Saturday, March 19, 2011

Project Simplify Week 2: Attacking the Paper Pile(s)


Surprisingly, I have an uncanny ability to ignore the papers piles, but when they do begin to drive me crazy, watch out!! This week's hot spot in Project Simplify is organizing the paper clutter. At first I didn't think I had too many paper piles lying around.

I was deluded.


 I had the children help me clean off our basement island (where we homeschool). It's our bonafide, certified, guaranteed, junk collecting hot spot -- although I wouldn't say what is on it is junk. It's usually a combination of books, school projects, crafts, and odd and ends that were not put where they are supposed to go.

Once the island was clean, I gathered up all the piles of paper and magazines from around the basement. Currently everything makes it way to the basement because if it is left upstairs, it will be totally covered in drywall dust in a few days.

So in the above photo is a whole smattering of stuff. Old cards, magazines, catalogs, school papers, scrap booking supplies, and ten years worth of Country Woman magazines.


This mess above is mostly adoption paperwork. I was looking for a particular document the other day and just left the mess after I found the wanted document. Yes, I'm a natural messie. The back pack is Bub's and the bag of fiberfill is from a project the girls have been working on this week.


Here's the adoption paperwork neatly organized into a pile. See that formal looking blue envelop on the top? That's notification of visa processing. We are so close now!! That stack is about 2.5 inches high. If you wanted to know anything about us, it's almost all in there ;o)!


Since I was on a roll, I emptied the top drawer of our filing cabinet. This is all homeschooling stuff. Let's just say the drawer was allllmosssst full. I had the kids go through their files (not all of them are finished with this task yet) and get rid of all the stuff that they didn't want anymore.

Bub going over his creative writing from last year.


Wowza! Don't be fooled though. My children all have file boxes that will go with them when they leave home. Bub's is almost full already :oO. My favorite science curriculum: Considering God's Creation will be in their boxes along with AWANA books as well as ribbons, awards, etc. I could probably spend a day per child going through those boxes. It's on the agenda for next week.


I was so excited by all the excess paper disappearing that I decided to hit the bottom drawer too. (What about the two middle ones? The one is all the Engineer's stuff. No touchy ;o)! Lots of paper in there though! The other one holds math manipulatives, flash cards, and other school related items. No paper. Just stuff).


 Yes, it's emptier, and the adoption paperwork fits in there now too!


Two bags of recycling, one bag of garbage (yes, I like to shop for children's clothes at Bonnie Togs. Their clothes are affordable, fashionable, sturdy, wearable, and non-hoochie. They have great sales, and sturdy bags for recycling and garbage :oD.), and a small pile for the shredder later. I'm done phase one of attacking the paper piles. I'm determined to start phase two next week.

The kids file boxes....

Have a great weekend!



P.S. There's still time to join in! Just go to Simple Mom and find out all the details!

8 comments:

  1. Nicely Done! I think I will join in on the fun. We are on spring break this week so why not try some spring cleaning?

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  2. I have an ongoing battle with paper, (like the rest of the world). But I hate the clutter of paper laying around my house in a big way! I tell my family it takes "daily attendance".

    I have a old file cabinet that keeps things together too.

    And the parsley is from my garden. A great advantage to living southward!

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  3. When you are finished there, and it looks like you may be, you can come and help me work on mine. I've got more paper than that on this desk alone. I have several file drawers full as well, and paper, as far as I can tell, multiplies much like plastic bags used to.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well done, you!

    I'm inspired to get on the bandwagon too. Just back from weekend at in-laws and have mountains of laundry before I can think of anything else. Ugh!

    Cracking up at the adjective:
    non-hoochie! Amen, sister! In any picture I've seen of any of your girls, they always look lovely.

    Happy Sunday,

    Julie

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  5. You make me laugh! Non-hoochie!!
    We saw far to much of that in NYC!
    Gald you are able to get so much accomplished! Congratulations!
    ~a

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  6. Your blog is one of several I have ran into, while reading about the paper clutter project. You guys are inspiring me to get organized. Last year, I did start a paper shredding routine and it is still going strong, but I do have some paper piles, I need to organize.

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The non-hoochie comment made me laugh out loud. I can't believe the things some kids wear and that their parents allow them to leave the house that way! As far as paper, let me just say aughhhhhhhhhh! It seems I can never stay ahead of the mess in my house. With my hubby being self-employed, papers are everywhere (especially since he was given the customer base by one of his former employers). He is bad about getting things out and just leaving them. I am bad about letting stacks of papers and such pile up on my desk. I get it all cleaned up, and the next day it magically reappears!

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  8. That is a lot of paper indeed. If I were in your place, I would just have simply shredded and thrown everything away just to get rid of all that paper clutter. But I do admire how you have kept everything sorted and organized and that you have the patience to maintain it that way.

    Ruby Badcoe

    ReplyDelete

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