A few weeks back, whilst contemplating the shifts in my grounding, I spouted off
a little list of meaningless things upon which I could expatiate without concern for the important and difficult matters in my life. I've already expended the energy of two entries talking music, and I've touched on the computer situation here and there (and will again now). If so inspired, I might continue to use this list for some time to come, peppering my intermittent blog entries with specific references from it. I doubt that, in my present state of mind, I would be capable of being that organized. But you never know.
Speaking of organization, and in fact, referring back to the list, today's topic addresses a couple of the methods I have employed to better
re-organize myself. I emphasize the "re" because I am generally an organized person. That said, it's been a messy year. So, I've taken it upon myself to enact a few steps to get me back on track.
The first step was getting a new computer. This has failed miserably. Not only is the machine I purchased on July 16th not up and running on my desk, it's been packed in a box and FedEx'd back to the
mothership. To look at the optimistic side of this situation, it will be a step that will continue my ongoing quest for re-organization a few weeks from now. In the interim, I'm just not going to talk about it.
The next step was getting a new purse. Don't laugh. This was a big deal for me. Some time in the late 80s, I stopped carrying purses. I was pocket-intensive for a while and transitioned to a
DayRunner as my only means of transporting personal belongings on a daily basis. It worked quite well for many years. I became adept at locking my keys onto my pinky finger, and the lack of open space in the book prevented unwanted clutter.
A couple years ago, however, I purchased an
incredibly cheap and small pleather-like backpack. Inspired by a similar one my sister carried, I thought it would be a good way to carry both my DayRunner and a few additional items (like keys). Unfortunately, the DayRunner was too tight a fit to be practical, and so I transitioned everything into the backpack.
Recently, I've grown increasingly frustrated with two problems that plagued me decades ago: [1] big open space that allows items to float around freely, banging into one another, making it messy and difficult to easily access the necessary items; and [2] the deterioration of the lining caused by all that shifting. I spent some meaningful time contemplating this situation and deciding to dive headlong back into the world of the purse.
In this process, I determined that I would only go back to the purse if it was a high quality product that allowed me a ridiculous level of organization. No floating, no mess, no torn lining. The result? The
other end of the spectrum. Now in my possession are a "bag" (not merely a "purse"), a wallet, a coin purse, a credit card holder, an accessory bag, and a business card holder -- all in
leather (note the lack of a "
p" in that word). My justification for this spree is two-fold. All the above-mentioned reasons, and the fact that I purchased everything from an outlet store.
Mind you, this last fact did not make it affordable. Yes, I saved $137.80. But I spent a fair bit more than I saved. I could have purchased 64 of the PayLess backpacks for what it cost me to buy this ensemble, but I still wouldn't have the level of organization that I have now.
It's always a fascinating process the first time I buy something that heretofore has been completely out of my realm of reality. I'm happy to say that I have since adjusted to the weirdness of the situation and am very happy with my real leather organizational kit.
Meanwhile, I started a new crusade to re-organize at home. And my husband happily joined the effort. While I weeded through my clothes closet -- setting aside about half of its contents for
charity and a handful for the trash, Ted weeded his book collection down by three large boxes (I'm guessing about 150 books) to give to the local library. I also found a plethora of items in storage bins on the floor of my closet that were easily reassigned for Christmas or the charity boxes.
Oh, and I changed the design of
my blog. Like it?
There's still much to do. First the purse and the clothes closet, next the computer, after that Christmas gifts, and from there who knows. But for now, it's bed time. Mabye next time I'll tackle 'board games and dinner guests' or 'furniture rearrangement sans feng shui.'
Now I've gone and done it. Go to bed early, and what do I get? Awake before the freakin' crack of dawn. Even though daylight is starting to filter in now, it was nowhere to be found at 5:15am when, bleary-eyed, I bid 'good day' to my husband as he headed to work. I could have gone back to bed. I mean, really, I didn't actually go to bed until about 11:00pm last night, so allowing myself to sleep until 7:00am wouldn't have been unreasonable. But no.
