a little early spring organizing

i can feel it coming on - my itch to start cleaning and organizing.  there is something about winter and the cold that makes me want to curl up into a ball, drink hot chocolate and not do anything! 

but when the sun starts to warm me up a little bit, i just want to tear through all of the stuff that clutters my house and my mind and get rid of it.

it started at the office where i work.  i attached one of my coworker's office.  she never saw it coming.  i went through there with a vengeance and made her get rid of things that she's had on her desk since 1999.  they needed to go. she wasn't a willing participant at first, but after things started looking more organized and clutter free, she "saw the light" and joined in.

it hasn't stopped there.  i went through a nightstand in my bedroom that is the "catch-all" for lots of stuff.  from a crochet project i started 2 years ago, to old books that i never finished reading, to nathan church books, to electronic games and electronic accessories.... basically just a bunch of stuff that needed to either be thrown away or put away where it really goes.  so i went through there, pulled everything out.  put a bunch in the garbage, put a bunch away where it really should be and then organized the stuff that stays.  i didn't take a picture, but it looks a ton better.

most recently my cookbook has been bugging me.  i have a few "real" cookbooks, but i am talking about the binder with sheet protectors where i shove random recipes that i find or like or have been given to me. 

pages weren't secured.  there were a ton of recipes in the back that i had never taken the time to put in the correct category, and there were a bunch of recipes that i have printed out, hoping to try them, but never actually making them.  it was really bugging me. but luckily, it's a pretty easy fix.

i got two white binders from my storage room and went to work, first, i took everything out and decided whether or not to keep the recipes.  a few years ago i went through and typed up a bunch of my recipes.  later i decided that it took to much work to continue doing that.  but since i still had them electronically, i went through and decided which ones to keep.  i printed new sheets to put in my new binders. 

i also printed out some new recipes from an office recipe book that i compiled a few years ago.  a bunch of people at my office donated recipes for it.  i went through and printed out the ones that i know are goodies to add to my collection.  (if anyone reading this wants a copy, let me know and i will email it to you.)

any recipe that wasn't typed, i went through and judged it's keep-worthiness on:

• have i made this recipe?  
• yes
• did i like it?  
• if not, in the recycle pile it went.
• if i did like it, it got separated into my recipe categories to be put into the binder.
• no
• do i still want to try it?
• yes - i put it in a pile of "recipes to try".  i won't be putting these in my categories until they have passed the try test.
• no - into the recycle pile.

i was able to get rid of a lot of the clutter just with this step alone.

next, i went through and separated my recipe categories into "meals" and "other stuff".  i wanted to separate my recipes into two different binders for ease of use.  if i am trying to make dinner, i just want to look through dinner type recipes.  if i want to make a dessert, then i just want to look at those types of recipes. (by the way, i put breakfast recipes in my meal binder, because those are meals to me.)

one of my new recipe binders!  i know it doesn't look that much different, but believe me, it is tons different.  my binders have pockets on the front and back cover (my old one didn't).  in the pocket on the front, i have put recipe cards and in the pocket on the back cover i put the recipes that i still want to try.

it seems like a stupid little project, but believe me, i feel a ton better about it.  next, i think i am going to tackle my hall closet.  it's sort of a smorgasbord of things: linens, batteries, coloring books, office supplies...  it is really bugging me.