January means Organizing

It’s no surprise to me that the library’s two copies of The Organization Map by Pam McClellan are both missing. Everyone feels that they need more organization in their lives, perhaps a fleeting glimpse of a stress free life knowing your paperclips are sorted by color and size gives us a false sense of security and safety and we run out to find any magazine book or web site that can help us achieve that goal. Sure, my life would be great, I’d sleep nights, have time for filing my nails and reading endless books, if only I could have my closet revamped by Martha Stewart.


January offers relief from the hectic holiday shopping and family gatherings that have many of us making reindeer centerpieces that include the Halloween pumpkins that were still on the back porch, and in my case the flat of Mother’s Day pansies I never had time to plant and an Easter Egg wreath that looked quite festive after a coating of silver spray paint.

Organizing Your Day: time management techniques that will work for you by Sandra Felton and Marsha Sims notes that well-managed time reduces stress, helps you accomplish more in less time, and most importantly, gives you greater freedom to enjoy doing what you love. I suppose that’s what gets everyone thinking that a new year brings new hope for new ideas. I was all excited to look at new furniture and decorate my living space to look like the cover of a Decorating Den. But I was disappointed in Christopher Lowell’s Seven Layers of Design when I realized he was talking about paint, flooring and texture when I had in mind seven years of crappola and moving boxes that hadn’t been opened in ten years.
The Power of Slow by Christine Hohlbaum promises to reduce stress, help you accomplish more in less time and give you greater freedom to enjoy life. Sounds like a plan. I was excited to slow down the pace and have time for a real vacation until I read the inside front cover flap where tips listed included “When working on a project on your computer, close all the windows, with the exception of the one you need to do the job at hand.” What ever happened to multi-tasking? Currently I have six windows open including a book review, sports article for the Plain Dealer, a press release for On Demand Studios, a business web page I’m updating and the syllabus for an online class. I’m convinced that Hohlbaum is just a slacker is probably enjoying the fruits of publishing success while multi-tasking on a beach somewhere probably in cahoots with Dave Crenshaw, author of The Myth of Multitasking.

For those of you who still hold out hope for household organization try Cut the clutter and stow the stuff: the Q.U.I.C.K. way to bring lasting order to household chaos, edited by Lori Baird. This book includes over 1200 tips and strategies compiled from experts including how to tackle those piles of papers taking up valuable counter space. Making Room: Finding Space in Unexpected Places by Wendy A. Jordan may open your eyes to how you can make better use of space you have to tame the clutter monster. Turn that shelf in the bathroom into a bookcase or why not make that space under the staircase into an office niche?


And if crowded closets and barricades of boxes in the basement just seem like too much, consider simplifying with It's all too much: an easy plan for living a richer life with less stuff by Peter Walsh. And if you’re sorting through your piles of stuff and happen to find an overdue library book called The Organization Map please bring it back….maybe it’s the key to the life I’ve been looking for.