Is it normal to want to switch purses about as much as you change your underwear because you can’t find one that is “just right”?

Part of my problem is I can find a planner that I want to stick with. I feel comfy with a 3 ring binder planner, but I guess can’t make up my mind what size. I don’t really want to carry around a lot and I guess I try to be like the other moms around me but my situation is different; I sometimes would like to just have a pocket planner, but I like to see details, ya know?

I am a mom, wife, have a part-time Avon business, work overnights, and am the only driver, I keep track of all administrative aspects of the house and am just confused. Do you think I should just stop and analyse what I like and need and stop trying to adapt to other people…

Charity Wilt

It is absolutely normal to want to keep switching purses (I call them handbags). That’s because either you haven’t found what works for you, or you don’t want to accept what is right for you and your situation. There’s no point having a tiny bag if you have lots of stuff you need to carry around.

You are comfortable with your 3-ring binder and it’s working for you, so EMBRACE that. Don’t try and be like all “the other moms” because your situation and theirs is so different.

About the size, I understand you don’t want to lug around a huge binder because a) it’s unattractive and b) it’s heavy so my suggestion is to experiment going to a slightly smaller size and see if that compromises much on how much detail you can see on the pages. You should be able to tell after about a week if it’s working for you or if it’s cramping your style, in which case, switch back

I think with the handbags there are two things that happen to me:

1. I get bored with using the same handbag day after day after day, which is why I have about 20 (tell your husband – he’ll think you’re great for only having 6!)
2. I do find that I can use one for a long time if it’s really functional.

I bought this beauty a few weeks ago. I love this colour because I feel sassy whenever I wear red. Also, there are so many pockets which means everything has a place and I never have to hunt for anything in this bag. Which also means it stays neat and tidy, another bonus!

I’ve used this one for the last 3 weeks non-stop without getting irritated (which is big, for me).

So, Charity, getting back to your question… I think you’ll keep changing bags until you find a really functional one that also looks good. Definitely make a list of what you’re looking for so you can keep your eyes open, and also when you’re in the store, repack your things and “fit on” the bag so you can see if it works for you.

Related posts
Organising my handbag
Organising my green handbag
Tackling my handbags

Sometimes, when you’re not very far along on the Journey to Organisation, you may start feeling overwhelmed.

There are SO many places to start so you become indecisive.

Should I start in the kitchen? Should I start in the study? Should I start in my craft room? Maybe I should tackle the kids’ rooms?

HELP!

Okay, okay, re-lax…

Here’s what I suggest you do:

1. Grab a piece of paper and go to one room. Do not leave until this is done.
2. Draw a circle in the middle of the page and write the name of the room you’re in (let’s just say you’re in the office, since this is what I love organising).
3. Then draw spokes like the rays of the sun for each section in that room that needs to be organised – e.g. desk, bookshelf 1, bookshelf 2, etc.
4. Now look at each individual area and draw some more spokes off of each main spoke. For the desk you may have…top of desk, drawer 1, drawer 2, under desk, and so on….

Now you have a visual plan of EVERYTHING that needs to be done in a particular area.

Then you tackle each of those sub-spokes until all the little sections are done. As you finish a section, cross it off in a different colour.

The thing is, those little bits can easily be done in 15-minute segments and before you know it, you’ve sorted an entire room.

At least then there’s one room you can call a sanctuary - and then the next, and the next…

If you’re a more linear thinker and don’t like the “messy” nature of mind maps (for many years, I didn’t either but I seem to be “breaking loose” these days), may I suggest that you print out the master to-do list on my site under Free tips and downloads. Use a different page for each room and simply list all the areas, one after the other.

Everything is still contained on one page, just in a linear, logical fashion. You’ll still start working on one room at a time.

This works for me. Has this post helped you? Leave me a comment and let me know how you prevent overwhelm.

This is how I usually travel for 4 – 5 days within South Africa. This is an actual picture of my luggage when we flew to PE for our anniversary last year.

(when I wrote those two sentences, it reminded me of the lady’s voice on the London Underground. This is West Ham. This is a district line train to Upminster. If you haven’t been on the Tube, you’ll think I’m crazy).

Anywayyyy, and this is how we travelled to the UK and Ireland for 22 days in May 2008. The blue and grey bags are mine and the lime-green and red ones belong to Dion.

Aren’t you impressed?

I never thought I’d EVER be able to travel like this. Never.

But wait!

We went on a 3-day trip from Dublin to Cork and surrounding towns (Kinsale, Clonakilty, etc.) and I only took the backpack! I know, I can hardly believe it myself.

Do you remember my super-duper plan to keep within the cabin luggage allowance of 15kg?

It worked.

I threw away decluttered 7 long-sleeved tops, 1 t-shirt, 4 pairs of socks, 2 books and of course, all the presents we took with us.

I was prepared to throw away some more stuff so I packed those right on the top in case they asked us to pay. Fortunately, I was only 0.8kg over so they didn’t charge us anything.

I will definitely do this again when we travel because it worked for me.

How do you make sure you stay within the baggage allowance when you fly? Or do you just pay if your bags are too heavy?

Please excuse the shockingly bad pictures – as you can see, with and without flash was equally bad!

In an effort to overcome perfectionism, I am just posting them and trust that you’ll still hear my message LOUD and CLEAR.

Anywayyyy, I have this weird tendency where I like all my CDs to be listened to equally so this is what I do.

(if the pictures were better, you’d be able to see but …well…we do what we can)

One of my goals for the year is to listen to a worship CD every week. I’m not in the car very much because I work a mere 20 minutes from home, and I must listen to the news, so this is a real stretch sometimes.

So I take a CD to the car on Mondays usually and try and listen to it twice all the way through during the week. This is to keep me focussed on God and not on the other drivers cutting in front of me, etc.

On Fridays when I get home from work, I take the CD and return it to my CD rack, but upside down, with the writing facing the other way. So when I choose the new CD for the next week, I know immediately which ones I’ve already listened to.

And so on. And so on.

And when they’re all the wrong way around, then I flip the whole rack (that’s the kind of CD racks we have) and start all over again. Bear in mind that I only have about 15 worship CDs that I LOVE, so it’s really not that complicated a system.

That’s what works for me!

Early in April I read about draft blogger on a works for me wed post.

I immediately set out to try it because that’s what I do – I am impatient about learning new things and I just can’t wait to try things out.

Oh my word – and it worked beautifully, so I set up the next week’s worth of posts which all posted on time.

And I was hooked.

I’d considered moving my blogger blogs to wordpress because of exactly this functionality since as you know, I plan my blog posts.

Not anymore. Or at least not for that reason.

This feature enabled me to write up all the posts and schedule them to publish while I’m away on holiday.

I love it! And it’s definitely working for me.

• Simply log into http://draft.blogger.com/home and
  you’ll see your normal dashboard.

  Type your post and change the post date and time.

  Click Publish and you’ll get a “this will be published on _______” message.

  As easy as that – you are done!

BTW, my website and Clutter Control Freak are both on wordpress and I can’t figure out how to increase the font size there. Can you help?

Flylady says you can’t organise clutter and I absolutely agree with that statement.

One of the mistakes we all make is we try to organise the stuff in our home by buying storage containers, moving it around from room to room, and arranging it differently within the room.

I want to propose a different approach:

Before you even bring it into your home, ask yourself these 3 questions:

1. can I afford it?
2. do I need it?
3. where will it go?

I’ve been asking myself, “where will it go?” for years now and just this ONE question has stopped me from many an impulse purchase. It’s definitely working for me.

Write these 3 questions on a post-it note and stick it in your wallet.

If you have a clutter problem, next time you’re at the shops, make sure you ask yourself these 3 questions before you buy anything. And if you’ve bought some things recently and you don’t have the money or the space for them, return them!

Which other questions can you add to this list?

Today is a recycleable WFMW so what better time than to recycle and talk about one of my favourite things – my handbags

This is what I wrote last year…

I love handbags! Honestly – my mother used to tease me about it when I lived at home because I always had my handbag with me.

But you know what happens if you buy something that doesn’t suit your lifestyle? Everything is a mess and you can’t find anything in there.

So if I can, I try and choose a bag with the right amount of pockets. If you ever go into a handbag shop and you see a woman emptying all her stuff into a new handbag, that’s me Because I want to make sure my diary fits nicely along with everything else .

The two bags pictured are absolutely perfect for me! I wish I had more exactly like them and I’ll tell you why now.

1. Two pockets – to separate the book stuff from the other stuff

2. The book portion has enough space for my A5 day planner, my small notebook and my business notebook (where I write my weekly business goals).

3. The other side has two little pockets. One for tissues, my little, orange calculator and a pen, and the other for my cell phone.

4. You can see my gorgeous, green wallet on the left, next to that my make-up bag and my blue pencil case.

So everything fits in beautifully.

Karen, here is the red handbag you commented on before.

But if I do use a bag with little or no pockets, then I use some see-through mesh bags (R12,99 for 3 different sizes at Sheet Street) to organise my stuff. It makes it so easy to find things and to change handbags.

There is such joy and pleasure from seeing a beautifully organised and functional space.

But how do you keep it looking that way?

After all, life happens, husband, children, YOU (!) all need to use the space and before you know it, it looks like a bomb went off and destroyed your organisational bliss

So I understand why this is the ONE question I get asked more than any other (after where do I start?).

I have two words for you: REGULAR MAINTENANCE.

There is no quick fix although… the more regularly you maintain, the quicker it takes.

It’s the old adage of a stitch in time saves nine!

I’ve shared before that I do my filing about once a week. It takes me less than 5 minutes and I usually tackle the pile while waiting for an audio to download, or something quick like that.

However, if I leave the filing for a couple of weeks, it’s a 30-minute session when I get around to it.

So let’s go over the maintenance process:

1. pick a regular time (5 minutes per room per day is a good place to start)
2. link it to something you normally do (I switch on the kettle for my last mug of tea/ coffee every night; while the kettle’s boiling, I do my quick tidy/ organise of my desk/ study area because I hate starting work in a mess)
3. don’t stress if you don’t get to it one day (keep a positive attitude and start again the next day)
4. constantly tweak (if something’s not working, change it to suit your lifestyle)

This is what works for me.

How do YOU keep it organised?

P.S. Have you heard my welcome message on the sidebar? —>>> (under my picture)

If I had to go around my house taking pictures of all the ways I use Ziploc bags, I could probably start a Ziploc blog – the obsession is that bad!

I am reading Angela Yee’s book, I’m not neat but I’m organized, and she said says for storage, to always choose clear over opaque. That’s what reminded me of why I love Ziplocs so much. And of course, I agree totally. I always tell people to only buy clear plastic containers for the kitchen – it will change your life. No more food going off because you can’t remember what’s in the back of the fridge.

Anywayy…here’s how the Ziplocs work for me

I have all sizes, all colours in my cupboard because they’re just so versatile. But I will restrain myself from gushing and only tell you about a few of the uses in my home!

1. This is my organised travel toiletries bag. It stays permanently packed. As you can see, I have lovely green Jiffy bags for hair, face, body and make-up. It’s easy when I get back to see what I need to replenish so I’m ready for the next trip.

2. Then we have my gym clothes. I don’t like my shoes touching my clothes – am I weird? So I put my gym shorts, T-shirt and socks in a big Ziploc like this and toss that on top of my takkies (sneakers) in my gym bag.
3. And of course, I blogged about the gift wrap in December. I love the way the ribbons and bows are all kept separate yet you can see exactly what’s in each packet.

Some of the other ways I use Ziploc or Jiffy bags:

Kitchen

1. Open bags of biscuits (cookies) or chips
2. Cheese
3. Cucumber
4. Ice blocks (take up less space in the freezer in a ziploc than in the trays)

Study

1. keep different categories of greeting cards separate – birthday, thank-you, Christmas, etc
2. iPod, cords and charging station
3. camera cords

What do you use Ziploc bags for?

Here’s how Suzanne uses Ziplocs.