New Year, New You - Organizing - Part 1

Happy New Year, everyone! Thanks so much for stopping by my little blog. I've realized lately that I don't communicate very well how much I appreciate everyone stopping by and taking the time to comment (or just lurking and enjoying my photos and stories...that's cool too). But, comments are my favorite, so if you're shy and not sure if you should comment or not, here's me saying, bring it on! I love to read all the comments people leave...it's one of my favorite things to pop into my email inbox, which is where I see them first since my comments are moderated.

With that said, it's a new year, and time for a new you, if you so choose to re-invent or update yourself, of course. I'm a very goal-driven person, so I love the start of the new year because it gives me an excuse to create new goals for myself. As a Type-A perfectionist, I'm always on the look-out for ways to improve myself, my habits, my home, my life, and I see the new year as a great time to really dig into any new improvement ideas.

So, what are your New Year's Resolutions for '08? Mine are:
1. Pay off my business credit card
2. Get better control over my finances
3. Get organized
4. Especially, organize craft room
5. Stay organized (i.e. pick up after myself to maintain organization)
6. Start a monthly date night with my SO
7. Stop procrastinating

That's it for now...short list, I know. There are many more things I could improve, but these are the areas I'd like to focus on: finances & organization. I was reading an article on MarthaStewart.com about organization tips and 6 things to do everyday (can't seem to locate the article...sorry!) to help yourself stay organized and at some point while I was perusing all of these informative and useful artcles, I remembered a glimmer "old me." Has anyone else had a similar experience? It's like, the older you get, the more personalities you collect, or something.

I remember being a quiet, shy, organized-to-a-fault little girl before going college, where I decided to reinvent myself. I didn't want to be a loner any more...I wanted to be more courageous...more the kind of girl who wasn't afraid to say how she felt or be friends with the "cool kids" or have the drive to go after the things I really wanted. And, sometime just before college, I realized that when I went to school, I would hardly know anyone there. Only a handful of people from my high school were going to the same college as me. I realized that people treat you the way you act and that if I acted like the girl I wanted to be, that they would treat me like her, and I would, in a way, become her. When I got to college, I didn't think about what I would do in a given situation, but what she would do. Maybe not so much what "she" would do, but I tried to think about what I wanted to do without worrying about what other people would think and what I would do if I weren't so painfully shy. Eventually, I became a very social, very outgoing person. I joined a sorority, went out with friends, and had lots and lots of fun. In addition to becoming more outgoing, I learned to not be so controlling and I learned to relax and not be so freakin' anal about stuff. I learned how to get along with people and be more easy-going. Things weren't as easy to control in group situations as they had been in my own little world before college...and I learned that this was ok.

But, more recently, I've also learned that "old me" wasn't so terrible as I thought she was. And, one thing I'd like to get back from who I used to be is the side of me who was so organized. I've gotten, dare I say, too lax in my lifestyle and with my home, which is slowly turning into the perfect candidate for the Clean Sweep team. So, starting this year, I'm going to work on getting organized and staying that way. I'm going to make a better effort to clean up after myself and put things back where they belong rather than leaving them laying (sp?) about. I want to be organized with my lifestyle too and stop procrastinating about that form I was supposed to mail in or that friend I was supposed to email. I'm tired of putting off until tomorrow what I can do today. I've noticed that I've been saying, "I don't have time" for this or that, but the truth is I do have time...I've just been doing something else. I was just reading about this whole "choosing" of time on someone else's blog recently, and for the life of me, I can't remember which blog...so if it's yours...shoot me a comment so others can read your story on this whole "choosing" of time - your post was great!

Anywho, wow, that post was waaaaay longer than I thought it would be so sorry for rambling on...I've been doing that a lot lately! Back to the New Year's stuff. I spent the first day of the New Year hitting up the organizational store. I spent a whole $100 - way more than I intended to spend - but I think I got some good stuff to get myself started on organizing. The truth is, I actually love to organize, but it's expensive and time-consuming! But, enough excuses! I've made money in my budget for organization goods for this month, at least. This is the year! I'm going to get organized, and I'm going to start with my kitchen:


Ok, ok, it doesn't look that different, but I couldn't resist the lid/baking pan holder (to the left) or the pan separator (to the right) - both on the top shelf of the photo. I would have put more baking pans in the pan holder, but the shelf is too short and not adjustable...it still holds the lids nicely, though. The pan separator is pretty cool, too, though, helping my non-stick pans to retain their non-stick surface - should be easier to get to them this way, too! See how the three pans and the one pot are separated so you don't have to unstack them to get to the bottom one in pink? Well, now you see why I started with the kichen...that was pretty easy.

Ugh...now to the craft room...that should be "fun"...lol