Tag Archive | organizing

lost, found, and scattered

Nov8

Lately, I’ve been driving myself nuts by misplacing things. Here is a list of things I have “lost” in the last few weeks.

1. Green cup I take to the gym. I remembered taking it to work one day and then couldn’t find it again.

Current status: found. It was in the back of the refrigerator. At home.

my green travel mug/cup is safe and sound

2. Umbrella. I remembered taking it into work one day…(notice a trend?). Could not find. In the meantime, I used a slightly messed up umbrella. I saw a woman with an umbrella that looked like mine walking down the street and actually considered the possibility of asking her where she got it while implying it was mine.

Current Status. found. I go to my father’s for dinner on Sunday evenings, but not last week thanks to the storm. Apparently, one Sunday it was supposed to rain because when I grabbed the tote bag I usually bring to my dad’s Sunday evening (it has knitting I never pick up and it’s where I bring back the food he gives me…), there it was.

still intact. no way I’m opening it inside the house while I’m on a losing things streak.

3. My sunglasses. I’m fairly positive I wore these home from work last Friday.

Current Status. Still missing. Thankfully I bought more than one pair of cheap sunglasses, but I like the missing pair better. And I’m sure they’re around somewhere…

at least I have a spare pair...

4. My fingerless gloves/wristlet. I went to grab these today because my hands were cold. Doesn’t matter how many sweaters I wear, once my hands get cold I’m totally distracted. Of course, I haven’t worn these since last year. I took a stab at it and thought they might be in a drawer with other gloves…

from a post last March, in which I described my perennially cold hands (notice our old counter tops and drawer/cabinet hardware)

Current Status. still missing. I’m hoping I’ll be able to turn them up!

Update. Two days after writing this post, I really wanted these…I looked around in the “usual” places and on a whim tried a “why would I put them there?” place…a box where I keep important documents [ok...a box where I keep papers I may or may not need again]. And there they were. Why? Because the gloves had been on a table *with*  papers…so when I put them away, the gloves went there too. Sigh.

These past few weeks I have also managed to leave my phone at home *twice*. I thought I had mislaid a document I needed, but it turned out to be where I thought it was after checking several times.

This is not a good trend, nor are the piles of books and papers I’ve begun to assemble around the house. Clearly, this all points to a small “my totally disorganized ways are kind of negatively impacting my life” issue that I seem to be having at the moment.I’ve always been the sort of person to misplace pens and small slips of paper, but the missing objects are getting larger.

Time to start clearing the piles, and hopefully, the cobwebs!

What was the last thing you misplaced? Did you have any luck finding it?

my summer in shirts 2

Jul19

It’s time to revisit how I’m doing on my “wearing every summer shirt I own this summer and will not repeat [except for travel] until all are worn/evaluated.”

Just to remind you, here is the days 1-12 post.

days 13 and 14: lavender sleeveless; blocky orange and brown tank

The orange and brown is one of my favorites.

days 15 and 16: purple sleeveless/tank; purple breton

Aside from the fact you can see I really like purple..I’m thinking about when to use sleeveless versus tank….

day 16, pt 1: Light grey with metal studs/embellishments

This shirt is adorable, but when I tried to wear it, the neckline was way too low for me. I tried to wear a camisole, but the neckline was just hitting at a not good place! So, I ended up taking it off and putting it in my donate pile.

day 16, pt 2 and day 17: dark gray with studs; black striped v-neck

Funny thing is, I own both of these shirts in two colors (black on the left, beige on the right).

I thought for a moment day 18 was missing, but I wore a dress on day 18, so no shirt photo. Maybe I should photograph my dresses, too just so I don’t get confused!

days 19 and 20: purple asymmetrical sleeveless; purple flowered tank

Yes, again with the purple. And I have the left shirt in brown, too! I love neckline details and asymmetrical structure!

days 21 and 22: gray tank with neckline detail; peachy/orange tank with neckline detail

days 23 and 24: blue patterned tank; orange striped tank

So, there you have it. Interesting to see the patterns (no pun intended) emerging. Purple, sleeveless tank, detailed necklines, asymmetrical structure.

What are your clothing trends and patterns? Do you go for a particular color or detail or type? Do you go for multiples if you like something?

my summer in shirts

Jul5

A few weeks ago, I talked about organizing my shirt drawers and my realization that, quite frankly, I have a lot of shirts.

Well, I decided it would be fun to record my shirts…with a twist (okay, not a twist so much as a rule)..that I would try to not rewear any shirts (with the caveat that if I end up going away this summer, I may have to break this rule). So, I give you the first of I don’t know how many posts, of the shirts I’ve worn this summer! There are a few days where I don’t wear a shirt (ooooooooooh…no, I mean when I wear a dress), but I wear mostly shirt/pant or shirt/skirt combos.

days 1 and 2: black t-shirt; short sleeved floral cardigan

This was worn on a Sunday and Monday (so weekend clothes/work wear). I wore a navy camisole under the cardigan

days 3 and 4: orange striped square-neckline top; snakeskin patterned top

days 5 and 6: sleeveless light green top; red short-sleeved with white trim

The green shirt has strips of fabric layers…the red one makes me think of the classic red and white dress orphan Annie wears in the play/movie.

days 7 and 8: pink floral t-shirt; turquoise patterned t-shirt

Weekend wear again. I think I got both tops at Target.

day 9: long-sleeved red top; bonus…wearing-around-the-house cape may t-shirt

The long-sleeved shirt isn’t a “summer shirt” but that was a colder day. I totally re-wear the cape may shirt at home.

days 10, 11, 12: brown striped shirt; sleeveless turquoise shirt; sleeveless white shirt

Stay tuned for day 13 and beyond.

This has been a good exercise as it’s helped me not rely on wearing the same shirt again and again (which I tend to do) and has led me to new appreciation of shirts I hadn’t worn for a while (I really loved the green day 5 shirt when I wore it). I was also annoyed to find some stains on the white day 12 shirt.

I also realize I am not a great shirt photographer. My exciting backgrounds consist of my blanket and bedroom carpet. And the wrinkles! Not to mention trying to arrange two shirts so that you can see them. And some of the detail doesn’t really come through…so we’ll see if my photographs improve through this exercise.

Do you find that you re-wear certain shirts/items of clothing a lot or do you tend to run through your choices before going back to something?

shirt overload?

Jun11

Now that the weather is getting noticeably warmer, I decided that it was (once again) time to take stock of my some of my dresser drawers.

Basically, back in October I had a nice visit with my Mom where we went shopping. And since we tend to head straight for the clearance racks, I ended up getting a lot of summer tops. Everything got put away with a “see you next summer…”, except I couldn’t find room for these shirts in my summer drawers (I actually have two dressers…one came with me when I moved in with mr. strivingcynic, the other was already in his house), so I parked them in the winter drawers.

Unfortunately, I tend to organize, stay organized for a week or two, and then lose semblance of all organization…so one of my goals has been to actually stay organized so as to not have to do the same work again and again. So, I decided to a) pull the new summer shirts from the winter drawers, b) decide on a scheme for the winter tops (I have definitely lost more precious getting-ready-in-the-morning time than I care to admit trying to find the shirt I wanted..).

So, I opened the winter drawers, pulled out parked the summer stuff, of course thinking  “oh..I didn’t remember that I had this…” folded and piled clothes according to color and stared at everything for a while. Finally, I decided that organizing by color rather than “weight” (shirts here, sweaters there) was the way to go, so that next time I want to wear the blue sweater, I know it’s got to be with the color blue, rather than balled up behind some shirts.

Thankfully, I had done some clothing weeding at the new year, so I now had room in the summer drawers. I went through the same process…everything out, grouped by color [and in both cases, two things I don't wear anymore are in a "going away" pile.] While doing this, I made some discoveries. First, my poor folding/bunching technique is biting me in the butt….things are wrinkly. Very annoying. Second discovery….I have a lot of shirts. A lot. I guess because summer tops are lightweight and tend to have less fabric than winter…a lot can fit in a drawer. My count was above 50….okay above 75…but below 100 (and for some reason I have a lot of purple shirts). Everything fits in the dresser, so this is fine, but I decided I would try to wear everything at least once this summer so I could get a use out of it and evaluate whether it’s worth keeping. I’ve gotten these clothes over many years (my size hasn’t changed much), so I feel okay with the number on one level, but since odds are very good I’ll acquire more at some point, and that there are some I really have no use for, this summer will be the test.

So, when the weather turns colder, I will need to revisit this insanity and see where I’m at!

How are your shirts/dresser[s] organized? What is your “process of elimination” for clothes?

transformed

Jun7

Bet you didn’t think I could do more than one post about organizing my magazines! You’d be so wrong. In case you missed that first post, here’s a handy-dandy link. But, for a little back story, I save magazines for a while, so I need to store them somewhere. Where?

so ugly! This is the bottom shelf of a bookcase in our upstairs hallway

By the way, the hallway is postage stamp size.  A few feet between our bedroom and strivingcynic teen’s room. You see these shelves after turning on the landing on your way up the stairs.

these were the nifty magazine holders I got at Ikea

I’m already sorry I didn’t buy more. They were on sale, 2 for $1.99. I got 4. (By the way, the ugly ones were a years-ago Ikea purchase.)

it was going through the piles time

I decided to lose all the issues I had of Shape magazine. I actually canceled my subscription, which was supposed to last another two years. I think it’s really gone downhill and I have a hard enough time reading the magazines I like…so that made room for the others.

I took the opportunity to dust…ick

I am not fond of dusting…but I’m not fond of seeing what happens when I don’t dust.

Then it was holder construction time (yes, there’s a constructed holder in the top photo, so maybe I constructed them before this point in the process…see how honest I am?). I got all my magazines into my four holders.

so, the new in place of the old (and my knee)

it honestly never occurred to me to flip the previous ones around…not that that would have helped them

Oh yea, and that’s my foot on the right! Who says I never post pictures of myself?

With the holders all put together, I realized that there was now the possibility to add something else…like books! We have so many books tucked into the crevices of our other bookshelves, I thought it would be nice to give some a place of honor.

the final product (and the carpet needs vacuuming)

In honor of the fitness magazines I subscribe to, these books are mostly about make up, makeovers, and style.

A happy ending, I think. I went through and recycled some old magazines, I replaced those yucky holders with nicer ones, I found space, and I think the little hall looks much better now with this small change.

If you have a lot of magazines, where do you put them? Do you ever find that your photographs have more than you bargain for (body parts, for example…)?

learning to let go (a little)

Apr12

Somehow, as I’ve gone through life, I’ve created rules and rituals for things that most people wouldn’t attach significance to. I think I once had (and still have) these “magical thinking” type thoughts…that by giving myself rules I’m somehow creating order out of the chaos that life brings with it. And of course, sometimes these rules almost become compulsions….I have to do x because I have to, because that’s how I do it.

Some of these rules can be good things that bring me routines and stabilities (I exercise in the morning…I think I have to exercise in the morning, but really I prefer it…and as long as I’m willing to skip exercising when I’m not feeling my best..it’s fine). Other rules are the kinds of things I’m embarrassed to confess, or think might be slightly weird. Some of them really don’t have any meaning except that they’re there.

Case in point…my magazines. I’ve mentioned before that I subscribe to 6 or 7 magazines. I’ve posted about how I always have to flip through the entire magazine before reading it. Okay…fine. What I probably haven’t mentioned is that aside from People, which I give away after reading to different members of my family, I hold on to all my magazines. For a year. Once I receive a month’s issue, only then will I go back and recycle that month from the previous year.

Before I subscribed to quite so many magazines, I held on for two years, so one is an improvement. But why do I hold on to them? Well, maybe I’ll want to read an article, or make a recipe, or try an exercise routine or product I see in the magazine. When I pull the magazine for recycling, I go through it and only then tear out what I want to keep.

But I’m not even orderly about this. Instead, my new magazines pile up…and the magazines in the holders get backed up since I want to look through them before getting rid of them for good. I decided this was a bit ridiculous (between the “rules” issue and my desire to start being more organized) and decided to try something a little different and see if my “new method” can work. First, I went into the holders and started clearing out the “old” (ie, more than a year) magazines. I only looked at the table of contents to see if there were any interesting articles rather than paging through them. If there were, I’d turn to the page and tear.

dilapidated much? (this is after the clear-out)

I must have gotten rid of at least ten to twelve magazines (hey, for me–progress).

I think I count ten in this pile

But I didn’t stop there. I decided to get rid of last May’s magazines...even though I don’t have this May’s issues yet! Even more radical. The last magazine I got, as I was reading, I decided to tear out the pages I found immediately useful and recycle the rest.

off to the recycling bin!

So far I haven’t felt any pangs about this. I feel this is a practice I might even be able to continue.

What are your rules and rituals? If you’re a magazine subscriber, what do you do with your magazines once you’ve read them?

revisitation time

Apr2

How did this happen? We’re one quarter of the way through 2012! When I planned out my “countdown” goals for 2012, I wasn’t entirely sure how often I wanted to go back and examine how it’s going. I did check in at the beginning of February, but felt once a month was too often. At the moment, I feel like a check in every quarter could be a good thing to do!

So, how am I doing? Right on target with some things and not so much with others. I figure this check in gives me a chance to decide if I want to change or modify in some way.

My goals from the original post (in green), followed by my current status.

“In 2012, I’d like to be able to run 10 miles (or 2 times 5 miles). I started 2011 at 2.5 to 3 miles and am now up to 7.5, so I think this is doable if I’m able to keep my schedule.”

I hit the 9 mile mark on March 31, 2011. I’m still ahead of my schedule (I figured on bumping up a quarter a month, but I’ve gone up by a mile and a half)

“In 2012, I’d like to write 200 posts (which would average out to almost 4 a week–giving myself a little break with travel or things that happen that might pull me away)…”

I think I modified this one by the end of January to say 3 to 4 posts a week, aiming for 175 to 200 this year. I just felt too locked in…too pressured to just post any old thing to meet a number. I think there have only been two weeks so far that had 3 posts instead of 4, so I’d say I’m doing pretty well. I just needed some breathing room!

“I did indeed get…Organize Now! … The book is broken down into 56 chapters with the idea that you’ll do one a week. Not every chapter applies to me, so I’ve decided that in 2012 I’d like to get through 3 chapters a month in my quest to be more organized.”

Well…not so much. I haven’t really spent time with that book since January, when I did really well. But, I have managed to accomplish/implement some organization and tidying. I’m not where I want to be, but I’m better than I was. So, to revisit this goal, I’m going to modify it from 3 chapters a month to looking it over and acting on 3 suggestions/recommendations it makes a month. I think that will help me keep up what I’m doing and it won’t feel like a chore.

“..In 2012 I’d like to read at least 25 books again (so mostly 2 books a month).”

I’m pretty much on target with this one. I’ve read 6 books so far in 2012, which is 2 a month. I suspect a vacation will help with getting a three book month in. The last book I read was This Body of Death by Elizabeth George, which was more than 700 pages! (like reading two books, but I won’t “cheat” and say it was when it wasn’t).

“One thing that I’ve put in monthly goals and failed on is taking better care of my hands (they get chapped/cracked in the winter and I wash/sanitize them to death) and they start to hurt/flake/peel. So in 2012, I want to use hand cream on them at least 1 time each day and will do “higher” maintenance (nail clipping/filing/buffing…maybe even a manicure one of these days) twice a month (so 1 time every other week)….”

This is another instance where I haven’t been 100% perfect, but I’m doing better than I used to. For some reason, I am just bad about using my dishwashing gloves. And I’m not great about applying cream every day. I would say I do manage it more days than not…and although the nails have gotten too long/jagged a few times…I have been better about maintenance. So, I’m going to keep this goal and put more effort into it.

So, my verdict so far is that I’m doing pretty well. I’d like to be doing better, but I’m happy to see that I think I made good choices in my goal setting. I also think the quarterly check in will be useful for seeing what my thoughts are about my goals and progress.

What are your thoughts on where you are now that 2012 is one quarter over?

regression and progress

Mar24

Remember when I felt the thrill of victory for cleaning out my purse?

Well, I um…backslid a bit.

I spy a cough drop wrapper, spilled coins, a page from a cat calendar I used the back of for a list...

But, no worries, now that I am aware of the issue, I will get it under control. In fact, this past weekend I was once again struck by the organizing bug. You see…my dresser somehow became the repository of stuff in transit. One of my very bad habits (in organization terms) is that I tend to park stuff in places while I decide what to do with it. And once the object leaves my hand to land in its “transitional space”..it never goes anywhere else.

Even worse, I had not one, but two ancient (stretching back to adolescence) and ugly jewelry boxes. One was even missing a leg (or foot…). Back when I moved in, a friend gave me a really nice “jewelry armoire” that I transferred everything into….except the stuff I didn’t like. The stuff I wasn’t sure about keeping. The random stuff. And even worse, I started parking stuff in the boxes on my dresser.

So, last Saturday, I decided to see what I could do about “unparking” stuff from my dresser top. I started with jewelry box number 1.

behold all my treasures...

Yep…those are receipts, frequent buyer cards, my old Duran Duran pins (and others I showed off in my “Put a Pin in It” post)…jewelry fragments and orphans (well, not so much orphans as earrings that had lost siblings that I thought one day I could do something with). I started sorting. Then mr. strivingcynic, who’s much better at this organizing thing found me at my sorting. He encouraged me to move the “keep” stuff into a small tin for later sorting…and to put the “get rid of stuff” in another pile. Sensing how easily my concentration could be broken, he started bringing boxes, baskets, and other parked stuff over for my review.

The result.

empty (except for the lint)

what was once full...now empty!

The two boxes are now gone. I can actually see the surface of my dresser and the photos of my family that I have placed there. Every time I go into our room I’m surprised at how clean my dresser is. Not only that, but I found almost ten books I was willing to part with and I decluttered the surface of an end table. I have a sense of understanding of that organizational advice that clutter drains your energy, or at least pulls it from how you’d rather be spending your time (even if you’re not cleaning it, if you have to look in fifteen places to find something, it’s taking your time). I can see glimmers of how being organized can improve my life.

Just hope I don’t backslide….

Are you good at implementing change? Please share your “how I got organized” or “how I stopped using my purse as a wastebasket” stories!

lean, mean, and green

Mar8

This has nothing to do with the “green” I wrote about last week regarding my gym situation.

Also, I’d like to send some thanks over to Alex at Raw Recovery, whose “Project Rawvitalize” brought this topic back to the forefront for me….

So, as I may have implied (or more accurately, as I haven’t been talking about at all in the hopes no one would remember), I have fallen off the organizing wagon a bit. Not that I don’t want to be organized….I just haven’t been taking the steps I identified to get there. And I notice things all the time, small things that would make me feel better about the disarray that surrounds me.

This probably comes up the most in things that are daily habits. Like, every day when I put on my make up, I think, I really need to clean these brushes. I mean to…and then the next day, I’m putting make up on and again, the thought comes. And again, and again, and again…until I realize I’ve been meaning to clean them for weeks. In fact, I’ve probably spent as much time reminding myself to as it would have taken me to clean.

So, it’s occurred to me that I need to start making more attempts to be on the wagon…and although my brushes, still not clean (ewwwwwwwww), I managed to tackle another “I notice this every darn day!” task the other night. Yes, I cleaned out my purse.

Now, it used to be that I carried a small bag around, but my needs have increased and so has the size of my bag. On any given day, I like to carry around: my keys, my wallet, my iPhone, hand sanitizer, tissues, gum, a pen, a tin with pills, sunglasses, a date book, a cloth bag in a pouch (in case I need a bag to put stuff in), my checkbook, hand cream, a small make up case with lip balms and eye drops, and my digital camera. I also like to have room for my contacts case and glasses (for days when I think I might want to take my lenses out). Enough room for a small paperback. That’s it.

Except….

I end up shoving things in there that should be thrown away. Wrappers, receipts (especially receipts with surveys where you can win a gift card to the store it came from….I have almost never taken the survey, but I always think I will), not nice tissues, little papery things….stuff. So, this bag, which already has enough necessities, gets clogged with junk. And every day, when I have to find something in the bag, I think…I should clean out this bag!

So the other night, I cleaned it out. I took everything out and either put it in a “yes, it goes back” pile, a “this needs to be thrown out” pile and a “it doesn’t go back, it doesn’t get tossed, but it needs to go somewhere else!” pile.

stuff that stays: bag in pouch, hand sanitizer, pen, check book, tissues...

the "to go" pile. Receipts, wrappers, random cap, mint tin...

I had four Trader Joe’s receipts in there….and I only go to Trader Joe’s once a week, so I’ve been accumulating them (and they don’t even do the survey thing…).

Needless to say, when it was all done…I felt better. I promised myself that there would be no more stuffing crap in my bag.

I didn't take a "before" picture...but this is the "after." Note, nothing is spilling out!"

Now, off to clean those brushes!

How immaculate or untidy is your purse? What are your bag essentials? Do you ever take those receipt surveys and if so, have you ever won anything as a result?

the return of pink/orange and dressed to overheat

Jan19

I often find that when people comment on my clothes, I want to tell them a story. I tell them where and when and under what circumstances I got a particular item, if I’m proud of myself for acquiring it (it was the last one or a bargain, or…). Today, I find I want to talk about two pieces of clothing no one has commented on so far (one no one sees..) because each one has a story behind it.

Here they are together.

just average ordinary gym clothes (I wear t-shirts over the bra though)

Pretty unexciting, right? Sports bra and running tights (or capris…). And yet both of these make me laugh for different reasons.

So, let’s start at the top.

I know, it's wrinkled

I got this pink and orange Champion sports bra along with another, similar stripey bra a little more than two years ago. When I moved in with mr. strivingcynic, I knew I’d seen pink/orange, but one day it was just gone. I thought maybe it was in the laundry, but loads came back pink/orange-free. Every time I cleaned a drawer I thought, maybe I’ll find that pink and orange bra stuck behind, or under, or inside, but it never materialized.

The other week, as I began my preliminary organization, I once again went through my drawers. Mr. sc was hanging out with me, so I mentioned how I was missing pink/orange, showed him yellow/blue and realized that it still wasn’t turning up.

same pattern, different colors

It was just a mystery. So, imagine my surprise the other week when I came home one day to find pink/orange in our laundry basket! Mr. sc was doing laundry and thought something had fallen behind the washer. He was wrong, but a certain pink/orange piece of clothing was waiting back there. I have a friend who has an adage about how you make room in your life when you clean/sort/organize, so I felt like pink/orange’s return was my reward for cleaning!

On to the bottom. I was at Target before Christmas when I saw this baby on the clearance rack. Everything was right about it. The length, the hot purple trim, the price! I was so excited! I got them home, washed them, tried them on to see how they fit and realized one small issue.

cute, right? Love the purple stripe

The inside is fleece.

can you see the fleecey goodness?

They feel so soft and warm…so cozy. Which is all well and good if you’re working out outside, but I go to the gym. Which is heated….so the thought of wearing fleece while exercising is…not exactly a punishment, but not exactly a pleasure either. I have worn them once or twice (on nonrunning days) and I do get warm. Sometimes I think they might make good wear around the house pants, or even pajama bottoms. I suppose it serves me right for not investigating them further!

Has any of your clothing ever gone missing? Did it return to you? Have you ever bought clothes that you realized weren’t quite what you thought?