Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Day #29 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Find Out What Works


Today fill out the checklist below.  It will help you see at a glance what works and what doesn't in your life.  Make a copy of this list and keep it in a place where you will refer to it again (your bulletin board or date book).  Add additional categories as they occur to you.  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 180-182)

There is no way I can do today without sharing the list...and what a list it is!  Decide if you're okay or need help in the following areas.  My answers to the questions are bolded to the right.

Closet
Love and Wear clothes exclusively     OK
Closet organized     Help (I still have some stray stuff on the floor that needs donating)      
Accessories managed    OK    
   Stockings     OK (I only own 1 pair...I'd say this is okay :-)
    Belts     OK
    Scarves    OK
    Shoes     OK
    Jewelry    OK

Clothing Systems
Dry-cleaning system    OK (we don't really dry clean much :-)
Laundry system     Help (it could be better.  Tom Thumb was out of underwear yesterday.)
Out of season system    OK (all in Rubbermaid tubs or hung in the hall closet.  It was fine until Red raided the summer bin a couple days ago for some shorts.  Now all is chaos!)
Recycling System     OK (outgrown or not used clothes go to Purple Heart or my niece and nephew)

Linen closet     Help (needs assistance after I bought new pillows for the guests from Tennessee last month. Now it's jammed!)

Kitchen
   Counters cleared     Help (I'm still working on keeping that darn counter cleaned off)
   Storage organized     OK
   Love and Use items exclusively     OK (except the china cabinet, but that's technically in the dining room :-)
   Meal Planning System     OK
   Grocery Shopping System     OK
   Entertaining Menus and Setup   Help (but I'm really not entertaining much currently so maybe I am OK)

Home Office
Mail Handling     OK
Desktop Papers     Help (I get this under control and then this immediately goes to hell again)
Office Supplies     OK
Bill-Paying System     OK (Cobbler's domain)
Filing System     OK (all below are okay.  They could use some updating, but are okay)
     Current   OK
     Important Documents   OK (in safe)
     Estate planning   OK (in safe)
     Tax records   OK (yay---taxes were filed on Saturday)
     Home improvement records   OK
     Insurances   OK
     Archives   OK
Stationery and stamps   OK
Ticket system   OK
Gift wrapping   OK
Photos   Help (still working on this one)
Subscriptions   OK
Travel files and planning   OK

Kids
Kids' rooms
     Closet   Help (Tom Thumb's closet leaves something to be desired)
     Desk   OK (because there aren't any!)
     Storage   OK
Kids' papers and mementos  Help (Just got caught up on pasting Red's art projects into her book today.  Still a long way to go.)
Babysitter information current   OK

House Maintenance
Supplies organized   OK
Daily Routine  Help (in all these cases, I have a written routine I just don't do it)
Weekly Routine   Help
Seasonal Routine   Help

Garage OK (Cobbler's domain)

General
House sitter information current     OK (more cat sitter than anything)
Recycling system for useless stuff   OK

OR for serious simplifiers only...

If you are highly motivated, in the next three months, tackle all the areas marked "Help."  Some areas will take just a few minutes to simplify and organize, while other will take hours.  Imagine how you will feel when the job is complete.  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 182)
           
I'm going to keep at it when this 30 day process is done.  For me, it's going to be a life long thing I'll continue to work on.  I'm not a naturally organized person (I tend to drop things on the floor as I walk along) so I really have to be intentional about simplifying and organizing.  As I've been saying all along---baby steps.  I think you'll see a lot more posts in the coming year about meeting the challenges above.

Today is my Dad's 67th birthday!  That's my Dad and Red at my Grandma's cottage on Lake Erie almost 6 years ago.  Happy birthday Daddy!  We're going over to my parents' house tonight to celebrate by eating some of my mom's homemade pineapple torte.  Yum!  My little sister is in town from Wisconsin for a visit too.  Can't wait! :-)

1 comment:

Harvest Moon by Hand said...

After I did the list, I realized I still have a lot of work ahead of me. This has been a wonderful jump-start. Thank you so much for posting all the challenges. It's been interesting to follow along and see how you've tackled these challenges as well.

Here's my list for Day #29:

http://harvestmoonbyhand.blogspot.com/2011/04/30-days-to-simpler-life-week-5-final.html