Recently I’ve been feeling depressed. I notice part of it is because of the clutter from incoming mails. I found myself doing too much with the incoming mails – especially the bills…I pay them, sort them, scan them, file them and then shred them and only keep the last three months in filing cabinet. All in all it’s a lot of steps. When I was ready to shred them, I have to take time to go to the filing cabinet to pull them out for shredding.
My husband and I finally come to an agreement to just keep important documents such as tax returns, insurance documents (life, auto, disability) and only keep the most recent bills that come in in one folder. So when bills arrive, I would pay them, scan them and then shred the previous month and only keep the current bill (in case we need the information when our computer is down or power is out). All of this saves me a lot of time looking into the filing cabinet and only keep the last 3 months of bills.
It’s been a little over a month and it is working very well.
Showing posts with label Organization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Organization. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, November 16, 2009
Learn to organize (clothing and accessories) from my unorganized other half
When it comes to organizing a home and documents, I think I am much better than my husband. However the other day, I realized there is something he does much better than I am in organizing – clothing and accessories.
My husband occupied much more space (although he gave me some drawers and closet space) in the closet than I am because I moved into his apartment after we got married. He organized his clothing by category in drawers and shelves. He puts all his white socks in one draw, another draw with all black. He has all his ties in one place, all his sweaters in another shelves all together, all shirts are together from light color to dark color and all of his winter accessories (hats, gloves, scarves) in one bag. I finally appreciate how he put all his accessories together in one place and makes it very easy to change a pair of gloves if he chooses to.
I bag (with label) all my clothing by season. I have 2-3 bags of clothing for the summer. And then I have another 2-3 bags of clothing for winter. If I need to look for something, I have to go through the bags to find what I want. I have casual, formal and sporty clothing all together in the bags. I have my winter accessories all mixed up in my coats and winter clothing. So when I put on my blue coat the other day, I was wearing a pair of completely different color gloves because I didn’t have time to look for the blue gloves I have.
I am in the mission of at lease put all my winter accessories together in one bag (with label) so when I need to change a coat, all I have to do is go through this bag and get the color that matches the best.
My next bigger project will be organizing the clothing I have. Summer, winter, fall, spring, bathing suit, scarves, gloves, dresses, formal wear, casual wear, sporting wear, winter coats, spring jackets, dressy coats and jackets etc…Who has the time for all of this!
My husband occupied much more space (although he gave me some drawers and closet space) in the closet than I am because I moved into his apartment after we got married. He organized his clothing by category in drawers and shelves. He puts all his white socks in one draw, another draw with all black. He has all his ties in one place, all his sweaters in another shelves all together, all shirts are together from light color to dark color and all of his winter accessories (hats, gloves, scarves) in one bag. I finally appreciate how he put all his accessories together in one place and makes it very easy to change a pair of gloves if he chooses to.
I bag (with label) all my clothing by season. I have 2-3 bags of clothing for the summer. And then I have another 2-3 bags of clothing for winter. If I need to look for something, I have to go through the bags to find what I want. I have casual, formal and sporty clothing all together in the bags. I have my winter accessories all mixed up in my coats and winter clothing. So when I put on my blue coat the other day, I was wearing a pair of completely different color gloves because I didn’t have time to look for the blue gloves I have.
I am in the mission of at lease put all my winter accessories together in one bag (with label) so when I need to change a coat, all I have to do is go through this bag and get the color that matches the best.
My next bigger project will be organizing the clothing I have. Summer, winter, fall, spring, bathing suit, scarves, gloves, dresses, formal wear, casual wear, sporting wear, winter coats, spring jackets, dressy coats and jackets etc…Who has the time for all of this!
Friday, September 4, 2009
De-clutter update 3
I’ve read a few de-clutter books that I took out from the library. Many of them teach you to get rid of a lot of things at home. And when you need them, you buy them.
While I am cleaning/de-cluttering our apartment, I find it hard to get rid of stuff and then buy new ones when I need them. That is just simply wasteful. I come to the conclusion that I am not de-cluttering my apartment. I am simply organizing it in a way that it is very easy for me to locate anything and I make sure I don’t buy any that I already have in my inventory. I keep an inventory list (in every closet, in the refrigerator, in the cabinets, in my bankers’ boxes) of what I have inside. I keep it up to date and whenever I am looking for something, I look through the inventory list before I buy anything.
So far it works most of the time except once when I forget to check if we have more 13 gallon garbage bags in our inventory list (in the closet) at home before buying more in Costco. No, I did not return it. I kept it because we always need garbage bags. I’ll just make sure I’ll check my inventory before buying anything.
While I am cleaning/de-cluttering our apartment, I find it hard to get rid of stuff and then buy new ones when I need them. That is just simply wasteful. I come to the conclusion that I am not de-cluttering my apartment. I am simply organizing it in a way that it is very easy for me to locate anything and I make sure I don’t buy any that I already have in my inventory. I keep an inventory list (in every closet, in the refrigerator, in the cabinets, in my bankers’ boxes) of what I have inside. I keep it up to date and whenever I am looking for something, I look through the inventory list before I buy anything.
So far it works most of the time except once when I forget to check if we have more 13 gallon garbage bags in our inventory list (in the closet) at home before buying more in Costco. No, I did not return it. I kept it because we always need garbage bags. I’ll just make sure I’ll check my inventory before buying anything.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
To do list
I used to write down a to-do list on a little notebook and carry it with me. Actually I took a lot of notes on that little notebook because I am somewhat forgetful.
Today, I still carry a little notebook with me because I take notes when I see something interesting on the subway or I thought of something important while I am doing laundry. I write my thoughts down so I won’t forget. Sometimes, while I am doing something, I remember I have to do something else so I write it down in my little notebook. When I go grocery shopping, I write down the prices for certain items and compare with wholesale costs. This little notebook is becoming very handy and useful for me.
I no longer use this notebook to write down my to-do list. My to-do list is kept in a spreadsheet and I update/add more to it each day. Since I rather type than write, I type it up and arrange in any order I like on the spreadsheet and print it out for the day. When an item is done, I cross it off in the spreadsheet. Whatever is not done today will carry (cut and paste) on to the next day. I don’t delete the prior day’s activities off. I simply cross them off and leave the dates as well. I like to keep that for future reference. It’s sort of like my to-do-list diary.
Today, I still carry a little notebook with me because I take notes when I see something interesting on the subway or I thought of something important while I am doing laundry. I write my thoughts down so I won’t forget. Sometimes, while I am doing something, I remember I have to do something else so I write it down in my little notebook. When I go grocery shopping, I write down the prices for certain items and compare with wholesale costs. This little notebook is becoming very handy and useful for me.
I no longer use this notebook to write down my to-do list. My to-do list is kept in a spreadsheet and I update/add more to it each day. Since I rather type than write, I type it up and arrange in any order I like on the spreadsheet and print it out for the day. When an item is done, I cross it off in the spreadsheet. Whatever is not done today will carry (cut and paste) on to the next day. I don’t delete the prior day’s activities off. I simply cross them off and leave the dates as well. I like to keep that for future reference. It’s sort of like my to-do-list diary.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Women and shoes
It took me a few hours to take an inventory and organized all my shoes in the closet (and some from my parents’ place). Living in a small (well not that small) apartment in NYC, I have to store 95% of my shoes in the closet.
First I took them down from the shelf in the closet. Then I took 1-2 pictures of them. I downloaded the pictures onto my hard drive and create different folders for different season shoes. I was totally shocked I have over 40 pairs of shoes (boots, casual shoes, working shoes, formal shoes, sandals etc…all included). I know I have a lot of shoes but over 40 pairs was just not what I thought I have. I asked my husband how many pairs of shoes did he thinks I have. His answer was around 20. I told him, how about double that.
It is mostly summer sandals that I have accumulated. I have a totally good reason for this shoes madness when I was younger. I have small feet (I am a petite woman). I wear size 5 shoes. It is extremely hard to find size 5 shoes and it’s especially hard to find size 5 shoes that fit me and I that I like. I complain to my friends and family that sometimes even if I am willing to pay a higher price for a pair of shoes, there is none in the market for me to buy. So when I find a pair of shoes that I love, I would buy 2 (sometimes). Thus, my craziness of accumulating this many pairs of shoes. Did I mention that some of the shoes I have are still new (haven’t worn yet).
After separating my shoes by season, I assigned each pair of shoes a number on the downloaded pictures. I put them back into the shoe box and have the numbers label on the shoe box as well. I do not have all 40 shoes boxes but I do have more than half of them. For the rest of the shoes without a shoe box, I put them in a bigger box or a big plastic bag and label them with the shoe’s numbers. I put the out-of- the-season shoes (winter boots and shoes) all the way in the back/inside of the shelf in the closet. I have the summer and more casual shoes in the front which I can easily reach when I needed. When the seasons change, I will rotate.
My goal is to check which shoes I want to wear by the computer picture before going to the closet and look for that number in the shoes box. This way I don’t have to waste a lot of time opening each shoe box to what is inside and then have to put everything back. This project took me a few hours but I felt relief when it was done.
First I took them down from the shelf in the closet. Then I took 1-2 pictures of them. I downloaded the pictures onto my hard drive and create different folders for different season shoes. I was totally shocked I have over 40 pairs of shoes (boots, casual shoes, working shoes, formal shoes, sandals etc…all included). I know I have a lot of shoes but over 40 pairs was just not what I thought I have. I asked my husband how many pairs of shoes did he thinks I have. His answer was around 20. I told him, how about double that.
It is mostly summer sandals that I have accumulated. I have a totally good reason for this shoes madness when I was younger. I have small feet (I am a petite woman). I wear size 5 shoes. It is extremely hard to find size 5 shoes and it’s especially hard to find size 5 shoes that fit me and I that I like. I complain to my friends and family that sometimes even if I am willing to pay a higher price for a pair of shoes, there is none in the market for me to buy. So when I find a pair of shoes that I love, I would buy 2 (sometimes). Thus, my craziness of accumulating this many pairs of shoes. Did I mention that some of the shoes I have are still new (haven’t worn yet).
After separating my shoes by season, I assigned each pair of shoes a number on the downloaded pictures. I put them back into the shoe box and have the numbers label on the shoe box as well. I do not have all 40 shoes boxes but I do have more than half of them. For the rest of the shoes without a shoe box, I put them in a bigger box or a big plastic bag and label them with the shoe’s numbers. I put the out-of- the-season shoes (winter boots and shoes) all the way in the back/inside of the shelf in the closet. I have the summer and more casual shoes in the front which I can easily reach when I needed. When the seasons change, I will rotate.
My goal is to check which shoes I want to wear by the computer picture before going to the closet and look for that number in the shoes box. This way I don’t have to waste a lot of time opening each shoe box to what is inside and then have to put everything back. This project took me a few hours but I felt relief when it was done.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Declutter my home (I can finally call it Home)
After I got married, I moved into my husband’s 3 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. I had bags and boxes of my stuff piling up in the living. Did I mention I also have a bike and my husband also has his exercise bike in the living/dinning room as well? And 2 of the bedrooms were clutter with paper work and stuff that he did not use or they belong to someone else? Our thought was we will live here for a little while until we buy our own house. So we didn’t take much effort in cleaning it up or buying new furniture. As a matter of fact, we didn’t buy anything because we were saving for a down payment on our future house.
Well, most if not all of that has changed after I got pregnant. We decided to turn one of the rooms (the storage room - with other people’s stuff and unused stuff) into the baby’s room. I had to start dumping and clearing everything that was in there. It took me a while to clear up everything in there and putting up a new blind in there. Then we purchased some basic baby furnitures (a crib, a changing table and dresser) and got hand me down clothing from family and friends.
With the babies room cleaned. I started to clean the living/dinning room (we do not have a dinning table) area and the 3rd (smallest room which we used as an office). I got a chance to see the floor (well, it’s carpet) of the living room for the first time. Then slowly, we started to stock up more and more stuff because the living room has the most open space. The 1st and 2nd time that I cleaned the living/dinning room, I dumped and shredded some stuff but some of stuff I either move to a different room where they belong (example: stationary and paperwork in the office, toys in the babies room) or I put them in bankers boxes and have them piled up in the living room. So now, I have piles of banker’s boxes in the living/dinning room area. They look more organized but they do not belong there. I wish I have a basement to store them. Second thought, having a basement to store them isn’t the solution to all these clutter (whether they are necessity or not).
Our mission is to clean the living room area as well as the 3rd room (our office). Instead of cleaning everything all at once, I have come up with a plan of storing everything in separate banker boxes. We will tackle one banker’s box per week while dealing with new incoming mails and junk mails. And we will setup a system so that we will not have piles of paper work and other stuff all mingle together. (Honestly, I think I am much more organized than my husband. I think he must have a PHD in misplacing stuff and mingle everything together. I have to be organized because in the accounting field, we need a lot of backups and auditors want to see them all the time).
With taking care of the baby, with the baby’s stuff, my stuff, my parent’s stuff and my grandma’s stuff that I have to look after, I think it will be a slow go but it will get done. I just have to be consistent. You know what they say, “slow and consistent wins the game”.
Well, most if not all of that has changed after I got pregnant. We decided to turn one of the rooms (the storage room - with other people’s stuff and unused stuff) into the baby’s room. I had to start dumping and clearing everything that was in there. It took me a while to clear up everything in there and putting up a new blind in there. Then we purchased some basic baby furnitures (a crib, a changing table and dresser) and got hand me down clothing from family and friends.
With the babies room cleaned. I started to clean the living/dinning room (we do not have a dinning table) area and the 3rd (smallest room which we used as an office). I got a chance to see the floor (well, it’s carpet) of the living room for the first time. Then slowly, we started to stock up more and more stuff because the living room has the most open space. The 1st and 2nd time that I cleaned the living/dinning room, I dumped and shredded some stuff but some of stuff I either move to a different room where they belong (example: stationary and paperwork in the office, toys in the babies room) or I put them in bankers boxes and have them piled up in the living room. So now, I have piles of banker’s boxes in the living/dinning room area. They look more organized but they do not belong there. I wish I have a basement to store them. Second thought, having a basement to store them isn’t the solution to all these clutter (whether they are necessity or not).
Our mission is to clean the living room area as well as the 3rd room (our office). Instead of cleaning everything all at once, I have come up with a plan of storing everything in separate banker boxes. We will tackle one banker’s box per week while dealing with new incoming mails and junk mails. And we will setup a system so that we will not have piles of paper work and other stuff all mingle together. (Honestly, I think I am much more organized than my husband. I think he must have a PHD in misplacing stuff and mingle everything together. I have to be organized because in the accounting field, we need a lot of backups and auditors want to see them all the time).
With taking care of the baby, with the baby’s stuff, my stuff, my parent’s stuff and my grandma’s stuff that I have to look after, I think it will be a slow go but it will get done. I just have to be consistent. You know what they say, “slow and consistent wins the game”.
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