organising notes from school

I was warned by a number of my friends that we were going to get heaps of notes sent home from school when my eldest started kindy in January. And, boy, were they right! Notes about fees, classroom activities, events, sporting carnivals, login details (fancy!), clubs to join, gardening, working bees, school photos....

So, I got myself another five-tab file to fill! This one has sections labelled 'pay', 'do', 'keep' and two at the back labelled 'info' (eg; logins and weekly news topics). I have also been moving the most important notes into the clear window at the front so I can easily see what is coming up next, or what payment is due soon. I am keeping my two files on the fridge using heavy duty magnetic clips so they are not forgotten and easy to access.

I would love to hear of any other systems that you may be using to keep track of what's going on in school, life, whatever. Please share!

speed cleaning

I'm the first to admit that I'm not a natural housekeeper. It takes a lot of thought and effort on my part to keep this place running somewhat smoothly.

Yes, I'm not always on top of things, and we still run out of clean undies on occasion, but I must say - I think I have improved dramatically from those early days. Newly married, first time living out of home, I'd find out we were to expect some surprise guests; "Oh, you'll be here in ten minutes? Great! See you soon!" Crap, crap, crap! A frenzy would ensue, normally consisting of shoving all of the stuff lying around the place into a cupboard and forcing the door shut.

Our guests would enter our 'tidy' home and we'd have an enjoyable time hanging out. I'd glance nervously at that cupboard every now and then, praying that the door wouldn't bust open at that very moment, revealing all the clutter I was so desperate to hide.

The other problem with my method of tidying was that I'd never actually get around to putting that stuff away properly. The cupboards would be filled to capacity with junk and we could never find anything!

I am finally getting a bit better at cleaning up as I go. Actually filing those papers rather than shoving them in a drawer, for example. However, as those of you with children (or nieces and nephews) would be aware of, lots of bits and pieces can easily accumulate around the house - the floor, mainly, at our place. Parts from toys and other things that "I'm just looking at, mum". Not much at first, but all of a sudden it's everywhere and out of control. (Actually, who am I kidding? I could create that kind of mess just by myself!) Most of the time I wouldn't even know where to start, so I'd just leave it.

But now, I've devised a way to save time and put things away properly. I'm certain this is nothing new. But I was excited about it and wanted to share. All you need is a washing basket! (...or a box if all the washing baskets are still filled with clothes needing to be folded and put away)

I will do a sweep through the whole house grabbing everything lying around on the floor and put it in a washing basket. I then take the washing basket full of random bits to a room in the house, packing away what belongs there before moving onto the next room.
And voila! Heaps of time is saved and you can see the floor! 

the five-tab file

On top of organising all of my existing files, I have taken on board a system for sorting incoming mail. Enter the "five-tab plastic pocket", purchased from kikki.K for $5.95.
I love stationery, so was very excited to get something cool that also served an important purpose!

You can label the tabs on the pockets with whatever you want.
(I also inserted a sheet of textured green paper into the front sleeve to make it pretty.)

My categories are:

to pay
to do
to read
to save
to file


So, as mail comes in, it is immediately sorted into one of those categories, or put straight into the recycling. At the end of each week I will file everything in the "to file" pocket and we're ready to go again the next week!

I really recommend getting one of these if you need a better way of dealing with your snail mail.
When you use it properly, it is wonderful! 

What's not so 'wonderful' is the human in this equation. We have (mostly) managed to avoid random papers around the place, but my old self is trying to ruin the system. I am not sure where to keep this file, so I put it in the bookshelf near our dining table, so it would be out of the way. I then forgot about it for a little while until I got a letter in the mail to tell us our bills hadn't been paid. Whoops!
So I took the file, complete with the unpaid bills, in to my computer desk so I could pay them. The entire five-tab file then went missing for a couple of weeks!

Any suggestions on where we should keep our five-tab file?

when nerds get organised

Hidden inside my computer is proof that it is actually possible for me to be organised. It was born out of necessity. Clients aren't happy if you can't update and reprint their brochure because you "can't find the original files". So, I have a system. A glorious system of naming and storing computer files and folders so that I always know where things are. And the nerd inside me always feels such accomplishment and satisfaction when I neatly "package" a completed job. If and when I go back to look at that job I can see the original InDesign file, the fonts, the linked images, the working files and the invoice.
So neat and orderly!

This is where the name for my blog sprang from. I really wish real life files and other objects could be dealt with as easily as the computer kind. Command+A (select all) then Comand+Delete (move to trash). All the junk is gone in an instant! If only everything was that easy.

In my bid to rid the house of clutter, I have turned to my trusty computer again. When I was told by the uber-organised Ronnie that there was a great task management program for Mac, I was excited. "This will help me be organised and keep lists without having a million single bits of paper floating around the house!" I looked up this program called 'Things' in the Apple store. The excitement quickly turned to dread when I saw that it cost 70 bucks!! I really couldn't justify that cost. A friend had mentioned that there was a cheaper and simpler version called iPronto - which is, sadly, only available for iPhones and iPads. (which is why I really need an iPhone! sigh.) And so my search continued into the realm of free task management software. A very unsatisfying place - most of it allowed you to write a list and that was it. No notes could be added. No time-frames set. hmmmm.

Anyway, I did find something eventually, called TaskPaper. It was quite simple, but allowed me to set up projects and notes with them. And it was free. This will do. I enthusiastically set up all my lists for getting sorty with categories, sub categories and notes. Sweet! Then upon startup one day, I got a rude message saying my free trial was due to end in a few days and that I had to pay to register the software!

Because I am a bit of a cheapskate and didn't want to pay $30 for a program that wasn't exactly what I needed, I went to visit ebay. And you'll never guess what I found! Things! For less than $30! I bought it and it is FABULOUS! I've got my 'life' to do's, my work to do's, my meal plans all in one place and not taking up an extra inch of space in the house!

I do delight in the one place that makes me feel like I'm on top of things.
(Except for the file named "SORT" on my desktop. We don't need to look in there.)

when your filing cabinet lives in the laundry...

Yep. Our filing cabinet is in the laundry. Sometimes the decision about where to place certain items of furniture is taken out of your hands when there is not a lot of available space. Our filing cabinet happened to fit pretty well in the laundry. The bottom two drawers contain files. The top drawer contains laundry powder, napisan, wool wash, a lint brush, enjo floor fibres, a delicates bag...
you get the idea.

The filing part of our filing cabinet is quite orderly. There are labelled tabs on suspended files - and some even have labelled sub categories within them! Great! It seems I am on top of things here.
Except for two things...
a) the named tabs I set up were relevant three years ago - so any extra categories that have cropped up are either merged with other (almost) related things, or just shoved into unmarked files at the back.
b) there are numerous important documents that are yet to make it into the filing cabinet.

The documents that fall into the second category could be in any of ten other places around the house. Yes you read that right... in total, we have ELEVEN different places around the house where we 'file' things! I shocked even myself when I counted them all. Lets explore this further. I'll take you through it in list form...

The places where we 'file' our important documents:

1. the filing cabinet
2. a green expandable file - this sits near the filing cabinet, but in the five and a half years
   we have been married I have not managed to merge or purge these documents
3. the floor beneath the filing cabinet
4. the dining room table
5. near my computer - mostly bills that I have already paid online
6. side of the fridge - immunisation information, doctor referrals, take away menus, childrens' artworks and more
7. kitchen bench
8. corner shelf in the kitchen - I found a few sneaky letters and prescriptions behind the
   tissue box
9. bookshelf in hallway - things are squeezed in between books that should be filed away
10. bookshelf in lounge room - more things just shoved there, most likely moved from the dining table in order to clear space for dinner
11. sideboard near the front door - as well as unopened credit card statements, there are gift certificates, keys, a promo sized sorbelene cream, cuff bracelet, broken earrings, loose change, pencils, a piece off a scooter, ribbons, glue stick, goggles, a bendy man, a farmer made at playtime and a drum stick holder engraved with the words "Happy 21st Lincoln" (no one in our family plays the drums or has the name Lincoln) and I'm too lazy to keep going. There are too many things here.

As you can see, I have a fair bit of work ahead of me. So, first, I have planned to gather all of the loose documents into one place in order to sort through them. I will make piles: to chuck, to file in filing cabinet, to keep elsewhere (if there is anything sentimental). I will also update my file names and add more where needed. Also, I am going to purchase a 5-tab file from kikki.K to organise the incoming snail mail as soon as it comes through the door (thanks for the tip, Ronnie!). I will tell you more about this later.

Question: How many filing places do you have?