How is everyone doing on their challenge? Thanks to everyone who has decided to participate. I am really excited for you! I even understand that there are some non blogging folks doing the challenge along with us which is fantastic! I know blogger is being difficult and some of you were having trouble with your pictures and I even noticed that my banner keeps disappearing on me and then it comes back. Very strange.
Anyway awhile ago I posted about organizing being an ongoing PROCESS. Today I will talk a little bit about the first three steps and how you can apply them to your challenge.
P = Plan of attack:
I think most of you have done this step already by figuring out which area you want to organize….the more specific you are the more likely you are to stick to the plan. Some of you have made a list of what you specifically want to accomplish each day, breaking it down into manageable levels which is just awesome. This will keep you from being overwhelmed.
R = Remove the items:
I find it almost never works to organize a space within the space. You need to remove the stuff to another area to truly see what you have and what you are dealing with. You may be surprised to find some items you never even knew you had or had forgotten about. You know what that means don’t you….if you haven’t needed it to this point….get rid of it! If you are organizing a larger space and only have a little bit of time each day to spend on it you may want to use the PROCESS steps on one area at a time. For instance if you are doing a whole room you may want to start by just removing items from the desk, dresser or bookcare and tackling that area first before moving on to say the closet.
O = Organize into piles:
Once you have a nice big pile of stuff take some empty boxes and start sorting….this step is similar to how they do it on Clean Sweep. If you are sorting paperwork you may need to label your boxes action/file/toss whereas if you are doing a room you may need boxes for keep/toss/donate. Don’t spend too long on any one item, just keep moving. Hopefully your toss pile is the biggest 🙂 You might want to follow my purging guidelines if you are having trouble with this step. Once this step is completed you will know what is left and what you need to find a permanent home for. That will be the next step and I’ll go into that in more detail in my next challenge post.
If you would like to see the list of participants and offer some encouragement or even to post your own “before” pictures you can do so at any time by clicking here or on the link in my sidebar…the Mr. Linky will stay up permanently. I absolutely love how many of you are posting regular updates….this is fantastic for keeping on track and I highly recommend it. If you do update as we go along leave a comment for me in whatever is my most recent posting on the 30 Day Organizational Challenge (ie: this one or the next etc..).
For now I leave you with a question from Maggie. She is wondering if anyone has any good storage solutions for 12 x 12 scrapbooking paper. Can any of you scrapbookers help her out?
Thanks!
I apologize if I’ve missed answering any of your questions. Please email me again!
Keep up the great work!!!
Angie says
I use those paper trays that you stack on your desk. I think they are legal size and I have them snapped together and then taped with clear tape and then turned on their side where you can side the paper upright in them. This way you can separate the paper anyway you want to.
Angie says
Laura,
The Becky Fleck page maps are sketches of scrapbook pages. So you can get different layout ideas each month.http://www.pagemaps.com/
Christine says
OK, I just joined the challenge! I’m really excited to finally get my kitchen under control!! Thanks for getting us motivated, Laura!
Anonymous says
I’d better go to the purging post next. Purging is something I need to work on. Thanks for inspiring me. I have a walk in closet I really need to organize even though I just moved in here a few months ago. I just shoved a bunch of stuff in there before I broke my wrist and then left it. Now my writst is a lot better but I am still using it as an excuese not to have to deal with this closet. I think your challenge will help.
twiga92 says
I use the Cropper Hopper ExPo deluxe to store the 12×12 paper. It’s like a plastic expanding file that’s big enough and can be organized by topic or color. I got mine online, I think they are available at Joann’s.
Anonymous says
Wow! Good information. You just reminded me I need to get started. I’m off to start removing items off of my desk 1st.
Thanks for all the information and encouragement.
~Betty
Jennifer says
I did get started today in the basement, and I was sort of working in these steps (even though I hadn’t read it yet). So, I have a couple of piles and am working through getting some stuff out of the closet and sorting through it.
I will answer your questions specific to my area on my site. I really need to think through how best to use the area.
Judi says
Not doing so well on mine. But I still have time! If I weren’t dead broke I would probably be more motivated.
org junkie says
Oh Judi, please don’t be discouraged. Getting organized doesn’t have to cost much money…trust me! Don’t give up, you can do it!!!
Andrea says
i’m with judi… a bit discouraged. but 3 more weeks to get things done. i just have to remember that usually it looks a lot worse, than gets better. right? i hope so. maybe i should try moving everything out first as you suggested. (can this include children too). ha ha
Darlene (CWO) says
I’m such a “How-to junkie” I love this website. I’m very disorganized, but I’d like to be just like you when I grow up. 😀
In the meantime, I’ll be inspired and grow toward change.
Anonymous says
I have my paper in a big translucent plastic “envelope” that size from the craft store. That way it’s portable, but if I had a lot of paper and more room, I would use flat trays or paper cubbies. I just thought of using a file cabinet too.