A Theme for 2015: Organize My Life

Posted on

2014 was a great year!  I’ve been having a blast watching Munchkin grow and being home with him every day is AMAZING!  (Thanks, Hubby!) But, somehow, it went by so fast.  2013 did the same thing.  Where has the time gone??  I keep a spreadsheet of projects and tasks (you do understand where I got the idea for Listfull Days, right?!), and I also have a tab entitled “Goals.”  Since I started the spreadsheet many MANY years ago, I’ve used this central spot to keep track of yearly goals and accomplishments.  I opened it up the other day to update it for 2015 and to see how I did in 2014.  Do you know what I found?  A yearly goals tab entitled “2012 goals.”  WHAT?  2012 was the last time I updated this?  Oops!

It actually makes sense when I think about it.  We finished a master suite remodel at the beginning of 2012.  I turned 30 in 2012.  I started my Bucket List in 2012.  I started Listfull Days in 2012.  I STARTED organized in 2012.  Then, I started a new position at work.  I got pregnant.  I was blessed with morning sickness all-day queasiness and night all-day exhaustion!  Thanks to the little Bambino; thanks to a hectic job; thanks to an even more hectic home improvement calendar; thanks to the cumulative effect of life in general.  And, somehow, 2013 snuck up on me!  In 2013, we worked on a basement renovation, which actually turned into a whole-house renovation of sorts, all while we nested for Bambino.  I know I got a lot done in 2013, but somehow the balance of organization-to-chaos shifted.  (Or, at least that’s how it felt!)  And, if I think 2013 snuck up on me, then 2014 just flew past me!  Munchkin turned ONE!  Munchkin started teething, and kept teething, and kept teething.  Now, I was unorganized and TIRED!  So, here it is 2015 and time to think about goals for the new year.

Well, let’s just simplify things.  I think I’m a little beyond listing out each task I want to check off this year.  Let’s just replace my goals list with my to-do list, hit “copy” and “paste,” and move on to actually checking things off.  So, instead of naming specific goals or resolutions or whatever you think about at the start of a new year or a new crossroads, I’m adopting a theme for 2015:  Get this shit organized!

Pardon my french, but at this point in time, the term feels applicable.  (On a side note, why do we call curse words “French?”  I don’t remember learning that in any of my French studies. 😉 )

I’m really loving this concept of a New Year’s Theme.  It applies to all aspects of my life in a physical or figurative manner:  my home (physically unorganized at the moment; just wait until you see my kitchen cabinets!), my exercise routine (inconsistent at best, nonexistent if I’m really being honest), my health maintenance (somehow I missed almost all of my annual appointments in 2014 all because I couldn’t organize myself to make phone calls!), my hobbies (blog included!), and my finances (thankfully, Hubby has stayed on top of this one for us; we’ve had a division of labor pretty much ever since we got married that works for us: he pays the bills and keeps an eye on investments and accounts; I do most of the day-to-day shopping and keep track of our budget.  Let’s just say it’s a good thing he looks at our account statements because I couldn’t tell you the last time I opened our budget file. 😯 )

My plan for implementation is to take it one area at a time.  Hopefully, I can get a physical room in the house organized every week, along with a more figurative aspect of my life.  This may be wishful thinking, and I know that some weeks will not go as planned due to other events as well as the level of disorganization I’m facing, but I’m using a rough guideline here.  The last thing I want to do is set unrealistic expectations and then get discouraged.  So far this weekend we were able to lay some groundwork for the rest of 2015.  Basically, we did a few temporary clean outs just to keep us from going crazy until we can do the heavy duty lifting in those areas.  We started with our office, which is always our dumping ground.  (I really should have taken a picture of what it looked like during the holidays.)  We at least got everything put away into its rightful place.  We also managed to make room for all of Munchkin’s new Christmas toys in the living room.  They still end up all over the floor by the end of the day, but at least now every toy has a home.  We cleaned out the freezer, fridge and pantry enough that we could make room for healthful foods.  We usually do a pretty good job of this on a regular basis, but y’all know what happens around the holidays!  And, while dinner is usually a healthy meal (and lunch, thanks to leftovers!), we wanted to start off the new year with better breakfast and snack options.  We always have lots of fruit for Munchkin, but we often scrounge for ourselves.  We also started off doing some minor arranging in the basement.  We wanted to get an idea of how much storage space we have available when we clean out other areas of the house.  Our efforts were a little interrupted on Saturday thanks to Mother Nature (more on that in my weekly update), but I still feel like we are off to a good start!

I hope everyone else is feeling good about the start of the New Year!  Even my Fur Baby is optimistic! 😉

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Share on Facebook