’ve had to store inside the organizers.

$269.41 is what I would need to save to get this glorious storage solution. That’s about $25/week to be able to buy it in three months. It’s too bad there are so many other demands on my money, or I would do this in a heartbeat. It’s practically perfect!

My Incoming Drop Zone Dream was published on October 9th, 2009, with the tags , , , , under the Organization category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Getting Papers in Order

Photo by Rodrigo Comisarenco

Photo by Rodrigo Comisarenco

The bulk of the clutter around our house is paper. My son, in 1st grade, comes home with an unbelievable amount of paper clutter, only small amounts of which is actually important. He brings home art and craft projects, pasted-together school work, pages pulled from a math book with the exercises he does in class, actual homework, spelling lists, newsletters from the school, and things to read and buy. It’s insane!

And then there’s the mail. I get bills and junk, catalogues, newspapers three days of the week, and important non-bill mail.

Sunday School sends home papers and cards and worksheets.

Boy Scouts, thankfully, has its own folder.

Seriously, though, what is a girl to do with all this extra, messy, easy-to-mislay paper? Sure, I could file it. My husband has threatened offered to clean out a drawer or two in our filing cabinet. But what has really been lurking around in the back of my head is the Drop Zone that David of Simple. Organized. Life. brought up the other day.

I’ve had the thought for a while – there needs to be a space for me to drop this stuff immediately upon entering my home. A quick breeze-through can sift through my son’s folders and determine what needs to be done with my son immediately, what needs to be looked at when things are calmer (read: when the kids are in bed), and what I can save to show his grandparents at a later point. I could quickly stuff the mail into to shred, to file, and to pay (bills) folders. My daughter’s stuff from Sunday School could get tucked away until we have a chance to work on it later – it never happens right after church.

My purse can get dropped by my chair without worry that I’ll be covering up something else I need to look at. I could set my book and notebook on the side table, where it belongs, IMHO, and not worry about sending coupons or other random scraps of paper or old mail flying. Or worse yet, covering it up and forgetting it.

Right now I’m dealing with the issue of how to separate things. I saw some neat organizers that would have been fun at Target, but they would have set me back $100. Money’s tight – I’m not shelling that much out. Occasionally I think that maybe I could make something myself with my non-existent carpentry skills. But then again, I don’t actually have those skills. Reality seeps in, and I change my mind.

I’ll probably end up with the solution my husband suggested, which is the soon-to-be-empty drawer from the filing cabinet. I don’t like this idea because it’s not out in the open where I can see it and get at it easily. I would prefer to have my solution somewhere obvious, but not obtrusive – like on the buffet in the kitchen, on a shelf by the front door or my chair, or as a small table in the dining room. But it needs to be inexpensive (dirt cheap), so I’ll make due with what I have, and perhaps I’ll stumble across a really cute, nifty solution soon.

Getting Papers in Order was published on October 7th, 2009, with the tags , , , , under the Home, Organization, Planning category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.