Do you find yourself unable to accomplish as much as you wish simply because you’re not organized?   Do you spend valuable time looking for things simply because you don’t have a specific place to put them?  Are your youngsters as disorganized as you?
I’d often heard about spending 20 minutes per day to get yourself on an organized track because you don’t have several days to spare doing it.   However, when I’ve tried it, I didn’t keep at it after a few days.  Thus, my family didn’t either.
Recently I realized it’s because I didn’t see much or any results.  A friend …read more

As I continue with my 20 minutes per day of organization, I was thrilled to discover a box of my greeting card designs that I’d stashed away and forgotten about.  I hadn’t looked at these designs for numerous years and admit I’m impressed with the quality.  Perhaps they’ve stood the “test of time.”
During the 1970s, I had an at-home quiltmaking and art business (whatever would bring income).  My painting, starting out with commissioned paintings and evolved into card and notepaper design.  I created these items to sell in shops around the area.
When I took on a full time job as a …read more

Living in a busy, multi-generational household hasn’t improved my organizational techniques, and sometimes I feel overwhelmed with the clutter of my life.  I’ll start to organize, then feel the task is overwhelming.  So I sit down to work midst the confusion.  Sometimes, too, I have to move from room to room with my laptop or business projects.
I’d heard the suggestion, “Take 20 minutes each day to organize your clutter, your files, your work area, your bedroom…or whatever.”
Then I’d start with 20 minutes and keep at it for a few days.  However, sometimes the organization, as I sorted midst boxes of …read more

How do you organize your beads and buttons for your artwork so you can find them easily?  Do you have great organization?  Or are yours scattered here and there in containers, in drawers, and on shelves?
What’s a good way to organize?

By size
By color
By color and size
By design
By artist
By era

My daughter has separated the small beads she uses for her embellishing into containers.  They are organized by color, then by size and design.  She puts these into small clear plastic containers she can see through.  Then she stores the smaller ones into a larger clear plastic box.  Thus they’re easy to …read more

Well, I’m mostly moved into my new house.
Most of the walls are painted – we’re still living with tottering stacks of boxes – but that’s how moving goes!
I’m still trying to figure out the best way to store my fabric though…  I used to store it in big, plastic totes on shelves.  But now that I’m getting a bigger studio, I’m looking at different ways to handle it.
Should I stick with my tried-and-tested totes and shelves?
Upgrade to a fancy metal mesh basket system that mounts on the wall?
Dump it all in a heap and let the dogs sleep in it …read more

Last year I wrote about my resolution to get organized in a post titled Anal Retentive Compulsions in 2008.

In July I saw that people were still reading that post and took another look. Then I cleaned up and organized my office – which was still a mess – and posted the transformation in Resolutions Revisited.

If, 6 months later you realize that people are going to hold you accountable it’s a good motivation not to fail. To fail is hard on the soul – to fail in public is enough to make me clean my room and get organized like I …read more

I was checking my statistics for Blog Fabulous when I noticed my story Anal Retentive Compulsions in 2008 was still being read. How’s that for accountability?

That was my story where I declared my New Year’s Resolution to get be so organized I could be classified as anal retentive compulsive, you know like Kate Gosselin and my mother.

It’s July. I looked around my office and the exact same pile of clutter was shoved in my drawer. The same exact pile of “get to this later” was in the same basket it’s been in for literally YEARS. Still no filing system. …read more

The first BlogFabulous Blogtoberfest Prize is a really cool large Lara Gallagher bag. Lara is best-known as the Lazy Organizer and has really great mottoes like organized people are just too lazy to look for things.
When I was younger I just didn’t understand what I thought was anal retentive compulsive organization in others. Organization is not an attribute that comes easily to me. For me it’s only born out of necessity. Lara shares this ideology.
Lara says, Do you want to get more organized but you’re afraid if you put stuff away you’ll never be able to find it again? That won’t …read more

I don’t know what this illness of mine is called, but I think I need help. I think it’s technical name is overly-prepared-hyper-itis.
Another way to look at it is what I like to call “mental shopping”. In other words, a project comes up, and the ultimate due date could be 3 months away — I immediately start to plan…I collect articles, photos, start writing copy and the worst, I start to share my thoughts with people.
I’ll put together a gigantic note or production table, which shows every possible scenario, the back-up scenario and the if all else fails scenario.
What …read more

Remember the good old Franklin Covey Life Planner? It was based on the strategy that you had to Define, Plan and Act on What Matters Most.
Its contents consisted of many different “workshops”, formulas and templates to help you both get and keep your life in order and to define your goals and personal objectives — I will live by the values of integrity, freedom of choice and I will not fear anyone.
Basically it was a 12-step program for control freaks…and you could get one with a red Coach leather cover.
I so wanted to be one of those people …read more