I decided to join this 30-day organizational challenge! I am starting a little late, but better late than never, right?!!
Why am I doing this, you might ask? Well, I have something that desperately needs to be organized. It is something that has been in the back of mine and my husband’s minds for quite some time now. It is just one of those things that is pretty easy to hide, but we know it is there…piling up little by little, just waiting to be organized! When I told my husband I was going to do this challenge and organize our little HUGE secret mess, he could hardly contain his joy!
So here it is….our files! A long time ago (probably a couple of years ago) our filing cabinet broke. We wanted to buy a nicer, sturdier, wooden one, but they were a little too expensive for us, so we went with the less expensive metal one again. We started the process of sorting through all of the paperwork, trying to figure out what to shred, and what to keep. I wont even get started on the store receipts – they are completely overwhelming. As you will see from these pictures, we started, but we never finished!!
To the left is most of our files and paperwork, but the bottom box got cut off in the picture. In case you can’t tell, these are huge diaper boxes, and they are overflowing with paper!!
The second picture is the top drawer of our newer file cabinet, that has been collecting paperwork and receipts for the past year. I dont know if these pictures even do justice to the huge job I have ahead of me!!
This third picture is the bottom drawer of the file cabinet. I will be sorting throught all of this paperwork, shredding what is not needed, and finding a place for everything!!
I am so glad this little challenge came along thanks to Laura over at I’m An Organizing Junkie – the same person who does the Menu Plan Monday. I read her blog somewhat regularly because she always has great organizational tips! I struggle to keep organized, but I love my home being that way – so I need all the help I can get! Her 30 day challenge is giving me just the boost I needed to tackle this huge, time-consuming project! She also is giving away prizes, which are definitly a nice bonus and incentive, but honestly the best prize I could receive from this is the satisfaction of having our filing system completely organized!!
I have a system in my mind, and I am ready to get to work! I will be posting updates on my progress sporadically. I have until Dec 6 to do this challenge, so I definitly got a late start on the “30 day” challenge, but I plan on working on it 30-45 min/day instead of the recommended 15 minutes for the challenge.
And I’m off (aghhhh, please pray for me!)…. 
8 Comments
November 14, 2006 at 9:34 pm
Hi! Yikes I’m not a fan of filing myself believe it or not so I’m feeling your pain. I absolutely love that your satisfaction will come from getting it done and that is really what it is all about. You can do it! Thanks for participating, Laura
November 14, 2006 at 10:03 pm
Yay!! You can do it, I know you can. I thought about doing this myself since I, too, have some projects that need to be done. (See my post on my homeschooling page if you haven’t already–http://bringinggoodhome.blogspot.com/2006/11/what-to-do.html) I still might, but I think I’d definitely have to pick just one! Maybe the baby’s room?? Anyway, good luck to you and I can’t wait to seep pictures of success!!
November 15, 2006 at 1:35 am
Thanks Laura and Amber for the sweet encouragement!!
Amber, I looked at your homeschool blog…I didn’t know you had another one! You sure are a busy blogger! Well, I am not in that same homeschool boat yet, but will be soon. I can definitly see how it will be hard to balance everything, and give the proper amount of time to everything. It looks like you received some great advice on there though so that is really good! BTW – how did the cake decorating go?
November 15, 2006 at 11:40 pm
The cake decorating went great! My sister-in-law baked it and her mother decorated it. She surprised me with a little miniature replica of the bigger one for the baby to eat. =) I took pictures but then my disk in my digital camera got screwed up somehow so I’m gonna have to get copies of everyone else’s. =( And, yeah, I guess I am a busy blogger. =P There’s a link to the homeschool one on the wordpress blog, but I don’t think many people know it’s there.
When you get to that homeschool boat, I’ll be here waiting to cheer you on!! 
I think I’ve pretty much decided to try to do the baby’s room for the org challenge, but I’ve gotta get my sister-in-law over here to take some better before pictures of the baby’s room. I’ve only got the one and it doesn’t do it justice!! =)
November 19, 2006 at 11:04 pm
Hey! Just dropping by to cheer you on! So how’s the organizing going?
I’ve decided to sign up once James gets back with the camera so I can take pictures.
Have a good Thanksgiving week!
November 20, 2006 at 9:23 pm
Thanks, I need all the cheering I can get! It is going ok. It is definitely NOT easy!! Especially because I have the extra challenge of our house being for sale right now….which means I have to pull out a huge mess to organize and then put it all away agian – every day! I really hope I can get this done by the deadline…especially because we are going out of town this week, and next weekend too!! Aghhh!!
I am glad you have decided to do it too!! That is great, now I can cheer you on too!!
November 22, 2006 at 2:53 pm
“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…” Sorry, childhood stories coming back to me.
You can do it!
I didn’t realize your house was for sale. Or maybe I did and I forgot… ? That would DEFINITELY make it harder. I don’t know how you are tackling it, but I would probably work at it this way:
~Initially I would have pulled everything out of the file cabinet and temporarily housed it in something else.
~I would then organize some file folders I knew I needed (utilities, medical bills, etc) and some blank ones for things that came up.
~Then I would pull out one small pile of papers and sort into keep, toss, action like Laura suggested.
~Last I would file away the keep papers, toss/shred the trash, and put the action papers in their designated place (or take action on them if possible to get them out of the way, too!)
That way, there would be small manageable piles at a time, and there wouldn’t be a huge mess at the end of each session. I’m also organizing my file cabinet, (I’m just putting it on hold till I get the bedrooms done.) My accountability partner has been kind enough to help me with it.
So, you’re probably already doing all this and doing a smashing job! Keep us posted.
April 30, 2007 at 10:23 am
[...] have to say that this challenge was definitely not easy, as I predicted! My major challenges [...]