A system is only as good as the effort put into it… Those words woke me up this morning.
I have a confession to make; I can come up with many ways to get organized, but I’m not always great at following through with keeping things organized. Case in point, my method for managing papers, coupons, etc. has gotten out of control due to neglect.
I have placed folders in this beautiful wall-mounted wrought iron folder holder for coupons for home, travel, food (including takeout menus), auto, clothing, and personal care items. The plan is to quickly file things away in the appropriate place, use the coupons and menus as needed, and clean it out once a month, removing expired coupons.
Knowing how short I have been on time, I have accepted simply shoving papers in the general area where they belong to be enough effort for now. I keep promising myself I’ll get to them later, and now, it looks like a hoarder lives in my laundry room!
Enough is enough! I repeat the mantras, “A system is only as good as the effort put into it” and “Everything has its place, and there’s a place for everything.” Armed with a bag for recycling paper and a trash can, I take all of the papers and bring them to the dining room table. I am totally embarrassed to share this mess with you! Even our bulldog looks like he wants to hide!
I make a cup of tea, put on some good music, and sort the mountain of papers that have accumulated. It feels so good to purge the piles and get things back in order! I honestly can’t believe how much I have removed. Now it’s time to get everything organized. I place everything back in the appropriate files. What an improvement! Honestly, going through all of these piles of papers took no time at all!
I have to make myself avoid this avalanche of papers, so I decide to put an appointment on my calendar to go through the papers once a month. If I lived in a perfect world, I’d do this once a week, but I have to be realistic with my expectations. Putting the organization task on my calendar will prompt me to actually stay on top of it.
Planning for organization should be a done to maintain sanity and keep things in order. I even feel a sense of relief at seeing everything so much tidier.
I promise I do a better job in other areas. Here are some current pictures of other organizational hacks in use in my home:
Check out some of our other posts on our Organization Page. Please share your tips to keep things in their proper place (and help me stay organized)! We can all benefit from each other’s ideas! Thank you for joining our journey to help save time, money, and sanity through organization!
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