Holding it all together...just

I take real pleasure in being organised. A place for everything and everything in its place: this makes me feel happy and content. In fact, my need for order is like a primal urge. I go a little stir crazy if things are in disarray.

Christine Rudolph via Desire to Inspire

I think organising appeals to me for two reasons. One is the aesthetic part. It's hard to see beauty if it is piled under a heap of junk. And a neat and organised cupboard or drawer is a thing of beauty in itself, and can be so satisfying. The other aspects is all about control. In this world of chaos and time pressures, at least I can fold my linens beautifully!

Magdalena Lindholm

But there's one little problem...while I love organising, and being organised, I can also (and I hate admitting this) be a little lazy sometimes...and other times I'm just too damn tired and can't be bothered.

Martha Stewart

But I learnt a great tip at an organising course I went to some time ago by the fabulous, stylish and inspiring MaryAnne Bennie. MaryAnne runs her own organising company out of Melbourne called In8. I took many things away from her course, but one of the most effective tips was the '8 minute tip'. Her tip for getting things done and motivating yourself, is to challenge yourself to see what you can get done in 8 minutes.

The Write Start via Swish and Swanky

This is a direct quote from MaryAnne's website:

In 8 minutes you can

File paperwork - do this frequently and the filing will be done!
Delete emails - watch your inbox contents disappear in no time!
Pay your bills - do this once a week and never be overdue!
Whiz around the bathroom - have a tidy bathroom forever!
Tidy the bedroom AND make the bed like a 5 Star Hotel - love is in the air!
Do the dishes - impossible? TRY IT!

Stephmodo

So when I'm feeling unmotivated, and the house, or a particular part of it is in a pickle and needs my attention, I often set the timer on my microwave, and spend 8 very focused, productive minutes on getting my house in order. Quite often I keep going....but sometimes I stop at 8 minutes and just put my feet up - but at least I've done something.



By the way, the picture above is a little set of drawers that sits on my desk, holding all my bits and bobs required for my office - a good thing, as I have no drawers in my desk. I love it when beauty and practicality meet!

Now, if you have any other tips for motivating yourself to be organised, please share!

Best wishes,

Deconstructing the tree

Stage one of the Christmas tree deconstruction began today: removal and storage of ornaments. Stage two: lights and actual tree disassembly will happen tomorrow - you can't rush these things you know, especially when you have an 8 foot high tree.

Being a fresh year and all, I like to think that I'm going to be super organised and on top of things, so I decided to go a little bit Martha and store my ornaments properly.


Ok, I didn't go so far as to hot glue gun paper cups to cardboard, but I did dig out some egg cartons for my new delicate heart ornaments, which didn't come in a box of their own. So now they're nestled in their little carton, all safe and sound.

Another Martha idea is to wrap your lights around pieces of cardboard, like so: I like this idea, because detangling lights does not bring out the festive spirit in me, in fact there was a little bit of swearing going on this year, which is not very Christmas-ey at all. But I think my lights are way to long for this idea, so I've decided to go with the idea of wrapping them around an old postage tube instead. I'm interested in knowing if this works, but I guess I won't know until next year when I go to unwrap them. Have you tried it? Please tell me if it works.

But I did use Martha's idea for my beaded garland instead. Only thing is I think I should have used a longer piece and wrapped it wider apart. Oh well, next year!

Still in organising mode, I'm thinking of creating an under-bed wrapping station, like the one in the picture below. I'm tired of opening my cupboard in the study and all the rolls of wrapping paper tumbling out, so this might be just the trick, with little compartments for ribbons and such. I'm the sort of person who files her guarantees and instruction booklets alphabetically, so any little nifty organising idea appeals to me.

If you haven't braved the deconstruction of your tree yet, I wish you good luck!

Images from Martha Stewart, Better Homes and Gardens and me