Organizing Clutter - Part III

I thought today I would talk about organizing our thoughts, and I could think of no better place to begin than where I keep all my ideas for this blog. Yes, I keep them in this lovely Wonder Woman notebook. When I saw this it just made me smile. You have to understand that I grew up watching Wonder Woman. While my Mom had role models like Donna Reed and June Cleaver, I grew up with Charlie's Angels and Wonder Woman. I just thought a Wonder Woman notebook was the perfect place to keep my notes. She was smart, beautiful and strong. Perfectly capable of taking care of herself. The same could be said for Charlie's Angels, but Wonder Woman got to wear a really cool superhero outfit with cuff bracelets and go-go boots! I guess I've gotten off track here. Anyhoo, I'm an avid listmaker and this is where I keep all my topics listed as well as my list of potential Celebrities of the week.

As far as day to day notes, I have a tiny little moleskin notebook my cousin bought me at Barnes and Noble. This notebook is so small, thin and light that it is perfect to carry around in your purse. Some of the things I jot down in it are songs I hear on the radio that I want to download onto my IPOD. If I find a pair of pants in a store but they don't have my size, I will write down all the info off the tag and go to another store to try to find it. I also write down books I would like to read and other random things. It comes in handy when you need to write down someone's address or phone number. You know, you always need a piece of paper for something. Target sells similar little notebooks in a 3 pack for $1.99. You can get them with lined notepaper or graph paper.

At work, my two obsessions are my calendar and my post-it notes. How in the world did we ever live without post-its? I love the mini post-its. They are great to flag pages in books or magazines, and I've been known to use them as book markers when I'm in a pinch.

My desk calendar shows one week per page. I write my activities down on each day of the week so I know where I'm supposed to be and at what time. It's just nice to have a visual of what's going on, not only today, but the rest of the week. It keeps me from forgetting occasions or double-booking myself. And at the beginning of each year, I transfer over all my family and friends' birthdays so I don't miss them. For my personal use, my husband buys me a Mary Engelbreit calendar every Christmas. I just love her artwork. It is so cheerful and sweet.