Elena LaVictoire's Library tagged organization →  View Popular

I took my subject-by-subject list and started to map out the week.  A focus for daily faith formation came first, each students core subject lessons next, and family study blocks last.  And it all fit!

   There was no need for major revision! I was so relieved I went on a full-fledged planning binge that kept me awake until 2 am!

From the weekly list, a daily rhythm was born:       With those two things in place, I can now start to map put individual subjects and break down resources into lessons, mapping out the year week-by-week, day-by-day.  I was getting tired at this point, but I wanted the satisfaction of doing at least one subject, so I broke down Quinn's weekly Spanish lessons for the year and our Liturgical Tree plans through Advent. I fell asleep buried under fine arts plans.

Still, it took a few months before I had a true Eureka moment. One day, I used a small orange bag to take a jar full of change to the change counting machine at Bell Market. It worked great! Again, it was strong enough for pounds of change, it had a tie off so it wouldn't spill in the car, and I could see the nail and the Canadian change before I put that stuff in the counter.

Next, I used a big mesh bag to take my Frisbee, Nurf foot ball, Hacky sack, sunscreen, comb and juggling pins to the beach! Afterwards, I easily rinsed the sand with a hose before putting that stuff in the car.

One day I was at a SCUBA diving shop and I saw a small mesh bag ON SALE for $29.95! Eureka! These mesh bags have value! I started using them everywhere.

I used a bunch of orange bags to organize my cables. I am a self admitted technophile, so I have ample superfluous cables from computers, DV editing, stereo, telephone equipment, sound and music gear. I have 3/4 inch cables with RCA outs, and mini-jack cables with 3/4 inch outs. I have SCSI ribbon cables, power supplies, transformers, speaker wire, and telephone wire. You get the picture? Formerly, all those cables were stored in one big tub and even though I tried to stay organized by coiling each cable and tying them off with a twisty; I almost always eventually ended up with one giant clusterfuck of cable.

I have always dreaded unloading the dishwasher. One day, I timed myself and it takes only three minutes. Keeping that in mind, it doesn't seem so bad.

Mike wanted to change the door knob on our front door. It didn't work correctly and we kept getting locked out. He bought a new door knob, but he was in the middle of another project and didn't change it right away. One day, after sidestepping it for a while, he decided to stop everything else and change it. It took five minutes. He said if he had known that's all the time it would take, he never would have waited so long to do it.

Most of the time we spend more time thinking about these things than just taking the time to do it and get it over with! Now walk away from the computer and take care of that thing that is bothering you! ;-)