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December 31, 2004

1/23/04 - Papers, Papers Everywhere!

Peony of Two Sleepy Mommies asks:

"An organization question: How do you deal with organizing paper? 'Official' papers (like bank statements and tax papers) goes in our filing cabinet, of course, but how do you handle stuff like catalogs you want to take a peek at someday but don't have time at the moment, articles you printed from the Net that you want to take a look at, recipes, craft ideas.... all that kind of flotsam and jetsam. I have a files for recipes I want to try, and am starting a file for craft ideas. Maybe I should start one for my hoard of articles."
I have been going through the same thing since I've started early on my spring cleaning, particularly since it looks like we'll be moving in a few months. I too have paper and catalogs that need to be organized. I recommend keeping the new catalogs in one spot where you tend to have at least 5 minutes to yourself - in the chair where you nurse the baby or on your nightstand while the kids are sleeping. Or my personal favorite - in the bathroom. haha! After I look at a catalog it either goes in the trash or in a designated magazine rack on our book shelf. One rack has Catholic catalogs we frequently order from and the other has my "regular" catalogs I want to keep for future use. When the "spring" issue arrives I dump out the previous "winter" issue. (Although some of my friends keep the old issues in a big bin instead so their kids can cut out the photos for projects.) That has pretty much helped me to keep my catalogs in check.

As far as all the papers and recipes go, it's an ongoing project for me. I keep a folder on my desk that says "articles to read" (most from magazines.) That piles up for a week or two then I go back through the folder and dump out the articles I'm no longer interested, often saying to myself, why the heck did I cut out the article "How to Survive a Blizzard and Entertain Your Kids with the Craft of Quilting and Still Have Time to Cook A Gourmet Indian Dish All In One Afternoon!" Sure it may have sounded great at the time but considering that it doesn't snow here, I can't sew a button, and don't care for Indian food, let alone gourmet stuff, I shouldn't waste my time. That eliminates a lot of my "must read" folder. The rest that's worth it gets skimmed over. And if I can use it again in the future for an article or personal use I put it in my personal file cabinet by my desk. I've labeled each hanging file with topics such as "baby care" or "apologetics" or "crafts" or "printed directions", etc.

Online articles get put in my computers "favorites" file. I read them when time permits (don't you love that phrase?) and only print out those that I will use immediately. They too go into my personal file as above.

Small recipes go taped onto a 3x5 card and into the recipe box. For online recipes I cut & paste it into Word, reduce the size and print it to fit on a 3x5. For large magazine recipes with photos I put them in a recipe binder using those plastic sheet covers. You can use dividers to organize by subject. Granted when I make my weekly menu I usually say "hey, I should try one of the recipes in my binder" but then the phone rings or Bella says "I go potty" and I land out ignoring the binder and cooking something I already know. Oh well.

I still have piles of papers I'm sorting through but I have made one huge improvement - our owners manuals are organized in one spot! I got a huge white binder, plastic sheet covers, and alphabetized dividers. As soon as a manual comes in it goes straight in the binder - from TV manuals to instructions for setting up the baby crib. It may sound a little "too organized" but I was desperate. The other day we were trying to figure out what some of the obscure buttons on our DVD remote where. I went to find the DVD manual and it took two hours to remember that I last looked at it when I was talking on the phone to my sister who asked me about the date of our trip down south which reminded me that I needed to schedule an oil change on the car which reminded me that I had to make a deposit in the bank to pay the guy which reminded me that I haven't gotten online to check my bank statement which reminded me that I was supposed to place an order from the new catalog I received which reminded me that I left the catalog in the magazine holder in the bathroom...and alas, there was the DVD owners manual right where I finally laid it down - in the bathroom magazine rack. Sigh. See what a little oganization can do for you? haha!

Posted by bobbi at December 31, 2004 12:00 AM

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