Organization – Laura Earnest Archive

Signs You Don’t Need A Time Management Upgrade

Laura Earnest — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

It’s always a temptation for me to fiddle with my system rather than actually do the work needed to move myself toward my goals and complete my projects. And so I get a lot of articles in various places on when to upgrade my time management. One of the things I have learned, though, is that it’s not about time management, but what I should be focusing on.

You Can’t Manage Time

Here’s the kicker, though: you can’t manage time. The passage of time is completely out of our control. All we can do is focus on what we choose to do at any given moment.

I’ve seen a lot of articles over the years that talk about when you need to revamp your time management, but it all boils down to when you need to adjust how you spend your time.

Today I thought I would share some signs that you might be able to use in order to get your focus on the right things.

Being Overweight

Many people will say that we are overweight because we don’t have enough time to do anything about it. In my case, I’m carrying extra weight because I stress eat too much of the wrong foods. I also don’t exercise every day, not because I don’t have time, but because I simply don’t want to.

I am working to add movement to my day, every day. I am using a program to help me reprogram my brain so that I don’t stress eat and I make better choices.

Solution: one has to eat. Make smarter choices. Exercise more.

Articles that might help:

Having Lots of Email in Your Inbox

Some people have thousands of emails in their inboxes.

I view emails in the Inbox as decisions that have been put off or not acted on.

Email has very limited outcomes: delete it, file it, respond to it, or put the information in another system, like a task list or calendar.

I keep my email under control, and deal with it regularly.

Solution: minimize the amount of email boxes you have to check, and then streamline your process for handling the email.

Articles that might help:

Clutter

It isn’t a sign of time management failure to have clutter in the house. Instead, it is much like email: it represents decisions not made or acted on.

My mother used to bring a mini-van worth of stuff when she came to visit. My strategy was to dump it all in our dining room and then work through it in my time.

Some clutter comes from a lack of a place to keep something. It isn’t a matter of time, but rather a matter of organization or mistaken needs. Most of the cluttered people I have run across are cluttered simply because they don’t have a good place to keep things.

Solution: start purging things you haven’t used in the last year. Once that is done, eliminate duplicates as far as possible, then designate a place to keep everything. If you’re really stuck hire a professional organizer for coaching.

Articles that might help:

Commitments Fall Through the Cracks

Sometimes stuff that we quietly tell ourselves that we need to do, simply doesn’t happen. If this is the case with me, it isn’t because of a lack of time. It’s because I have not made it a priority, or I never really wanted to do it to begin with.

Solution: before you agree to do anything, make sure it is in line with your interest and goals, and that it is not something you are saying “yes” to because someone else expects it.

Articles that might help:

We Don’t Stay in Touch

Not staying in touch with people isn’t always a failure of time management. It’s because we lose sight of the important people in our lives and the need that any relationship worth having requires work.

I stay in touch with those people who are important. Others I purposefully neglect, and they’re usually the ones upset because I haven’t met their expectations. Well, those expectations are theirs, not mine.

Solution: if you really don’t have time for your spouse and children, make that a top priority, for they won’t stick around to be ignored forever. If other people are upset with you, ask yourself if it really is your problem, or if it is theirs.

Articles that might help:

We Are Stressed

We can take work with us everywhere. But that isn’t the only cause of our stress. Many people these days are stressed for many other reasons, like not having a job, or not being able to pay the bills, or wondering how you’re going to make it on a single income (that’s me there). When I’m stressed, it has nothing to do with work, but with everything else that is piling on top of me.

Solution: if you are stressed because you’re always working, stop. Turn off the cell phone. Turn off the laptop. If you’re not at the office, you don’t have to work. And work can get by without you.

Articles that might help:

Solution #2: if you are stressed because of economic reasons, know they are valid. Talk to someone about them; find specific ways to counter the specific stress. These are large items in this economy and cannot be fixed by turning off the technology.

Articles that might help:

Poor time management can lead to a lot of things; but let’s be honest about the other stuff on this list. Getting a better planner isn’t going to help you get a job; nor is it going to magically make your house pristine. Take the time to deal with the real root causes of the issues and you will find they are not about time at all.

Simplified Tickler Files

Laura Earnest — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A tickler file is one to manage date-sensitive information. It can be implemented for paper or electronic, and the classic version contains 43 folders. This can be overly burdensome, though, if you don’t deal with a lot of date-sensitive material. Today’s article is about simplifying the classic approach to ticklers.

Why 43 Folders?

Most traditional tickler files have 43 folders. The 43 folders comes from a set of file folders, one for each day of the month (31 total) and one for each month (12). 12 + 31 = 43.

The original tickler system had you make the physical folders. If something needed attention on the 9th of this month, you put it in the folder labeled “9”. If it needed to be dealt with in August, you put it in the “August” folder. At the beginning of each day, you emptied out your number folder to be dealt with. At the beginning of month, you put the contents of the month folder into the appropriate number folder.

It’s a great system for dealing with anything that needs to be dealt with on a given date.

But What If You Don’t Have That Much Dated Information?

Some of us just don’t deal with that much dated information because so many things can be attached (for better or worse) to electronic calendars. But there are things, such as prescriptions or birthday cards, that may need you to deal with paper. Or something that you can’t attach to a calendar because of sensitivity or a way to find it again.

If you have very little dated informaiton to deal with, you can always try an alternate system:

1 Folder + Reminder Tickler

This is the other extreme from the tickler system. In this system you put everything into one file folder called Tickler, and make notes in your task list to remind you to deal with it on the appropriate day. The note would have to say not only what you needed to do, but also what supporting materials were in the file so you can locate them.

This will work if you have very few paper items to deal with; as a good rule of thumb, less than 10.

The 12 Folder + Reminder System

If you have a few items a month, but not enough to justify the day folders, you can use a 12 folder system. Label each folder for a month, and then put a reminder in your task list to “process tickler” near the beginning of the month. (I actually do this on the last Monday of the month to give me time to get early birthday cards in the mail).

At the beginning of the month, you can process the items on their appropriate day in your electronic system, much as you would for the one month folder of the paper system. The only difference is you would leave the item in the tickler folder instead of moving it. When the reminder comes up, you look in the month folder to find your paperwork.

How I Use the 12 Folder System

I have been using the 12 folder system for years. I use it from everything from birthday cards, magazine and prescription renewals, and even the free calendars that get sent from various charities (all filed in “December”).

On the last Monday of the month, I check the tickler file for the next month, and then make notes in Remember The Milk of what I need to do. If there’s a birthday card, for example, I put an entry a week before the person’s birthday in RTM saying “Send birthday card (tickler)”, noting the person’s name. Then I just have to pull it out, put a stamp on it and send it.

Summary

Tickler files are a great way to manage paper. Use

31 folders if you have a lot of dated information to manager, needed just about every day.
1 folder + a reminder system if you have little paper to manage (less than 10 items)
12 folders + a reminder system if you have a few items a month to deal with.

Avoiding Lockouts With A Hidden Key

Laura Earnest — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

When I wrote this post initially in 2010, it was before the days of smart homes and locks. Even though I now have a smart lock on the door, I still have a key hidden as below to avoid lockouts…because batteries and electronics can fail. For those living where you cannot change the locks, this is still relevant.

I’ve never been a fan of leaving house keys hidden in the yard. But I’ve come to realize that having backup keys around are a good idea.

Our next door neighbor has a key to the house, as does our former nanny. I thought this was good enough to prevent me being locked out. Turns out I was wrong.

The Story Of How We Got Locked Out

My husband locks doors out of habit. I do not lock the house doors if I am out in the yard working. So while my daughter was at a neighbor’s house, I was working in the yard, and my husband was working in the attic. I left the door between the house and garage unlocked as I was going back and forth to get things. My keys were inside.

I went to pick up my daughter, and my husband came down to the garage to get something. When my daughter and I returned, the door to the house was locked.

I rang the doorbell. I pounded on the door. I went to a neighbor’s and called his cell and the house phone. I honked the horns of the car. Nothing. He wasn’t hearing any of it in the attic space…and his cell phone wasn’t anywhere near him.

What about the spare keys? The neighbor who had it was out of town. The other neighbor who had the first neighbor’s keys was also out of town. The nanny was not at home. We were out of luck. (See the bottom of the article for how I finally attracted his attention).

The Solution

I realized then we needed a key hidden in the garage. Since the garage can be opened both with the door opener and the keypad on the garage, I felt this was the best place to put the key.

I didn’t want to do anything obvious like a lockbox, or one of those fake-and-obvious hiding places like the plastic rocks. I wanted to make the key difficult to find. So with a bit of packing tape, I picked the back of a cabinet up against the wall. It was big enough space to get my hand in, but too heavy to move easily. I taped the key out of sight in the back. It can be reached, but only with a struggle and only if you know the key is there. It cannot be seen, because there is no way anyone can get back there and look.

The End of the Story

After trying for 45 minutes to get my husband’s attention, I was about to go to the neighbor’s to spend the afternoon, leaving a note on the door. But my eye fell on the circuit breaker box. So I walked over and flipped the switches off for the attic.

After a few minutes, I switched them back on again, because my husband had taken a nasty fall earlier in the year and I didn’t want him to fall again. But on not hearing any footsteps coming down, I switched the breakers off again.

It did the trick. My husband came down to figure out why the circuits were acting so strangely. He thought he would find a fried circuit. Instead he found a cooked goose.

Why Flylady Didn’t Work for Me

Laura Earnest — Thu, 19 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Flylady, the lovable woman who insists anyone can have a clean and peaceful home, is an internet phenomenon. Her no-nonsense advice and pointed reminders have helped people across the globe. She believes her system will work for anyone, regardless of age, sex, income, country or employment status. (Flylady points out that she is a working woman, therefore her system works for working women. And I know from personal experience that it works for those who stay at home.)

I followed Flylady for many years. And felt guilty for not being able to make it work. It was a struggle for me. I would get the reminders as I sat at work, and had every intention of doing the tasks when I got home. But life, more often than not, intervened.

I have decided to free myself of the guilt of not being able to make Flylady’s system work. I feel guilty because it worked for me in a small condo before children, and it worked when I was unemployed. Yet add an out-of-home job and child into the mix, and I can’t make the system work. Was I not doing it right? Flylady would tell me the problem was me.

Here are the ways Flylady doesn’t work for me:

The Massive Influx of Emails

When I left Flylady, I was getting 10-20 emails a day from her. Besides the reminder emails which were supposed to spur me into doing something around the house, I also received testimonials, missions of the day, product recommendations, recipes and various other sundry. Her recommendation was to save the reminder emails up for when I got home and deal with them then. But honestly, when I got home, I didn’t want to fire up my computer and drag myself through emails to remind me of things I was already “late” on.

Zones

While I understand the idea of breaking a house into Zones and focusing on each one to prevent distraction, I never could cram my house to fit into the standard 5 zones. A whole week in the kitchen, and a partial week to cover my living room, music room and sun room? How about week three, with two bathrooms, and three bedrooms? And does the guest room need to be cleaned as often as my daughter’s room? Then there was the mixing in of Kelly’s missions, which were supposed to lead us through cleaning the entire house. If I did the mission it wouldn’t necessarily address what needed to be done.

Bedtime

No one appreciates a full amount of sleep more than I do. And I do aim to get to bed by 10:30 every night. But the Flylady reminder fires out at 9:00 to start getting ready for bed. At the time my daughter was going to bed at 8:30, the only time I have to myself is after she goes to bed. I grew resentful of being told I had to take my down time and go shine my sink.

The Sink

Yes, the sink is a good place to start. Cleaning out your sink and giving yourself a clean spot to “grow” from. But being reminded to keep my sink shiny when there are other people in the house is pointless. I was constantly shining my sink, only to have someone put dishes into it. And her solutions to this just increased the stress level in my house.

Shoes

Yes, having shoes on can save you from injury. I know that, because I managed to break a toe playing Scrabble. But having shoes on in the house is a good way to spread dirt around. I’m not Mr. Rodgers. I don’t have time to be switching shoes.

Why Say All This?

My sole reason for saying all this is to let everyone know that if Flylady doesn’t work for you, IT’S OKAY. You’re not the only one. Dump the guilt and move on.

And why break it down? Because I’ve been thinking about where I couldn’t do Flylady, and I’ve made my own system to compensate for the weaknesses I found in Flylady. Because all that really matters is that I get to a peaceful and orderly home.

The Importance of Routines

Laura Earnest — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

A friend of mine, struggling with organization and an insane schedule, has been balking at setting up basic routines to help her out. “They will limit my freedom and creativity” is something I have heard more than once.

But I believe that having routines actually frees up and creates pockets of creative time…creative time I never seemed to have before I implemented routines.

Routines are actually little more than formalized habits, written down.

Why routines?

When you have set routines, you never have to worry about missing things that need to be done on a regular basis. By formalizing your approach to tasks, you can count on getting them done.

Our foremothers used to do this as well: I remember a set of towels my mother had, each with a day and task on them. Monday, wash. Tuesday, iron. Thursday, baking. Each day had its tasks laid out.

Why write them down?

Most people wouldn’t write down their routines. What I have found, though, is that writing them down is essential if someone has to step in for you. The times my husband has been hospitalized, I had to pass the care of my child onto others. The routines I had written down meant that her schedule was not disrupted, and she had the comfort of the familiar during scary times.

How To Construct Routines

The easiest way to get into routine habits is to start with daily things. Things you might already take for granted, but may want to expand. For me, I started with the before bed routine. Besides the tasks of getting ready for bed, I also put on items to make things easier for the next morning. I wrote out what I already did, then added what I wanted to do. I referred to the list every day for three weeks, and it was set.

At the same time, you don’t want this to be a list of things you are dismayed at before beginning. So while world domination may be something you want to do, adding it to your weekly routine is a sure way to overwhelm yourself.

The basic actions to create a routine are:

Pick the day/time. Pick the period of the routine, whether it be daily, weekly, monthly or yearly.
Decide what needs to be done. Write out what you want to accomplish, along with your best estimate of the time it will take.
Practice your routines. They say it takes a month to build a habit. The only habit you have to have is to look at your lists every time you do the routine until you have them memorized.

What About Routines That Don’t Serve Us Anymore?

The one thing I’ve never seen in my reading about routines is how to get out of a routine when the actions no longer serve the purpose. We change, our families change, life changes. It is best to review your routines regularly so that you can adjust them as needed.

And if something doesn’t work, or isn’t applicable, throw it out!

How To Save Money, Time and Calories: “Backup” Pantry Meals

Laura Earnest — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I am big into the idea of menu planning. Besides allowing me to limit my shopping time, it takes off the afternoon pressure of trying to figure out what we will have for dinner.

However, there are days when the planned menu just doesn’t work. It could be because we have already eaten all the leftovers, schedules are in conflict, or because the cook (read: me) is ill. Fast food used to be the only option, but we discovered that it is easier and more healthy to have a few backup meals on hand.

Backup meals are things that can be left in the pantry or freezer for a while, but can be used to quickly put a meal together. I keep five different meals on hand:

Spaghetti. A jar of good spaghetti sauce and a box of noodles live in the pantry. There is also usually a loaf of garlic bread in the freezer, and there are always frozen vegetables available to round out the meal.
Refrigerated pasta. The tortellini and sauce I found in the refrigerator section of the grocery is usually marked to expire about a month from when I purchase it. It’s tasty, fast, and a change from plain ol’ spaghetti. This is also rounded out like above.
Fish and chips. I keep a bag of fish sticks and a bag of French fries in the freezer, which can be popped into the air fryer for a quick meal. We round this one out with frozen veggies (usually peas). While not the healthiest thing in the world, it is well appreciated.
Tuna Casserole. I have a recipe for tuna casserole done in the pressure cooker that requires only things we have on hand. We round this one out with salad or frozen veggies.
Breakfast-for-dinner. On breakfast-for-dinner nights, the pancake mix comes out, and we will also have fried or scrambled eggs. I round this “meal” out with fruit.

By having these five quick meals on hand, I find that our take-out bill has plummeted. We only eat out when we want to, rather than because we need to. I find that the meals are better for us than fast food, cost less, and usually taste better as well. All pluses in my book!

Filing Heresy: One Box Filing

Laura Earnest — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I’m probably going to be called a heretic for this article, but I don’t care.

After all, heretic means “one who dissents from accepted belief”, and this is definitely against the accepted belief of a few of the major productivity systems out here. Here it is:

Not everyone can maintain a filing system.

Many people, otherwise competent and some even brilliant, cannot maintain a filing system. It has nothing to do with intelligence or organization or even self-discipline. I’m convinced it’s just the way they are wired.

So what is a filing challenged person to do?

(Get ready for the heresy)

File everything in a single box.

As long as you know where something is, and it is a reasonable amount of information, does it matter if it is in neatly labeled hanging folders? Or in a pile?

I don’t think it matters. So for all those out there who just can’t get the hang of filing, grab a small, empty box. About the size of a box that holds file folders, not one that holds a refrigerator. Throughout the year, toss in the things you need to hang on to for financial and tax reasons: paid bills, tax documents, bills.

At the end of the year, go through it and shred what you can. Then stick it on a shelf with an appropriate label and start a new one.

So my question for those of you who are horrified at this idea is this: the point of filing is to be able to find things again. Is it any different in a single box then in a file drawer?

The Whys of Productivity: Gathering

Laura Earnest — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In this segment of “The Whys of Productivity”, we will be looking at the gathering or collecting of information into its proper place.

The secret to any organizational system is that like items should be stored together, be it by type or by purpose. But in order to see what needs to be organized, you have to know what you have.

Gathering is simply a fancy way of getting information into one place so it can be stored together.

How Does Gathering Fit Into The Various Systems?

Organization is at the root of every productivity system. You can’t work at your most effective if you can’t find things, or spend time in the fruitless activities disorganization breeds.

Every system has you put things together. In the case of the “buy the planner” system, for example, you are given an instruction book that will tell you to explicitly enter all your phone numbers into the address book section. GTD has you pull all “open loops” into an area for processing. Do It Tomorrow refers to backlogs. 7 Habits does a subtler form of gathering when it has you think about your roles and goals. Bullet Journal has you gather all of your future items in the future log.

Why Gather?

Gathering allows us to recognize and categorize things we have going on in life.

Gathering Gives Us An Idea of What We Have Outstanding

Gathering will allow us to pull together piles of stuff and information to see what all we have. For example, you might find that you have a stack of old magazines that you keep meaning to get to…that are now three years out of date. You might find you have four different places for storing phone numbers.

I found that gathering allowed me to purge many duplicate items from my life, as well as figure out that what I had going on wasn’t as much as I had feared.

Gathering Ties Up Loose Ends

As you are sorting and categorizing information, you might find that some things are close to being done. For example, I ran across something that had been on my radar for months: finishing a craft project. When I came to look at it, I found that all I really had to do to check it off was to sew a button on and deliver it. Both of which took less than 10 minutes, and got it off my mind.

Gets Us Thinking About What We Might Like to Do

When we gather up our ideas of things we might like to do, we think about our future and where we would like to be. This can be done very formally, as in the 7 Habits model, or informally, as in GTD’s Someday/Maybe lists.

Writing down things we might want to do, or have decided to do later, can solidify these ideas, particularly if gathered in one place for regular review.

Gathering Helps Us Keep Up To Date

As we perform gathering regularly, we will see things coming that are due, as well as things that just need a few finishing touches. It can also allow us to release things that are no longer useful to us: it does no good to hang onto baby clothes when the last child is five.

Organization is at the root of every productivity system, and in order to organize, you need to gather things together.

The first article of the series talks about the general concept of getting to Why.

How To Control Owner’s Manuals

Laura Earnest — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Just about everything you buy comes with some sort of paperwork. Appliances, software, window accessories, even furniture comes with a stack of paperwork. While most of that information is simply the manufacturer’s way of avoiding liability claims, there are occasionally times when you need to put your hands on that information. If you had to find the papers for a purchase, would you be able to do so? Today we will look at how to control owner’s manuals.

My parents were meticulous about maintaining records for warranty purposes. When we would purchase something new, all papers would be conserved, with the receipt stapled to the front. I carried this practice into my adulthood, but soon found that things were out of hand. When we moved into our house (which brought its own set of papers for things that came with the house), I found that not only did I have papers for things we no longer owned, but also that I couldn’t find what I needed. We organized things about ten years ago, but had to revisit it recently when we needed to order replacement parts for our oven and our blender.

Today I will give you three ways to organize and maintain your owner’s manuals and paperwork, along with a process to keep them in check.

The Process

Before you can organize, you need to know what you have and get it all in one place. In the case of owner’s manuals you will need to thin out the items as well so that you are not keeping papers for things you no longer own.

You will need a trash can, a web browser, index cards and a scanner or phone camera.

Pull everything into one place. Go through all of the places you have stashed this paperwork and put it in one place.
Sort it. Put all the papers for the same items together. You can clip them or band them or just put them in separate piles.
Throw out papers for items you don’t have anymore. If you don’t own it, don’t keep the papers.
Evaluate what is left. Owner’s manuals are only good if you need the information they contain. This could be warranty information, feature instructions or model information if the item can be repaired. If you don’t need the paper, throw it out.
Search for electronic copies. Many manufacturers and 3rd party sites now provide downloadable PDF versions of the user manuals. If you can find one for the manual you want to keep, download it and file it on your computer. I recommend in a folder called “User Manuals” and rename the file to indicate what it is. For instance, call it “Blender – Cuisinart” instead of “CJ893-3”. Once you have done this, write the name of the item on an index card along with the file name and put it in your keep pile. Then throw the paper copy out.
Scan your receipts. If you are replacing the paper version of the manual with electronic and you have the receipt, use your scanner or phone camera to scan them. Label them with the item name and the date of purchase and file them in the folder with the user manuals. Add “receipt” and the purchase date to the index card you already created.
Set up you filing system. Using one of the methods below, set up your filing system for the paper you are going to keep.
File as things come in. As part of your mission control, have a folder where you keep warranties so they can be put into the system.

Filing Method #1: The Binder

Materials: three ring binders (one or more, depending on how big the binders are), divider tabs and sheet protectors (one per manual).

Instructions for the Binder Method: Put each manual in a sheet protector and file them in binders. Use the tabs to organize them in groups, such as all kitchen appliances, or personal care…you get the idea. Make sure to only put one manual in a sheet protector, or you will have difficulty finding things later.

To add a new manual, add a new sheet protector to the appropriate section and put the papers in.

Advantages: you can quickly find what you are looking for.

Pitfalls: this is the hardest method to maintain from the need to not exceed the binder capacity.

Filing Method #2: The Envelope Method

Materials: at least a dozen clasp-type envelopes and something to store them in, like a box, or magazine holders.

Instructions for the Envelope method. Sort your manuals into general piles. Label an envelope for each pile. If a pile is too big for a single envelope, divide it up and label the next envelope #2.

Once you have put all your instructions in the envelopes, put them in the magazine holders.

To add a new manual, open the correct envelope and stuff it in.

Advantages: fast filing.

Pitfalls: hard to find the specific item without going through the whole envelope.

Method #3: The One Box Method

I am a big believer in the one box filing method, in which you do all your filing for the year in one box. You can use the same approach for your owner’s manuals.

Materials: A box big enough to hold your material and binder or paper clips.

Instructions: Clip all papers for a single item together. Put it in the box.

Advantages: fastest setup.

Pitfalls: difficult to find things. This system is recommended only if you don’t need the material very often.

The Yearly Purge

No matter what method you use, don’t forget to do an annual purge.

You can’t keep adding things to a system without cleaning it out unless you want it to get out of control. Make a task to purge the warranties once a year and discard those for what you no longer own.

I generally pick New Years Day – it’s easy work to do and the day is generally spent watching football, so the two mix.

I have found that managing user’s manuals is crucial to managing the paper that comes into my house, and as such is an important part of my mission control. Without a specific way to handle owner’s manuals, I can’t stay on top of the paper.

How To Manage Children’s Papers

Laura Earnest — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Childhood is precious, and it passes quickly. The souvenirs of childhood – the papers that mark the gain of skills – can become a jumbled mass if not handled well. Without the context of child, age and year, many of the milestones can disappear. Today we will talk about a method to manage children’s papers.

Children are rightfully proud of the work they create, and they want to share it with their families. The amount of paper, though, can be overwhelming, with art projects, spelling tests,worksheets and more. If you have more than one child, it can take over. With a simple system, you can manage the paper so you don’t lose the context of who did what when, but also not be overwhelmed with the quantity.

Oh, the Paper!

My daughter’s projects started coming home when she was two. We were lucky that we had a wonderful care center for her, and one of the things they worked on was fine motor skills.That meant lots of drawing, gluing, glitter (sigh), stamping, and other forms of flat-surface art. As she aged, they added vocabulary, reading and spelling, and when she reached primary school there were worksheets, math tests and music exercises. At the peak production, we would go through her school folders and pull out dozens of sheets. After a month, I felt like I was drowning in paper. At the same time, her grandparents, both sets half a country away, never got to see these important milestones.

Keeping In Under Control

If you don’t deal with it in a timely manner, you can forget when (and who) made each piece. There is hope, though. With a few simple strategies, you can manage the paper without drowning in it.

Collect It In One Spot

As the paper comes in, you need to sort it. Have one basket for each child, and put the papers in there after going over them with your child. Don’t worry about the “what do we keep” at this moment.

Having a central place to keep all the papers for a week means you only have to deal with the stack once a week, and you will never have to remember whose papers belong to whom.

Process Once A Week

Once a week, you will need to go through each basket. This prevents the buildup, but also allows you to mark the papers.

A simple custom self-inking stamp* for each child will allow you to set the date, and quickly label everything on the back quickly.

I found it easiest to use the date stamp rather than writing because it was faster to process with a stamp than writing on the back of each piece. Adding the name to the stamp means you can also keep each child’s papers separate (because they will get mixed up).

Artist’s Pick

The amount of paper can be great. Asking your child to pick one piece to keep will allow them to narrow it down.

I would ask my daughter which piece she wanted on the fridge for that week. I also asked her why, because often her choices were not the ones I would have picked. This allowed me to hear more about her school work. She could tell me that the spelling test with three wrong was more important than the 100 on a worksheet because she had trouble remembering how to spell a word, and she finally got it.

Share the Bounty

The rest of the papers would be divided up and sent to the grandparents. That way they got to see what my daughter was doing, and most importantly allowed me to get it out of the house. My mother got great enjoyment of having drawings on her fridge.

Move to Storage

Once you have put the week’s paper up in the spot of honor, you will need to take care of last week’s selection. I am a big fan of one-box filing, so I had a single box that I would drop the old paper in.

When it came time to make a scrapbook, I pulled out the box, and by seeing what was on the back, I was able to quickly put the pages in chronological order.

By labeling the papers as they come in, you preserve the context of who and when the papers were from. By having the child select one and sending the rest to relatives, you keep the amount of papers at a minimum as well as share these precious relics of childhood.

I have found that this system of handling children’s papers works well with the Getting Household Things Done system. Keeping the inbox near where the children keep their school bags and processing once a week fits right in with the regular system.