considerable grace

This will give some of you the heebie-jeebies, but others may enjoy it:

Getting Things Done to the Next Level

If you already feel disorganized, overwhelmed, and that you’ll never be able to get a handle on everything in your life, I encourage you to not read it. Instead? Spend time with a friend who LIKES to organize things and can gently, calmly, help you to take one little step at a time into making order out of chaos.

But if you LOVE “GTD” or if you just enjoy order and tasklists, etc. etc., enjoy! It’s quite a read.

(HT: Challies.com)

Yesterday I enjoyed a great conversation with a friend. We talked about a zillion things, one of them being the need to “capture” all of our “to-do's” in some way or another.

For some people, this means CLUTTER. They get magazines and think “I need to read that”, catalogs ("I might want something in there"), bills ("Must pay that"), party invites ("Must respond"), gifts ("Don’t forget to send a thank you note"), random mailings ("I should really get off of that mailing list") ... and then they keep all of those items “OUT” because otherwise, they might forget to do XYZ.

The problem, of course, being that once you have enough piles going, even they are no longer helpful to you. ("Somewhere in the bottom of that twelfth pile is a graduation invite that I really need to send a gift about ... WHOOPS! It’s November. Bummer.")

SO ... even for people who don’t LOVE LOVE LOVE office supplies and for whom Sharpies and file folders are NOT happy HAPPY gifts, it’s wise to develop SOME level of systems for capturing the to-do’s so that they don’t capture you.

One of my friends laughs when I say, “Do you need a pencil?” in response to her, “I need to remember to do that comment.” Because OF COURSE, she’s WAY cooler than me and she deftly slides out her Ipod-thingy and tap-tap-tap, it’s DONE.

Some of us still have ACTUAL paper stickies in our lives. That’s OK. The 80’s were not the golden-old-y days for US. We’re groovy. We’re catching the task in our own low-tech way. No prob.

I assume most of us have some sort of combination of tech (Microsoft Office Tasklist!) and low-tech (white board by the phone) and I really don’t think it matters. Except for this: capture it somehow so you aren’t captured BY it. Otherwise it’s just too stressful. And you’re a busy person! You don’t have time or emotional energy to waste on worrying if you dropped something. Just capture it.

(Oh, yeah. Then periodically CLEAR THE DECKS and DO what you wrote down too. )

With that, I’m off into my day.

Hope you have a blessed day! I’m hoping to write. Hah. I’m terrified but hoping I’ll “do it scared.”

Yours,
Tara B.

This morning I emailed a friend some of my “tips” for how to handle MAIL so that you don’t end up with piles everywhere, or miss paying an important bill or scheduling an important meeting. I thought that some of you might enjoy my little “system” too, so I’ll copy it below.

BTW—I’d love to hear how YOU deal with your mail if you care to share any organizing/efficiency tips too.

Happy Friday!
– Tara B.

Main thing? Most helpful? TOUCH IT ONCE:

- Bring the mail inside and go immediately to a GARBAGE CAN (or recycle bin).

- Throw away everything extraneous (catalogs, requests for money, flyers, advertisements)—they absolutely do NOT earn the right to take your time or space. Get rid of ‘em.

- (If it’s a catalog you’d like to glance through sometime, fine. But on a regular basis, GLANCE and TOSS.)

- For magazines you actually want to read? Great. Rip out the inside postcards and throw them away. Put magazine in your CURRENT PERIODICAL AREA (purge/donate/throw away/recycle on a regular basis; if the magazine is six months old, your real life is such that you’re NOT GOING TO READ IT—so get rid of it; without guilt; no matter how GREAT it is—your current duties and delights are not lining up with its contents).

For REAL MAIL ...

- Open the envelope and throw it away.

- Is it a nice thank you note? Personal note? Great! Enjoy it. Show your hubby if you think it would bless him. Maybe leave it out for a tiny bit of time if you REALLY like the person or you REALLY like the card. It might earn a week or so of your space and time (or longer if it’s a “keep forever/best friend” kind of card) because it’s so lovely that it GIVES YOU ENERGY AND JOY. Otherwise? Toss toss toss. Glance, enjoy, and toss.

- A bill that you have on automatic bill pay that you don’t need the record of for tax purposes? OOPS. This should’ve been THROWN AWAY WITHOUT EVEN OPENING. (Shred if necessary). You’ll get that information right into Quicken through your account or see it online. Doesn’t deserve your time—surely doesn’t deserve your space.

- Document to be filed (insurance form / medical / financial)? Great. Leave it out fro the day if your hubby likes to see that kind of thing; otherwise—FILE IT AWAY.

- ACTIONABLE TASK TO-DO thing (bill to pay / graduation card to send / appointment to make)? If it takes less than a minute and you have the time—DO IT. If not, SCHEDULE IT (note the personal correspondence need in your ongoing “when I have time personal correspondence” Microsoft Outlook Tasklist To-do Task; or the gift need on your ongoing “BUY” task list to-do task; or put the bill (just the return part of the bill and the envelope) in your current “must pay bill area”).

Then sit back. Enjoy the moment. You’ve cleared the decks. You’ve taken dominion. Nothing will be dropped. No tasks will be forgotten or lost. Important documents are findable. You’ve captured any information or reminder you’ve needed and there is NOTHING extraneous or energy-sapping left it your world (only manageable, scheduled tasks and lovely, beautiful personal correspondence that feeds your soul and reminds you that you’re not alone in this world—and that’s a good thing).

(Oh, and the MOST MOST MOSTEST efficient thing to do is, of course, STAY OFF OF MAILING LISTS and GET OFF OF MAILING LISTS that you’re already on. Then you don’t have to deal with ANY of this. )

One quick pic to make you smile before I tell you the real reason for this post ...

Ella decided to cuddle with Lilikoi this morning—in her kennel:



Poor ol' doggy. I think Ella likes to cuddle with Lili more than Lili likes to be climbed on by a baby. But, thankfully, Lili has been very sweet and gentle with Eleanor.

Back to the reason for this post ... (I want to tell you about something that is really helping me with a HUGE organization project.)

Fred has given me a great gift today—the gift of TIME. And I’m investing it some seriously-needed organizing of all of our books. Challies.com recommended LibraryThing.com and I have to say, after tackling only a small area of our home (the bookshelves in my office), it’s worked well for our first 210 books. (Insert sheepish grin here. Yes. Yes. I love books. Is this a surprise to anyone?)

I’m SO glad to tackle this project because I really do need to keep better track of the books I already own so that I avoid purchasing duplicates AND so that I can find things easier. Plus, as is often the case in life, my priorities have shifted and my “#2 space” (accessible book shelves) are filled with too many “#3 space” things (rarely used / personal mementos / should be STORED or DONATED or THROWN AWAY). Thus, my “#1 space” (desktop, dining room table, any flat surface in the schoolroom) which SHOULD be clear, clutter-free, and USABLE is, well, A MESS.

This is particularly true re: BOOKS. I just haven’t had a usable system/plan for books in years, and thus, chaos has reigned. My usable space has been out of control.

To get to the bottom of the chaos and figure out a usable system, first I had to make a space. One of the best ways to do that is to look for pockets of resistance where you have “#3 Stuff” (toss/donate/archive) in your “#2 Space.” For example, check out THIS “#3 Space” old, old, OLD Peacemaker Ministries FLOPPY DISK that was (seriously!) in my #2 Accessible Space:



Because of stuff like THAT (and its friendly little cousins from decades ago!), I couldn’t find what I really needed to be able to find. But no more! (Drum Roll Please!) LibraryThing to the rescue:



I just need to keep pressing on with some serious data entry because, unlike dear, wonderful, Mr. Challies, I’m trying to be faithful to thoroughly TAG everything as I go. (He says that he wishes he had done so.)

One GIGANTO distraction? Sophie learned to ride a bike today!! And wow! Is she grinning ear to ear or what?



We’re all very proud of her:



Hope you’re enjoying a lovely Saturday too!

Yours,
Tara B.

After a year of co-op and a few hours of Beach Day, it took six or seven trips to load the car at the church and another six or seven just to get everything out of my trunk and onto my dining room table:



Now. If you know me at all, then you know that usually? I tackle such things RIGHT AWAY. I’m just not into clutter. Everything in its place and a place for everything. That’s me.

So why did it take me over 36 hours before I even TRIED to tackle this beast? Well. In reflecting on that question, it hit me that some of you might be feeling that same paralyzed / where do I even BEGIN feeling about things in your life, too.

(For example, I sometimes feel that way when it comes to losing weight/being healthier. “I have so far to go! Where do I even BEGIN?!” And I used to feel that way about my debt load—back when I was tens of thousands of dollars in debt. “The task is just TOO BIG. How do I start?”)

And just like all of those topics, my Beach-Day-Co-Op-Implosion-Explosion-Mess-Of-CHAOS had a first step. But I it wasn’t anywhere near the dining room table or the boxes of stuff.

No. In order to REALLY put all of that stuff away, I had to start in my bedroom. Because I had to MAKE A SPACE. And the only way to do that was to:

1. PURGE unused stuff. Give away. Throw away. Archive into a less-accessible area.

2. ORDER the stuff I really need in my accessible space.

3. THEN I was ready to put away Beach Day. (And, in actuality, tackling THAT didn’t take any time at all.)

What took the time was going through STUFF and figuring out what we are not using in our daily life right now. And then asking:

- Would this bless someone else? Who can I give this to?

- Is this just GARBAGE? Why is it even in my usable space? Yeek!

- Do I have sentimental reasons for holding onto this? Is it a “precious”? A memento? If so, great. Keep it in my “forever” box. But get it out of my usable space.

You see ... we all have a limited amount of “A" space. In our home, we call it ”#1 Space." And the reason why piles happen and clutter happens is that our #1 Spaces are filled up with #2 (put away in a closet or drawer / takes a little effort to access) Space Stuff and #3 (archive into harder to reach space like an attic or storage area above the garage) Space Stuff AND stuff that should just be GIVEN AWAY OR THROWN AWAY and not even BE in ANY of our Spaces Stuff.

And if we’re REALLY going to get organized, we have to MAKE A SPACE. Make a hole. Have an area to work in by purging/giving/throwing and organizing our #2 and #3 stuff. THEN we can redeem our #1 (daily usable) space.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. It feels SO good to have order again. Even Sophie said she just walked around my office, our utility room, our guest room, and (yes!) the dining room—the morning after things were put back in place. Just because it felt so good!

Like mother like daughter. Maybe we’ll go into business some day as professional organizers. (Soph has been sorting crayons into color genres since she was a toddler.)

Happy organizing to you!

Your friend,
Tara B.

Today Ella stood up all on her own to reach a baby doll in the crib:



Then she apparently thought, “Hey! I’m sure I can WALK over to that other toy.” Yeah, right. She would’ve had quite a fall if the world’s best big sister wasn’t there to keep her safe:



Since she’s very interested in, well, everything—and able to really reach and grab for things now—Sophia and I spent the afternoon removing all of the Bitty Baby / Bitty Twins choking hazards from their room. And we reorganized the storage tubs and lower shelves to be baby safe:





A great time was had by all! (Ella took toys out of tubs as fast as we put 'em in. And Sophie said, “Organizing is FUN!”)

Happily,
Tara B.

After my little adventure this week, I’m really wondering whether I can continue to think of myself as an organized person. Here’s what happened ...

Sophie and I had moved diligently through our duties on Wednesday morning and we were on track to leave the house for women’s study on time. Until ...

(Insert scary music here.)

... I couldn’t find my women’s study.

Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? People misplace things. No biggie. Maybe I was working on it upstairs. (No.) Did it get carried into my office for some reason? (No.) OK, back to the place I ALWAY keep it. (No.) It just HAS to be there. (No.) “C'mon, Tara! You have to GET OUT THE DOOR! Where is that book?!” (No idea.)

So now I’m experiencing the exact same emotions I felt as a nine year-old who was ABOUT to miss the school bus for old Cork El. “Where is it? Where is it? I NEED IT! How can I lead a study if I don’t HAVE the study?!?”

Oh, and hooray God! I did have one TINY moment of sanity in the midst of all of this, when I DID try to be relatively godly about it all (as Sophie is watching me literally RUN from room to room, turning things upside down, looking in places it couldn’t POSSIBLY be) ... I did stop and pray. And I did try to NOT catastrophize the situation ("No one is going to die if I show up without my study. Share someone else’s book. Get over yourself.").

And so, we went to the car to leave for the study. AND THERE WAS MY WOMEN’S STUDY. In the baby bag. On the front car seat. Efficiently (albeit NOT effectively!) put there by yours truly SO THAT I WOULDN’T HAVE TO RUSH AND FIND IT AT THE LAST MINUTE.

Nice.

So now I’m wondering if I’m just too organized to call myself organized because CLEARLY I’m not organized anymore.

Oh well! I’d rather be a disorderly mess WITH my two precious little love bugs than the most organized person without them. I only get to have small children ONCE. I want to drink every drip of this exhausting, chaotic, hug-filled, kiss-filled, “May I read this book to you and Ella, Momma?”-filled season of life.

Blessings on your day—
(Even if, like me, you can’t currently find the floor or desk in your office.)

Love,
Tara B.

With Fred out of town, I had a fairly strong feeling that I would go one of two ways in my survival mode:

- Complete slacker mode (Fred would come home to our current state of chaos, which he wouldn’t notice or mind)

- Try-to-be-a-little-diligent mode (Fred would come home to a little more order, which he wouldn’t notice but he would be sweet and appreciative of once it was pointed out to him)

Today, I’ve dabbled a bit in the latter and I have to say, it’s been quite enjoyable.

Every time Eleanor slept, I tried to either give Sophia focused time/cuddles/attention OR tackle the BEAST of the arts and crafts supplies that have literally been on our basement floor for over a month now:



The first thing I had to do was figure out WHERE to put them.

Currently, we’re doing a lot of our projects out in our dining room. So rather than store them in a closet in the basement and then have to LUG them up and down the stairs every time we wanted to use them, I decided to empty my dining hutches and put THAT stuff (that I use MAYBE once or twice a year) down in a closet in the basement.





It was a lot of work to purge (throw away/donate), re-order, and then MOVE everything. But it was worth it!

Sophie and I are very excited to have our supplies so accessible!



I’m also hoping to purge out some living room drawers that are really wasting space currently (filled with things we rarely/never use):



But I haven’t quite gotten that far yet. I’ve included the above photo only to bolster my claim at events that I can’t keep plants alive. (Look at that poor thing! We call him “Deac” because my mom and stepdad sent it to Fred when he was ordained as a deacon in our little church. Poor ol' Deac. He’s a trooper.)

Anyway ...

It’s been a nice day of rest, play, and a little diligence. And now I’m hoping to catch a bit of sleep if at all possible tonight.

My heart is burdened though, and I would ask you to please say a prayer for my mother in law, Chris, and her mother, our ‘GG’ (Great Grandma) who is dying imminently, probably tonight. GG has longed to go Home for years (even decades?) now. I believe she is 97 or 98 years old and she is eager for Heaven. But the process of dying can be hard, painful, and frightening. And Chris is a widow (Fred’s father died when Fred was still a teenager), and we are all so far away. I just hate that we’re not there to help and simply be present! But the Lord knows and I know He is with them.

We’re hoping to be able to at least get Fred out to the memorial service. I don’t think there’s any way we could afford to get Sophie and me there, but I reminded Fred that Ella could fly for no extra cost. (I’m just selfishly wondering if I could be away from her for so long ... Of course I would do it if I have to.)

Thanks for praying! And for letting me share my organizing day with you.

G'nite and God bless—

Yours,
Tara B.

I been having a few “spinny” moments these days. I look in one direction and see piles of chaos that I simply DON’T know what to do with, so I turn in another direction to see if I could tackle any of THAT chaos—but No. I have no plan. I have no place to put things. I don’t know what I might need or what should be thrown away or given away.

So I spin and spin and spin just a little more and then I do one of a few options:

- I close my eyes and try to block my brain and IGNORE IT. (This lasts for a little while; but there does come a point when I can’t bear the mess. I miss my floor! I wan’t to know where the things I need are located. I don’t like piles of STUFF!)

- I know I have to engage and fight the chaos, but I still don’t have a plan (to throw/give) or a place to put things. So I do the next thing ...I begin to clear out the LEVEL 3 STUFF in order to make room for the stuff I’m actually using and needing to have access to, that currently has no place to live. (Newborn clothes that don’t fit; Tara clothes that don’t fit; Sophie toys and books that should be move up to her room from her booknook and down to her booknook from her room, etc.)

Yesterday, I WOULD HAVE stayed in my paralyzed mode of ignoring (and watching the chaos GROW), but Fred was SO generous to help with lots of diligent house tasks, that he really modeled for me AND counseled me to just DO THE NEXT THING.

No, I couldn’t nurse Ella, get my women’s Bible study done for the week, deal with orders, prep for this HUGE event I am serving at in Iowa this weekend, care for my sweet Sophia with her very bad cold, help figure out co-op (because we obviously can’t go tomorrow), make meals, do laundry, oh and enjoy some “I Spy” and Narnia with Soph while holding Ella and delighting in her cooing and smiling, plus OH! how much cleaning our house needs. Again.

But I could do SOMETHING. With a grateful, happy heart. I could make a tiny bit of progress and maybe tomorrow, make a little more.

So it actually ended up being a nice day. Fred really set and maintained the tone for our home by his grateful heart, diligent work, and time for relaxation and fun too.

Tomorrow will be a day of drinking lots of liquids, occasional cold medicines, and hopefully keeping our fevers under 101 (because anything over 101 just really wipes you out!). I sense some serious forts being designed and created by Sophia as she nests in to read and listen to her Narnia adventures.

(Earlier in the week she was SO sad that we’re reading the final book now. She said, “I wish Dr. Lewis had written 1,000 Narnia Books!!”)

Kicking off our day at 3:45AM, I got to change a diapie, and fill up Ella’s tummy with some more milkies. It’s fun (albeit exhausting) when the “next thing” is so extremely CUTE.



OK. Trying for a few more hours of sleep now ...

Blessings on your Tuesday!
– Tara B.

I completely agree with Michael Hyatt on this topic (and apply it to sermons and church meetings too). I even do this now, balancing a newborn and paper and pen. In fact I feel quite lost / strange / frustrated if I ever have to sit in any meeting WITHOUT a paper and pen; or even better–a LAPTOP:

Recovering the Lost Art of Note Taking

(PS—Can you tell it’s 4AM, I’m relatively wide awake holding Ella and, for the first time in a month, checking in on blogs? )

I am (slowly!) making it through the piles and chaos around here. Not worrying about it or setting unrealistic expectations, but also trying very hard to get things in order as much as possible before the baby arrives (in 2 weeks and 6 days! Yeep!).

This weekend I made some great progress on the girls' room and did another level of in-depth organizing re: baby toys, puzzles, games, books, videos, etc. So I think we’re in good shape there.

But then I wanted to turn my attention to some “BOY-TYPE-AREAS” (i.e., pockets of resistance/chaos that really needed some help/guidance from FRED). Specifically, the GARAGE and the UTILITY SHELVES in our basement.

Fred was game to try (because even HE was not happy about the level of disorder), but it also made him pretty easily frustrated and pretty miserable as we got into it. Too many unknowns. Too difficult to categorize. WAY too unpleasant to go through tiny plastic storage box by tiny plastic storage box to sort into genres / toss / give / file.

Tensions began to rise and I could tell that we really needed to CUT OUR LOSSES and just do the best we could for a LEVEL ONE INITIAL ORGANIZING. Because otherwise, we might end up with things REALLY neat and orderly, but I would’ve made my husband MISERABLE. And it’s just not worth it.

So let me show you what compromise looks like.

Here are the before and after photos of our utility shelves downstairs:



Now, just to let you know, I DID take everything OUT to begin. (Pretty much the cardinal rule of REAL organizing, don’t you think? I just can’t imagine how else you can really figure out what you HAVE and then, what to DO with what you have.)

And I did sort by genres as best I could. (One of the reasons I couldn’t REALLY do this job right is because I simply have NO IDEA what a bunch of that “boy stuff” is for.)

But when I came to the point where I really needed Fred’s help. (And recognizing that after working very, very hard on lots of other tasks around the house, he REALLY wasn’t in a good place to tackle that level of minute organizing.) I just found three sturdy, sort of neat-looking boxes ... and I put the (sort of organized by genre) stuff in them.

a) I have usable shelves that don’t drive me crazy every time I go to reach for something I really need;

b) We have at least the same ability to find things in the utility room area as we did previously (and maybe even a tiny bit better because of my genre-sorting-work); and

c) Fred and I aren’t fighting.

Sounds like a win-win-win to me.

(Thank you, God, for helping me to NOT push Fred and make him miserable JUST to accomplish “MY” goal! What a grace.)

Today, I think it’s time to tackle one more pocket of resistance—archiving my files in my office—and then, drum-roll please, I really want to SLAY THE BEAST, the hardest and most complicated organizing project I’m working on pre-Ella ... THE SCHOOL ROOM.

(Aaaaaaaah! Insert screams of terror here.)

Yes, it’s time. Piles are just NOT cutting it for History, Math, Phonics, French, Science, Fine Arts, Music, etc. etc. Craft supplies are NOT sorting themselves into cute little color-coordinated piles. Our logic games are completely illogical in how they are stacked and our puzzles are puzzling. I have the GEAR—a nice assortment of organizing boxes that FORMERLY held a bunch of BOY STUFF in our utility shelves—I think I have the TIME to do some serious work today. So we shall see ...

Fred is again in the zone to work day and night at Peacemakers on his big project, so Soph and I are pretty much on our own this week if you live in Billings and want to hang out ...

Happy Monday to you—

Yours,
Tara B.

PS
Nothing like the combination of water, a splash pool, and a Golden Retriever to help beat the heat, eh?

Thanks for asking about organizing, Petrie! It’s such a fun topic for me that, of course, I grabbed my camera and I’m happy to share how I went about (trying to) get ready for two little girls to share one small space.

(I’m completely assuming that this current situation will NOT work once Ella is mobile. It’ll need tweaking as we go. This is just a starting point.)

The first thing I had to figure out when we went to move in the crib and changing table is WHERE to put a bunch of Sophie’s stuff. The current “Ella space” USED TO be this:



I immediately thought of her reading nook in the schoolroom. (Just a closet that we took the doors off of and painted a cheery yellow color.) A nice set of the organizing cubicles fit in there, and she still has room to curl up and read, so that worked for a portion of the space that I needed to find:



But I knew that to REALLY make this happen, I would need to do some SERIOUS organizing. Hence the photo from a few weeks ago:



I knew that in order to have livable / every day (I call it "#1") space, I HAD TO clear out some of my #3 (rarely used / want to hold onto, but don’t need easy access to) space. And that meant tackling some not-that-carefully-used space under our puzzles and games in our basement AND our storage closet in our basement.

(I didn’t REALLY need that space to be as usable before now, so I didn’t work too hard on it. But that’s often how organizing is. Or maybe ALWAYS how organizing is. We do what we need to in order to have the level of order and ease our family is comfortable with. When a new need arises, we think creatively and do our best to find new solutions.)

(I hope I’m not sounding organizationally preachy right now. I just really like to think about stuff like this. It’s very fun for me. Aren’t I weird??)

ANYWAY ... to clear out #3 space, I had to:

1. Pull everything out and figure out what I had to deal with.

2. Get rid of stuff I no longer use or feel a sentimental attachment to. (Throw away / recycle. Donate. Sell.)

3. Archive #3 stuff to an even MORE remote location. (For us, this meant to a storage area over the garage.)

4. Move some formerly #1 stuff (Sophie could easily access it daily without parental help) to this closet (which I think of as a #2 area ... accessible with a little bit of effort / parental help).

So that’s what I did.

I did spend a little money changing over 99% of the storage containers to clear/opaque so that Sophie could more easily see where her craft items, balls, and Thomas the Tank Engine toys went:



THEN, I put the things she plays with the most (dress up / costumes and creative play toys) in the shelves under the games and puzzles and I ran a little “test” to make sure that the boxes weren’t too heavy for her and she could easily take the lids off and on because I want her to have easy access to those items even though they are no longer in the #1 space of her room:



Once I had room to WORK in the girls' room (because I had things cleared out), THEN things got really fun for me. I really enjoyed putting Ella’s #1 things in easily accessible spaces (changing table covers in a basket on the changing table; clean sheets, onesies, receiving blankies in baskets under the changing table):



(You might notice that one of the baskets is EMPTY. That’s because Fred and I really can’t remember ANYTHING about taking care of a newborn ... so I’m assuming I’m forgetting something important and I’ve left room for it. )

And to answer your question, I DO have a closet for the girls and Fred has helped me to maximize its space:

1. (From yet another stellar piece of advice from Laurel Friesen), we took off the doors and painted it a cheery pink. (Soph’s “signature color.”)



2. Fred installed a multi-level white wire rack that allowed me to hang baby clothes for Sophie when she was teeny tiny and now allows a nice way to organize shirts, skirts, dresses, AND American Girl clothing for her dolls.



(By the way—one of the ways I “test” organizational systems to see if they are really livable is that, after organizing an area, I ask Sophie to tell ME what the system is. If she can’t figure it out it’s NEVER going to be maintained. Plus, my goal in organizing ISN’T to have things organized, it’s to serve my family. So when she says, “long-sleeved shirts, short-sleeved shirts, no-sleeved shirts, skirts, and dresses” or “Bibles and Bible stories, chapter books, Henry & Mudge, Frog & Toad, Little House on the Prairie” (and that’s exactly how I was trying to make things work), I say, “Hooray! Let’s give this system a try.”)

3. I make strategic use of white laminate SHOE organizers at both low (for shoes) and high (for other things) levels. If there is blank space/air not being used, I say FILL IT UP. (But be careful to make sure things are safe for children of course.)

Plus, you might note that I have shelf space and empty organizing containers available to me in the closet right now. I think that usually happens when you do a new re-org. It takes TIME and DAILY LIFE to see how/if it REALLY works. And you need to have space to flex INTO.

(For example, last night I realized that Sophie really does creative play over the course of DAYS. So rather than requiring her to put costumes all the way away downstairs in the basement, I am going to come up with a solution for her to leave things out, but organized/safe/not a temptation to our Golden Retriever or the baby (i.e., not just on the floor) in a little temporary area.)

Plus, as I’m assuming you can see from my photos that I snapped in real life this morning while Sophie was still sleeping, it seems to me that nothing EVER stays “perfect” (well, unless you make yourself miserable and your kids miserable trying to keep up some illusion of a spread in Better Homes & Gardens).



Life is messy and EVERY organizational system requires MAINTENANCE. You tweak, throw, re-order, give away, throw away ... it’s just a normal part of life.

(Man! If only exercising and eating healthily were this fun and interesting to me, eh?)

Well, I guess that’s all for “Organizing with Tara” for this morning. I’m sure you knew all this already, but I hope this was helpful to you even in some small way, Petrie. I really enjoyed thinking about what I thought about (even subconsciously) as I worked on this project.

Off into our day—

Blessings and love,
Tara B.

Sorry it’s taken me until 10:30PM to blog today. I have a fairly good excuse, though. (Or at least I hope so.)

Every spare minute of my life the last week of my life has been pretty much overtaken by the HUGE mess I had to make and then clean up in order to identify, sort (throw away / give away / pack away), and organize a ton of STUFF to get ready for Ella Marie’s July arrival.

(As a quick aside ... MAN! It’s a LOT of work to do this. I really do LOVE it–but it’s a ton of effort and I never question why most people DON’T take the time to do a deep DEEP organization of their stuff. I really think it’s just one of those things that you do really well if you LOVE it, but otherwise, you just kind of do your best and get by. Kind of like COOKING. )

Anyway ...

This is what my basement has looked like for most of the last week:



And this is how it looks now:



Whooo-hooo! And the pictures just don’t do the closet justice:

- Long, opaque storage boxes that use the entire depth of the shelves. Sorted by genre. Easy to access.
- Non-opaque boxes labeled and used in “B” locations (accessed less often).
- Old sentimental stuff that is no longer sentimental? GARBAGE.
- Receipts/financial docs that we need to keep for tax purposes? Labeled and archived away above the garage.
- Useful things that we’re just not using enough (and might be a blessing to others)? DONATED.
- Baby stuff? Cloth items are cleaned, folded, and ready. Toys, rattles, and chewable books are boxed in those wonderful opaque boxes so I can find what I need as we go.

Mmmmmmmmmm. Feels great. I’m grateful to God for helping me to get it done (especially before I get too huge in this third trimester) AND to Fred for lugging hundreds of pounds of boxes and stuff around for me.

And I feel really good about doing the best I can to be content in our little home. I have to be more strategic about organizing to have two levels/ages of stuff out simultaneously. (I’m sure those of you with big families are just laughing at me right now and saying, “She has NO idea!” You’re right. I don’t. This is all happily new to me.)

But I’m exhausted and I’m going to hit the hay now.

Hope your day was a blessed one!

Yours,
Tara B.

We had a relatively strange Saturday ... but a good day, nonetheless.

It started with Fred & Sophie’s (excellent!) Saturday pancake breakfast–a real treat.

And then we headed into two directions:

- Sophie and I went to children’s choir practice for our palm-waving-Palm Sunday service

- Fred headed to the sign-up line for SWIMMING LESSONS for Sophie for the summer

Choir rehearsal was relatively uneventful, save for the utter collapse of the back row of children off of the riser when a boy on the middle row FELL OVER without any warning. Here’s hoping that doesn’t happen on Sunday morning!

But the swimming lesson sign up experience was ABSOLUTELY BIZARRE. One of the strangest things I’ve ever HEARD OF and then, EXPERIENCED myself (when I joined Fred over TWO HOURS after he left home):

- To begin with, this little (obviously) local-owned business does absolutely NOTHING via computer / automation / basic “spreadsheet as the poor man’s programming”. Everything is done on PAPER with a PENCIL in a NOTEBOOK. Everything.

- Thus, you have to physically SHOW UP and get in line to sign up your child for a class / time slot. No big deal, right? Sign-ups started at 1:00 on Saturday. I had heard it was “pretty competitive” to get the class you want, so I asked if Fred could please bring a book and a chair and go at NOON. One hour prior to the start–seems reasonable, doesn’t it?

- Saint Fred bundled up (it was, yes, SNOWING and the line was OUTSIDE), brought a chair, and graciously went to stand in line at noon.

- I assumed that he and I would be done around the same time–1:30, so I called around 1:45 to see if he was home. NOPE. He was BARELY inside the building and the line was very, VERY long still ahead of him. So I dropped off Soph at her playdate and headed to the line to keep him company.

- When I arrived at the location, I had to park BLOCKS AND BLOCKS AWAY and then walk through (literally!) HUNDREDS of people who were snaked around and around the lot and onto the street ... all waiting (in the SNOW!) to try to sign up for swim lessons.

- When I finally found Fred, I learned that there was NOT ONLY this (incredible) line for swim lessons, there was a SEPARATE line for gymnastics class, and THEN, once you survived those two lines, a THIRD LINE to PAY (!!).

Seriously. Have you EVER heard of anything as inefficient as this? It was like a caricature of a Dilbert / MBA ridiculous bottleneck case study. One little 3-ring binder of sheets of paper, penciled-in-forms, OVER AND OVER AGAIN ... one form with the child’s name/age/birthdate/contact information; repeat second form for same class; repeat for gymnastics; repeat for payment ... and EVERY time you brought your little form up, the information was RE-COPIED into yet ANOTHER little 3-ring binder.

Most strangely, I wasn’t even mad (total grace!) because Fred and I were in the zone to work as a team, laugh, and just survive it. And most of the people in the (HUGE) line reacted the same–they couldn’t BELIEVE the inefficiency, but oh well. What are you going to do. There was a lot of (cold/chittering) laughing and visiting FOR THE HOURS AND HOURS of the day.

You may ask why we didn’t just give up or just come back later and take whatever classes were (possibly) still open.

Well ... 1) We really wanted to get Soph some swim lessons and we have heard for years how this place is the best (low student-teacher ratio, really good systems); and 2) With the baby coming in July, if we were going to do lessons this summer, we really needed to get the certain (June) sessions/classes.

So that’s how we spent a long time on Saturday. Pretty strange, eh?

I have SUCH a strong urge to call up the owner and offer – as just a GIFT! – to research an online sign up program for her, implement it, and run it ... just as an anonymous service to the community. Because wow! This was just crazy and I seriously doubt, no matter how great the lessons are, that we would EVER do such a thing again.

Anyway ... hope your Saturday was a blessed one and WAY more efficient than ours –

Yours,
Tara B.

How fun to read C.J. Mahanney’s blog this morning (The To-Do Lists Are Never Done) because Sophia Grace and I were JUST talking about this fact yesterday when we made her little to-do list for the day (and one checkbox was left un-checked at the close of the day):



Now if I could only listen to my own counsel, eh!?

Fred and I are STILL trying to learn what one of my spiritual fathers taught and modeled for us so wisely and faithfully:

There is always more ministry to do. Go home. Get some rest. Spend time with your family. The needs will still be here in the morning and God will provide all we need to faithfully serve Him (and love our neighbor). Oh–and “faithful service” does NOT mean “burning OUT for God!”

SimpleMom has a great read on organizing your home:

Keep Your Home Clutter-Free

Ahhhhhhh ... a Saturday at home. What a good thing.

The highlight for me was a painful and difficult–but ultimately redemptive–conversation with Fred. We’ve been going through a bit of a hard time relationally and it was a true grace that we could reconnect today. Fred did a great job in persevering in the conversation–I don’t think I would’ve tried if he hadn’t been so persistent and humble. So that was a hopeful way to start our day.

And then things got really FUN for me because I tackled the chaos in Sophie’s room! And you know how much I enjoy making order out of chaos.

I followed my standard 1-2-3 rule and:

1. Organized and made more accessible the things we use every day.

2. Organized and “filed”/stored the things we only need to access every once in awhile.

3. Archived/threw/boxed up to donate the things that we hardly ever need to access (archived) OR the things we never need to see again (threw away/donated).

It took around nine hours of hard work–but it was worth it. From this:



To this:



I particularly enjoyed getting the closet under control:



Oh! And I found the coolest way to bring a little order to Sophie’s (constant!) artwortk. These frames have little hinges so that I can easily switch out the Sophie-art-du-jour. And they are “deep” so I can store old prints behind the new ones. Cool!



Hope you enjoyed a lovely day too!

We’re so looking forward to worship tomorrow. Sunday! The best day of the week.

Love ya,
Tara B.

I’m trusting that most of you don’t read the COMMENTS on my old blog postings. (I know that I surely don’t poke around and read all of the comments on the few blogs I read each day.)

But Anne left such a great one on my “Like a Hotel” post about organizing our bedroom that I wanted to bring it up to an actual post for you.

Here is what she said:

"You’re inspiring me, too. I try to keep a handle on the clutter anyway because we have a small house and have moved often, but I haven’t been ruthless enough lately.

I’m going to tackle my bedroom this week and ask William Morris questions of every item: Do I believe this to be beautiful or know it to be useful? If I can’t say yes, I’m tossing or passing it along. Too much stuff weighs me down!

Can’t wait to see pics of your bedroom!" - Anne

Isn’t that just brilliant? I’m SO going to try to remember those two questions when I tackle future “pockets of resistance.”

(That’s the term I used for areas of disorder in my life/home. For example, right now, Sophie’s arts & crafts area is a DEFINITE “pocket of resistance.” Must be taken down by the organizing Momma! Well ... one of these days. )

Oh ... that reminds me of another term that was in a blog comment on that same post. I described some area of clutter as “not exhibiting randomness.”

Again, that term is just a little inside joke between Fred and me. “Not exhibiting randomness” is the only thing I remember from my grad school statistics (that Fred completely coached me through! good ol' math-brain Fred!)

If something is “not exhibiting randomness” it is CHAOTIC. And yup. That’s definitely the arts and crafts cabinet right now.

One of these days ... it WILL bow to my organizing skills. But maybe not today.

Blessings to you!
Hang in there!

God is with you.

Yours,
Tara B.

I really need to post some photos ... but I’m kind of waiting until we get everything finalized ...

Our “new & improved” bedroom is just SO much more inviting, relaxing, and “warm” than our old one. It is truly AMAZING what just changing the paint color can do. Plus new outlet covers (bye bye old faded yellowing plastic covers from the 70’s!)

AND ... the thing that I believe is TRULY the most relaxing for ME: Bye-bye CLUTTER!

Yes, it’s true. I asked of absolutely EVERY SINGLE THING before I allowed it BACK into our newly-painted, spic-n-span clean room:

Have you EARNED the right to be here?

Specifically ... I am no longer using our master bedroom as a repository for STORAGE.

Man! Were there a LOT of things that really had NO RIGHT to be there.

- Sweatshirts we never wear
- Clothing that is SO far away in “dream size maybe one day Tara”-ville that it’s ridiculous to keep them
- Old costume jewelry that is never worn
- Scarves that I keep HOPING one day I’ll turn into one of those super-confident-scarf-wearing women, but I never do
- A wooden box on Fred’s dresser that had exactly ONE thing he ACTUALLY (only occasionally) used in it: a pocketknife. The rest of the box was simply taking up space and crying out for a dusting each week.

Oh! How they TOTALLY did not earn the privilege of returning and staying.

Gone gone gone!
Hooray and yeah-rah!

Here is my system for (WONDERFUL!) times such as these:

1. Do I REALLY use this? How many times have I used it in the last week / month? If not much or not at all ... BYE BYE!

2. For occasionally-used things: a) basement shelves or closet; or b) garage or backyard storage building.

3. For never-used things: a) give away; or b) throw away.

I was ruthless! And it is SO nice. So very, very nice.

I can feel my subconscious going AHHHHHHHHHHH.
Like a big ol' deep, cleansing breath.

Creating a more welcoming environment for Fred and me.
Being a better steward of “stuff”–especially by giving things away.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I’ll post pics as soon as we get just a smidgen more done.

Hope you’re having a wonderful Sabbath!

Love from the Barthels,
Tara B.

Just a note to let you all know that I had another super-fun day of cleaning and organizing extended-family homes yesterday. (MAN! I could SO do this for a living. If anyone wants to fly me out to tackle your crazy/out of control room/basement/home–I’m your gal. I never throw out ANYTHING important and I’m the queen of figuring out systems. Not much I can do well in life–but THIS I do well. )

Anyway–with the non-stop workday, it was also easy to eat healthy and drink TONS of water, so praise God for that!

Off to Canada tomorrow. (Passports arrived!)

Thanks for praying & love to all,
Tara B.

Whenever I stumble onto a blog that I like, I add it to my “Favorites” and also take a few minutes to check out the blogs that THEY like. If I find something that holds my attention, I add IT to my Favorites too ... and then I just check in on them periodically.

Then, every few (weeks? months?) I glance at my growing list and ask, “Now who am I REALLY reading on a regular basis?” If the answer is, “Not THAT blog,” delete-o-rama.

(RARE is the blog that I read every day.)

I assume that you all do that too ...
And to all of you who haven’t (yet) deleted ME, I say a hearty THANKS.

But, boy ... it sure feels nice to organize my list and get it down to what is really usable/helpful.

Love to all!
– Tara B.

Here’s a little tip that has nothing to do with biblical peacemaking but I hope blesses you nonetheless:

If you use computers for any projects, BACKUP! BACKUP! BACKUP!

I shared this advice with a new friend this week and found out yesterday that she had a big ol' computer crash on Thursday and would have lost ALL of her work for the week if she hadn’t ... HOORAY! ... listened to my advice and backed-up like a crazy gal as she worked.

Here is how I backup/save my work on big projects:

1. I save EVERY SINGLE TIME I type. Every. Even if it’s just a word or two. I type as fast as a person can speak and it takes NO TIME to click “alt-F-S.” (I use that rather than “ctrl-S” because “alt-F-S” does not require you to shift your hands off of your type-by-touch hand position but “ctrl-S” makes you shift AND puts stress on your pinkie too.)

2. The first thing I do when I start work again on a new day is save a backup copy to an “archive” directory AND email a copy to someone/somewhere OFF of my hard drive. This protects me and I always know that JUST IN CASE something goes very, very wrong (like my house burns down), I know that I’ll never lose more than that current day’s work.

3. If I am in “crunch mode” and I HAVE to make a hard deadline, I save additional copies as I work throughout the day (i.e., every hour or two hours or whatever). I ask myself: Have I made so many improvements/changes that it would REALLY be hard to recover if I lost the work? If so ... BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP!

So why am I so crazily-committed to backing up?

I think it goes WAY back to the 1980’s. (Yes, yes ... my dear friends who weren’t even ALIVE or OUT OF DIAPERS in the '80’s ... yes, we did have computers. They had teeny-tiny little screens with GREEN text and one line of text at a time via an old-fashioned DOS prompt, but we had computers.)

ANYWAY ... I distinctly remember our computer teacher telling us all the time how important it was to backup our work. (Of course we know-it-all teenagers ignored him.)

But during one class toward the end of the semester when we were all working furiously on a HUGE project that was a MAJOR part of our grade ... the teacher CUT OFF THE POWER TO THE ROOM. We lost everything. EVERYTHING. Because we hadn’t backed-up.

I remember being SOOOOOOO MAD.
SOOOOOOOO ANGRY!
I couldn’t BELIEVE he did that!

But he just said to us all:

"You will never forget this lesson."

And he was right.

Hope this saves you from a project loss one day!

Sending you love,
Tara B.

So do you think that I am the worst person in the whole world when I tell you that I am hyper-crazy-Tara-vigilant about staying off of people’s home-based business mailing lists?

I never (never!) go to parties for cooking supplies, makeup, jewelry, lotions, stationery, candles ... whatever.

And I almost always gently request that people remove me from their mailing marketing lists (especially email lists).

There. Now. I’ve said it. I’ve admitted it.
Don’t you just think I’m a terrible, horrible person?

I mean–these are all businesses by women.
Women who are prayerfully and wisely contributing to their family budgets.
Women I respect and enjoy and admire and love!

But there I am

-Probably hurting them (although I don’t want to!)

- Not supporting them financially (although I’d be happy to just anonymously give their families CASH so that they could have the full amount rather than the $.50 per tupperware container that they earn otherwise)

- Missing out on opportunities to work on my people skills (as we sit around the room and hope that our names are called in the little freebie giveaway drawing)

So don’t you think I’m just awful?

But there are just SO MANY ...
And I couldn’t figure out how to only go to one or two or SOME ...
So I just say no to all of them.

But I always feel a little bad in that awkward moment of, “Would you please remove my email from your mailing list?”

Hmmmmmmmmm ... maybe I should just let them all come and ignore them? (But then I feel guilty that they are spending money investing in sending me cute postcards and mailings, etc.)

Maybe I should start actually GOING to the little parties?

Double hmmmmmmmmmm ...

I wonder how you all handle this little challenge?
(Maybe you can convince me to change my game plan?)

If not ... please ... everyone ... don’t take it personally!
I just have the joy of interacting with hundreds of women every single year ... and I simply can’t handle being on all of the distribution/marketing lists.

Oh–and no thank you, I’m not interested in SELLING your wonderful products either. (You wouldn’t believe how often I am approached to sell stuff! Especially after I teach at a women’s event. But I always politely decline.)

OK. I’ve blogged it–now back to work.
I’m making progress! Praise the good Lord.
(I do! I do!)

Happy Friday, all–

Yours,
Tara B.

OK–I promise we’re not going to turn this blog into one of those (love 'em!) super-cool ORGANIZING sites or anything ...

But when I read this comment, I really felt like I should respond ... Martha10 wrote:

" ... paper/mail/magazines are my biggest problem but i have many other problem areas as well ..."

I actually LOVE dealing with my mail every day. I have such a happy feeling of accomplishment–like I can at least do ONE THING to serve my family.

So here’s my deal on handling MAIL:

1. Preemptively: Get OFF of mailing lists and STAY OFF of mailing lists. Don’t get excess catalogs, non-profit mailings, credit-card offers. Protect your address; don’t sign up for stuff; CANCEL everything you can.

2. Immediately–I mean IMMEDIATELY–throw away/recycle everything you can. Get rid of it. Toss it. (I even include the stupid (trying to not use that word anymore) annoying postcards and “thick” advertisements inside of all magazines.)

3. If it’s a “number 2 or number 3” ... place it in a pile to be filed/stored. No other action item needed.

4. If it’s a TASK that can be taken care of in less than THREE MINUTES (and you have three minutes to give to it): just do it, baby! Don’t even let that little thing clutter your world or take up your brain power ... make that call, do that task.

5. If it’s a “needs a little bit more of my time” TASK (paying bills–although I have almost all of those scheduled to be paid automatically, returning a letter/card, giving someone a call, etc.) schedule it. (I use Outlook tasklist, but you can do this on a piece of paper system too.) Then put the item into your “CURRENT TO-DO” holding area. (For me, this is a folder or the top of my roll-top desk.) I have peace because I know I won’t forget about it because a) I don’t have clutter so if it’s out on my desk, I know there is an open task associated with it; and b) It’s scheduled as a task, so I’ll have a reminder AND I’ll see it when I check my tasklist.

6. Catalogs & magazines go onto our “magazine pile” in our living room; and I leave the “interesting stuff” out in a little pile so that Fred can read through it at the end of the day and stay up to speed if he wants to. And that’s pretty much IT.

Hmmmmmmmm .... that sounds complex when I try to write it all out ...

But it’s really easy:

- OVERARCHING GOAL: touch it once and then get it OUT of your #1 (living!) space. (See? That’s why, although my home MAY (at times) be covered in dust and Golden Retriever hair ... I really don’t have clutter. Samara even said once that even if we had twelve children some day, I’d still never have clutter–she says I’m just not wired that way.)

- Then ask ... do I need to hold onto this but I have NO ACTION ITEM required? File it.

- Is there an action item associated with this? Do it or schedule it.

- Throw everything else away.

OK. I’m heading to bed now.

Had another sleepless night last night (I HATE those!!), but I’m hoping for good rest tonight.

Lilikoi is spending more time with us out in the house (since she’s getting the house-training thing down so well) ... it’s so nice. I’m actually starting to remember why I liked having a dog so much.

Sophie’s doing this hysterical (at least to me) thing now where she wants to do knock-knock jokes, but I tire of them easily. (Her repertoire has like THREE jokes.) So then she HUMS the pattern of a joke to me:

Hummm-hm.
Hmmmmmmm—hm? (I respond)
Hm.
Hm, hmmmmmmmmmm? ("Orange, who?")
Hmmmmm hmmm hm hmmmmmm hmmmmm?!
(ha ha ha ha ha ha ha)
(OR, she does, “Ta-Da!” in humming.)

It’s so funny. Totally cracks me up every time and she knows it.
What a precious kid.

Love you all and God bless your Monday!

Your friend,
Tara B.

One of the MANY fun things I got to do on our recent trip was organize my sister’s house.

I am always SO blessed when they let me clean their chaos and make a little order.
I love that they KNOW that I like them JUST THE WAY THEY ARE and they don’t have to have order for me to be happy there.
And I’m honored that they trust me to jump into their basement, office, kitchen, and even bedroom and throw, throw, throw; pack, pack, pack; straighten, straighten, straighten.

(And then I DO do the clean, clean, clean–wipe, dust, 409, sweep, vacuum–thing too ... although that is not NEARLY as fun as the organize thing.)

Each visit when they let me enjoy my TOTAL HAPPY PLACE of organizing, I try to give them ONE idea to consider as they go forward.

In the past, my yearly/semi-annual “one piece of advice” thing has included such gems as:

- Buy a new kitchen sponge every time you grocery shop. Just toss the old one and use a new clean one–you’ll be glad you did. (And now they do.)

- You are both bibliophiles. You’re not going to get rid of these books and you’re always going to be getting new ones ... so I recommend some more bookshelves. Decorate by books. It makes you both happy–so enjoy it! (And they did.)

- Learn my 1-2-3 organizing system and then ask if that WHATEVER has EARNED THE RIGHT to be in your NUMBER 1 space. And if it hasn't–get rid of it. Toss it or relegate it to a 2 or 3 spot ... but protect your “1” space.

It was that last one that really stuck in my head as I got home because I realized that, when it came to Sophie’s closet, I wasn’t following my own advice!

(Hmmmmmmm .... where have you heard that from me before? Struggling to live out what I claim to believe and encourage in others ... hmmmmmmmmmmmm ....)

ANYWAY, yesterday I tackled the beast (or the “pocket of resistance” as we like to call disorganized/cluttery areas) and I thought it might help some of you who are interested in organizing too, so here goes ...

My basic deal is that I think of everything in terms of 1-2-3.

- Number 1 stuff is the stuff we use every single day. It should be easily reachable all the time. Sophie’s children’s Bible and catechism are always out on her nightstand or our nightstand because we use them every single day. Hand soap and lotion are out 24/7. Paper towels live on our counter in a cute holder because I want them accessible with absolutely no effort. NUMBER 1 STUFF.

- Number 2 stuff is used very, very often and should be readily accessible–but it’s OK to have to take a wee bit of effort (like opening a drawer or cabinet). Scissors in my work desk and in our kitchen drawer; Sophie’s barrettes in boxes in a drawer; arts & crafts supplies (I’m trying! I’m trying!) in a closet; costumes & Easter baskets & suitcases; astringent/hairspray/floss ... these are all NUMBER 2. I want them reachable with minimal effort but they surely neither need nor deserve number 1 status.

- Number 3: Ahhhh ... number 3. Number 3 is one step from GIVE AWAY or THROW AWAY. Tax documents (in archival boxes dated year); every single card my friend Bethany has ever sent me since 1989 and all of my love letters from Fred; baby clothing and toys that we’re still hoping we get to use one day; old journals and books from engineering/law school ... all NUMBER 3.

The thing is ... if you have number 3 and number 2 stuff CRAMMED IN and taking up ALL OF YOUR SPACE ... your number 1 stuff will, of course, have no place to go and you will have CHOAS. Clutter. Piles. A mess.

So you have to purge.

- Give away! Give away! (That purse you MAY use but really you DON’T would be the very, very BEST purse for someone in need. Give it away!!!)

- Throw away! Throw away! (Shred; bag; recycle ... but just get rid of it. You don’t want it and it is of no use to anyone else. Be a thrower! Give it away.)

- Box it and file it and designate it a NUMBER 3. (But occasionally go through your number 3’s and give away/throw away. You’ll undoubtedly see that something you used to think was a “precious” is now just a “what is this? who is this? why did I even keep this?”–give/throw/give/throw! But the smurf figurine that STILL takes you back to summers at your grandmother’s home? KEEP KEEP KEEP. Fun! Special! Tell your kids your stories and enjoy it. #3!)

- Organize your number 2’s so that they are usable and findable. (Office supplies! Container Store! Fun fun fun.)

And then enjoy your freshened up #1 space. I surely did yesterday ... I literally asked Sophie to pretty please just play somewhere else for five minutes while I sat in her room and just breathed a happy, tired little sigh.

- A box of too-young-for-her-but-maybe-we'll-need-some-day baby toys and books. OFF TO NUMBER 3.

- A huge bag of goodies/toys/clothes to share with two of our favorite young ladies at our church who teach in an economically depressed area of town and always find EXCELLENT uses for any shared items.

- Diapers & pullups to give to the church. (How many MONTHS has it been since Sophie has used EITHER? Ugh! They did not deserve to be in our #1/#2 space. No wonder her room has been so hard to control these days.)

It was great. A lot of work. A huge mess in the middle. (True cleaning ALWAYS makes things worse before they get better. It’s just the nature of the beast.) But great gains in the end.

(If only I could get on top of improving my cooking skills and feel comfortable doing meals like I feel comfortable tackling stuff like this. THEN I would really feel like I’m making gains in my homemaking goals. Oh well–we can only do our best, right?)

I’m off to tackle another pocket of resistance as I enjoy my “rest” on this Sabbath ...

Bless you all,
Tara B.