Tag: One-Minute Organizer

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Today’s Dishes (Take the Poll!)

Gailann
One-Minute Organizer set of books is written by Donna Smallin.
One-Minute Organizer (Plain & Simple edition)

When beginning to organize your home and life, The One Minute Organizer says to begin by dealing with “today’s mess,” i.e., today’s dishes, today’s laundry, and today’s mail.  But what constitutes “today’s dishes” if  you don’t run the dishwasher every day?  I suppose it means putting today’s dirty dishes in the dishwasher and washing by hand those items that shouldn’t go in the dishwasher, like crystal and knives.   Of course, this means you have to empty the dishwasher promptly.

I’m reasonably good about loading the dishwasher, and only slightly less reasonably good at emptying it.  It’s the hand washing that stymies me.

When I emptied the dishwasher, the dishes were clean, but I noticed water standing in the bottom.  Obviously there’s a clog somewhere in the drain.  If it’s reachable by hand, I  couldn’t find it.  But then, I’m not really sure what I’m looking for.

So it was a good day to tackle “today’s dishes,” which included today’s dishes, yesterday’s dishes, the day before’s dishes… you get the idea.   Looking on the positive side, the term “today’s dishes” is now well defined.  The bonus is having clean crystal in which to drink this evening’s wine.

My short-term dilemma resolved, now I must decide what to do long-term.  Do I call the repairman or bite the bullet and get new appliances?  The dishwasher is several years old, but I like it.  If necessary, I could just buy a new dishwasher, but since I’m planning to remodel the kitchen, I’m not sure updating just one appliance is worth it.  Both the refrigerator and stove are ancient (original to the aging home) and in sore need of updating.  But I’m not yet ready to do the full remodel.  The one time I watched The Nate Berkus Show, he recommended (to an audience member on a budget) to buy new appliances first, then save up for the rest of the remodel.

What should I do?  I’m terrible at making decisions.

Home, Reading Stuff

What’s in a Minute?

Gailann
One-Minute Organizer set of books is written by Donna Smallin.
One-Minute Organizer (Plain & Simple edition)

While waiting for an appointment yesterday, I came upon an interesting book called One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple by Danna Smallin.  Leafing through it, I found some excellent quick tips for cleaning out clutter and getting my home (and life) in order.  I attempted to capture its wisdom with my tablet, first by taking pictures of the pertinent pages.  When that proved horrendously cumbersome, I tried to jot down notes on my tablet, only slightly less horrendously cumbersome.  I would have used the old tried-and-true pen-to-paper method, but had no paper.

After mentioning the book to my therapist (the appointment), she told me to take it with me.  So I did—with the intention of returning it after I’ve reaped its beneits.

The book is much like Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff and other inspirational books, with little tidbits of help on every page.

The first chapter is titled “Getting Started.”  It discusses the importance of goals, consistency, accountability, and rewards.   For me, one tip stands out from all the others:  take care of today’s mess.  Tackle those chores that need to be done regularly, such as the daily mail, dishes, and laundry.  To those, I would add email and paying bills.

That tip was a light-bulb moment.  My to-do lists have always been about “keeping up” and never about “moving forward.”  Just that one sentence has changed my thinking.  Now I can separate those things I need to do every day from those things that will help me reach my goals.

I’ve addressed today’s mess, having cleaned and put away the dishes, folded and put away the laundry, and dealt with the mail.  Tomorrow, the goals!