I had so much fun and made so much progress during Fix-It February, that I decided to commandeer yet another month, assign a catchy label to reflect its new purpose, and do it all over again! This time I’m reassigning October to be Organizing October!
Perhaps the first thing to do is to establish my own definition of “organizing” for Organizing October. Webster defines organizing as “to arrange or order things so that they can be found or used easily and quickly.”
That’s certainly part of the process, but I’ve decided to broaden the scope of Organizing October by defining organizing like this instead: “to arrange, order, or eliminate things or processes such that they can easily be found and used when needed, or excluded if they are unnecessary.”
The Mission
So exactly what do I plan to tackle in Organizing October? Here are my goals:
- Purging – I’ve changed careers and my office is STUFFED with books and materials I will never, ever need or use again. I’m also hell-bent on eliminating paper from my life, so there is a LOT of old paper spread throughout my house that simply has to go. So bye-bye past career! Bye-bye old paper!
- Labeling – I know where things are around my house, but whenever I need to direct someone else to an object, labels would help tremendously. I also have some funny stories about many of the things I own, and, as a writer, have been attaching little story quips to things for years. But I’m behind. That process – adding stories for the future recipient of an object and (hopefully) bringing a smile to them as a result, is also on the list.
- Sorting/Organizing – You know the rule about not buying organizers before you know what you have to store? Well, I’ve broken that rule a LOT. Now it’s time to see if any of my massive organizer collection can actually be put to use. And if they can’t, I’ll simply donate or sell them.
The Ground Rule
There is only one rule. Unlike Fix-it February where my goal was to fix one thing a day or 28 things in a month, my lone rule for Organizing October is simply this: Organize for an average of a half-hour every single day. That’s it.
As long as the tasks fall within the Purging, Labeling, Sorting, Organizing paradigm above, I don’t care how many total projects I complete. That’s not the point. It’s just more important that I’m tenacious. Thirty one unrelenting days of half-hour organizing stints translate to 15 1/2 hours of organizing in October. That may not sound like much, but that’s 15 1/2 more hours than I’ve spent in any one month in years, so it’s bound to have an impact!
So, do you want to join me? Let me know what you hope to accomplish in your own Organizing October! And check back in November to see how I did!
