Organizing session

I'm exhausted today. Marcie the Organizer came over for our first session together and we started attacking paper clutter. We emptied five boxes - filled up my 8-gallon recycling bin three times and got a number of things ready for donating.

We found a Netflix DVD that has been missing for about a year.

We also discussed calendaring and I ordered a 1-31 file for my to-do list. I chose an accordion file. Every day when action items come in, I will decide when I want and/or need to do them, and file them in the appropriate number corresponding to the day I decide to do them. Or, if I have things I need to do, I will look at my calendar and decide what day I have time to do it, write it down on a piece of scrap paper, then put it in the appropriate day. If it's a task that needs repeating (such as a weekly or monthly chore), I will just put it in the next day I need to do that task. If something needs to be done a different month, put it in 31 behind the actual things I need to do on the 31st. Then, I will review the day the night before and the day of and do the task.

We discussed financial planning. Turns out, she has family in the business and they are local, and we've been looking for someone.

We discussed some more possibilities about where to put storage.

We discussed a home office setup. (The idea behind the accordion file for the action papers is that it can be wrapped up and put away. She had suggested the possibility of getting rid of our side door and putting a desk in that area. Kurt was enthusiastic. I kind of like the idea too, especially because we were talking about replacing it with a window. But at this point, I kind of just want to get the house organized. I am thinking of putting a desk in the living room.

We are brainstorming about how to get more closed storage to cut down on visual clutter.

There were a lot of decisions to make, not my strong suit.

My eye is on the prize though. I am looking forward to low clutter and a more maintainable schedule.

Purge Notes

42,103 emails in the inbox this morning. Now have 39,742.

Purge Notes

Email - started with 73,184. Ended with 42,078. Got rid of 31,106 emails!! In less than a day.

Sorted and shredded 6 pounds, 3.75 ounces (yes I weighed it) of paper clutter.

Woohoo!

(And managed to do several loads of laundry, made dinner for my husband's lunches, and cleaned the kitchen).

Organizer

So, I had my first hour with a professional organizer/home stager/decorated this week. A very sweet lady named Marcie. I showed her around the house and talked to her about my hopes and dreams, and we began thinking of some solutions to our space problems.

In 2010, the average square feet in new single-family homes was 2394. Our home is 1432, built in 1950. We have three bedrooms, one small bathroom, and a two-car garage.

I really enjoy the challenge of living in a smaller space. I enjoy that we use our entire house and trying to come up with ideas of how to better use the space.

With three boys, we have acquired a lot over the years and I have begun digging out this summer, but it's a lot of work and it doesn't come easily to either one of us. When I get into decluttering mode though, it does get easier. I stop buying as many things and start feeling less emotionally-attached and beholden to the things I have. So, I've decided to work with Marcie and get some ideas from her. We had a great rapport and it was fun to brainstorm with her - gets my mind churning.