Organizing Out
of Control Offices Amidst Homeschool
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| You can do it, yes you can! |
I took a deep breath
and picked up one piece of paper, looked at it, and decided it was ready for
the trash… but I couldn’t find a waste basket and the number one rule of
organizing your office is NEVER EVER leave that space until everything is
pre-sorted, at least for the first round of sorting. So, I crumpled the paper up and set it back
down on top of everything else and wanted to just give up because I didn’t know
where to start.
I needed a trash can.
That was my first step! I exited
the office, looking neither to the left or right, but straight ahead until I
found the first thing that would work…. A cardboard pop can box. Hey, it works. Back to the office I marched, afraid to look
at any other part of my house, lest I become distracted.
Why do we need organization and why should anyone care? Can’t we just live in a big mess? Yes, we can but we’ll never be operating to
full capacity if we’re always stumbling over our junk and messes. Yep, you read that right…. Junk. First we all have to admit that we’ve made a
great mess out of our lives, relationships, decisions, and whatever else comes
to mind. We must understand the gravity
of our need for Jesus Christ and His order in our life. As long as we are holding on to, “This isn’t
too bad, I’ll get around to it, some other time, maybe later, I’m busy, …..” we
are holding on to our own stupidity over the power we have in Christ Jesus to
make sense and order out of chaos.
Imagine a shapeless piece of paper. Would you believe that you can make a perfect
90 degree angle out of something with no shape?
Thereby which you could measure and produce other angles? How about a massive amount of shapeless and
void water with darkness hovering over it all?
Sound familiar? All it took was
one sharp line of light spoken from God himself. He is light the Bible tells us. Light travels in a straight line until it
reaches its destination and there it is absorbed or reflected or
refracted.
The point is, by creating one single straight line out of a
chaotic mess, we can begin to produce order as we line everything else up with
that first straight line. That is why
crumpling up one piece of paper really does help! It’s the first attempt at producing order
within disorder. Don’t give up. Pick up one more piece of paper and make a
decision.
The first time you sift and sort through your office, grab
some 3X5 note cards, fold them in half and write one word descriptions on each
front, such as “School,” “Business Ideas,” “Writing,” or “Reading Material,” or whatever
category comes to mind that you’ll understand.
Place these atop each of your piles.
Remember, this isn’t a time that you’ll read anything in depth, even if
you really want to! You will use self
discipline to quickly scan and place a paper in the corresponding pile for
later enjoyment or for filing away.
Keep a stack of sticky notes handy for when you find
paperwork that needs to be filed. Maybe you need to create a new file folder . Slap a note on the front with what you want to
do with it, toss it in the to-do pile and move on. If you find any more incomplete projects,
label with what you want done and keep going.
Do not stop to finish anything, it will be done at a later date. Keep your mind focused on the task at hand,
sifting and sorting, not doing.
Tack some papers up on the wall with labels like: Work to do in the Home, Outside, Vehicles, or
perhaps room by room. Label one paper,
shopping list, one with internet research ideas, or just, “Ideas that pop into
my brain.” Keep your planner close by
for any slips of paper with dates that you’ve forgotten to input.
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| A dry erase board is a must! Perhaps even two and a wall calendar... |
Remember this is not the time to decide a better system or
way to file. You're not even going to place small office items in better containers. All you’re doing is sifting and sorting. DO NOT CLEAN or attempt any overhaul in your
current way of managing. If you try,
it’s like shooting yourself in the foot.
You will be injuring yourself with too many changes at once. Two words:
SIFT and SORT. That’s it.
We shouldn't have to dread going into our offices. It's a privilege to live in America where we can use and sustain a place to manage the affairs of our homes freely! Let's take pride in keeping these areas efficient and clean, worthy to be used by God as He sees fit.
An office can be as simple as a basket sitting by the edge of your couch containing your organizational binder and calendar, a few good books, and a notebook and pen. This has been a lifesaver while nursing a newborn baby and staying caught up with our day to day activities.
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| Office in a basket... |
hmmmm....I see another book.
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