Together on Tuesday: Yeah, Right.

Here's a secret for you: I'm not so together, this Tuesday.

I've been back at work for all of a week, now, and already life is in its normal state of jumbled-up busyness and organization. Thank god for Himself--not only did he make me a margarita which surpassed the size of my largely-useless reproductive system, he cleaned the condo yesterday. If it weren't for him, I'd probably be a quivering stressball right now.

It's weird, it's totally psychological, but if my home is disordered, I feel so restless, so ill-at-ease, so not-together. I feel like I can't do anything until the home is in order.

So I get it in order.

It just doesn't stay that way.

All of my high-minded goals--planning meals for the week, planning my work outfits, setting up a chore chart--all of them fall by the wayside as I find myself struggling just to hold the line. Doing the laundry, getting enough sleep, feeding the cats, the kind of quotidian stuff that needs to happen every day, or almost--that's the stuff that absorbs my energy and attention. The extra projects, and the planning of a more sane life, that's all stuff I barely have time to think about, let alone tackle.

Wah, wah, wah. Woe is me.

In her blog, Organizing Solutions's Marcia Francois Joburg advises adding only 6 things a day to your to-do list when life gets hectic. I thought that was a great idea, but misunderstood it as adding as many items as you want, but committing to doing only 6 items a day. That actually works for me better than her original idea, because if I didn't add everything, I'd forget!

So, that's how I'm keeping it together this Tuesday. I'm gonna do 6 things, and call it a good day.


















Photo ganked from http://seamripper.wordpress.com/

This is not my life. But sweet fancy Moses willing, one day it will be!

All Together on Tuesday: The Latest Version of the World's Best Planner

Hi! Welcome to the Very First All Together on Tuesday post! This Very First Post is going to take the form of an (initial) product review, and will include the obligatory and gratuitous self-deprecationg humor.

"Get It Together" Product: Mead OrganizHer Flexible Solutions Family Organizer


Available in Target Stores (not online, as far as I can tell) for roughly $14.99...I could not find it online.

Originally I came across this lovely, kinda teal thing back in May, when I was meandering through Target trying to find things that I absolutely had to have for the honeymoon. This planner caught my eye, and after we returned to Sunnydale, I ventured out to Target to see if it was still there.

It was.

After perusing it for a few moments, I decided I quite liked it. Between Himself and me, as well as all of our little well-intended goals and social obligations and independent projects and in his case, speaking engagements, we've got a pretty whacky schedule. And we're constantly asking eachother "What are the plans for the eighteenth?" "I think we've got the Museum fundraiser." "No, that's on the twentieth. I think the eighteenth is free...we need to have so-and-so over." "No, wait, you have a program at..."

You get the picture. And so I dropped the money on this organizer, which will most assuredly help me get my life in order, and keep track of Himself's, as well. Of course, it replaces the previous planner which I thought would be the answer to all of my life goals, concerns, and issues; and that planner had replaced the calendars I had before that...Yeah. I am hoping someone out there knows what I am talking about.

Anyone? Other than the crickets chirping?

So. Moving along. Here's some basic stuff about it: It's about 9 inches wide, 11.5 inches tall, so it's not a compact little thing you can easily haul around. That's both a pro and a con in my book--portability is nice, but too small and it's danged tricky to write in without having three-inch claws for hands.

There are two little pouches inside, kinda zip-loc style. Right now I am keeping our gift cards and our post-wedding registry coupons in there. And then there's a whole bunch of undated pages, with the days of the week arranged in column format with a notes column at the farthest right. You write in the dates yourself. Within the columns are several sections: "All Me", "All Them", "Lunch", "Dinner", "Notes". Then, at the very back is a menu planning section and an "important phone numbers" section. The idea is that I will keep the hard copy and make a photocopy for Himself each week, to be updated as we need it. Here are some pictures of the first week "in action":

Two-Page Spread (Click for Larger)

Individual Views of Spread (Mon-Thurs on Left, Fri-Sun + Notes on Right)
(Click for Larger)

Observations Thus Far:

Cons:

• It's not portable for most folks unless they walk around with a briefcase or a backpack.
• The paper is slick, and feels a little weird to write on.
• There's an "All Me" Section and an "All Them" Section, but not an "All Us" Section (I just wrote it in)
• Writing can be a little awkward, but it's easily remedied, detailed in the pros below (Because I am positive and like to end on a happy note)
  

Pros:

• There's lots of leeway for customization (if you don't like it, design and print up your own pages!
  
• Just found this out: there are free templates for additional organizational helpers listed on Mead's Website, which you can download for free
• It's a pretty teal color
• It's easily expandable (kind of like a chintzy three-ring binder)
  
  

The family planner has been in use 12 hours, so this is just an initial review. Perhaps in a month or two I will revisit it, to see if it has truly solved all my issues, or if it has been exiled to a pile of papers, in which all the other life-changing planners reside.

Will this be the answer to my organizational woes? Will this help me to achieve the life that I've always wanted? (Because apparently my ideal life cannot begin until it's scheduled in the perfect organizer between picking up the dry cleaning and working the late shift at the Library). Most likely not, but at least you can learn about a product that might help you"all together!"

There are other products in this line, namely, the Expense Tracker. I won't be buying this because A.) I don't need the "complete set" to be happy, B.) Sheesh, I haven't even used the pretty reciept organizer I bought in the New Year. And C.) I have no desire just yet to see how much money I am wasting on stuff and nonsense, particularly organizing crap.

But that's another post, perhaps for Thoughts on Thursday.

Have a good night!

There's Crazy. There's Neurotic. And Then There's Just Plain Dumb.

And I may, in fact, be all three.

Here's the thing: I am a clutterbug. I am an accumulator. I am an acquirer. I am not a minimalist. I own dozens of books I've never read. I own candles and incense that I don't burn. (In my defense, I usually just forget about them). When I latch on to a new hobby, I purchase all the requisite supplies (or at least all the supplies that I think are requisite), try my hand, and then in a week or two or three get diverted to some other hobby. Or, alternatively, I want to dabble in cooking but think I need all sorts of utensils and so I get them, and then, for some strange reason, the food never gets cooked.

What it boils down to, I suspect, that while my desires and intentions are good, I am afraid of trying, afraid of failing, and I am afraid of sucking at it. And so I acquire the items because in theory that's part of the whole project, and let's face it, I do NOT fail at acquisition. It's like I acquire and acquire and acquire to actually delay the process of creating and crafting.

And the result is that I have a half-finished project and a ton of crap.

This sickness--because sometimes I think that it is--has another facet. I try to organize as a way to magically make all of these projects and ideas come to fruition. "I could get all my bills and correspondence together if I have this nifty new filing cabinet which has labels slightly different from the three other filing cabinets I own." "If I got this family organizer, Himself and I could always keep track of our work and social schedules and impending chores and errands, because, let's face it, the two planners and two calendars that I already have don't quite cut it." "If I can just get organized, everything will fall into place." (My middle sister does the same thing. I'd say it's a family trait, but our eldest sister somehow managed to dodge this particular strain of neuroses).

And the really pathetic thing to all of this (as if it weren't lame enough already) is that I KNOW THINGS WON'T CHANGE with that handy-dandy, ultra-sleek new organizing ____________. I know this. It's common sense--when getting things together, the secret is not getting new/more/better organizational objects, but rather throwing shit out. Downsizing, minimizing, reducing, reusing, call it whatever you want. The current trend in organization is is about buying less, having less, using less. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

But where's the fun in that?

This is not a novel concept. I know all of this, but still I do it. I reminded myself of it the other day when I purchased a drawer organizer, two storage bins, and a scrapbook paper file. I will remind myself of that later today when I go back to Target and get another scrapbook paper file and a little table for my altar and maybe another one or two of those storage bins. I will remind myself of it as I continue on to Office Depot to get the stadium file organizer I realized I just had to have. I know all of this, but still I do it. But I sure as heck don't feel great about it.

In fact--spur of the moment--I am committing to you, dear readers (okay, reader) that I am nixing the spiffy new file. At least for now. I'm going to go into that danged Crap Room and find something that I already have to organize the paperwork I shouldn't have anyway.

But I'm still going to Target.