"New" Year's Resolution

I did make a New Year's Resolution, even if I didn't mention it at the beginning of January. Are you ready for it? I decided.........

....... to keep last year's resolution! How exciting!

Ok. For real, I decided to just narrow last year's resolution which was to be more organized. I think overall, I earned a C+ or B- for 2011 on the organization improvement front. This year, I'd like to fine tune a bit more and decided honing in on a few areas are going to be the key. Maybe I'll keep this resolution for years and years, only tweaking one or two areas of my life each year. By the time I'm 50 my life will be a well-oiled machine.... or at least I won't feel like kindergartener pretending to play grown-up anymore.

So this year I will keep my socks matched and my mail sorted. Yes, you read correctly. My socks and my mail will be organized starting this year. For the first year ever.

Facts about me: I am not a sock matcher. I am a stellar launderer. I even make my own laundry detergent. I find folding towels therapeutic (sometimes). But putting clothes away? No, sir. I hate it. And matching my socks....lowest on my list of priorities. So for the six years of my teaching career, I have been wandering among you with mismatched socks. I am pretty good at hiding this fact because I tend to buy and wear very similar styles and mostly in black. But really, they weren't matched and I had no idea where their partners were located.

Over winter break, I matched all of my socks and stockpiled the rest. I figure I'll give them a month or two before I get rid of those that are matchless. You never know when I'll find one who fell behind the dryer or fell in with some of Matt's laundry. So far, it's going well and I've had matching socks for over a month! Hoorah!


[My sock drawer - February 1st, 2012]

As far as my other narrowed down version of organization goes, I'm currently at a loss. Matt and I have a terrible habit of throwing mail up onto our breakfast bar and leaving it until it absolutely must be dealt with. This takes forever and eventually I have a burst of mail rage and clear it all out - piles for recyclying, shredding, paying, filing. Matt does the same thing. I should clarify that he's generally more easy going than me so for him "mail rage" is more like "mail (slight) agitation."

My goal is to clear the breakfast bar of all mail and keep it that way. My plan to do that is still forming, but I think it involves a mail center closer to the garage door. I would love to move this operation into the mudroom, but since it is only wide enough for our current washer dryer set and we use the remaining space for trash/recycling/dog feeding, I am not able to move any other work stations into that area.

Maybe one day when I can afford a set of these:

[The coveted High Efficiency stackable (i.e. space-saving) washer dryer. Sigh....]

Now that's a whole other post for another day. Getting back to my mail center, I think I want to have a wall of mail organization. For now, I'm leaning toward a bulletin board and a mail sorter with both slots for mail and a place to hang my keys. The mail sorter will eliminate the mail pile-up problem and cannot hold enough for me to get too behind. I'll have to force myself to clean that sucker out when it starts to be too full. It will also be placed right next to the pantry which is where we keep the paper recycling bag - hello, easy recycling of junk mail! Added bonus? Because the mail sorter has a few hooks at the bottom, I'll stop losing my keys. The bulletin board will hopefully eliminate the many papers and magnets we have plastered all over our fridge.

Something like this would please me :

We'll see. I'll update you when this business is complete. I know it's the most gripping post I've ever produced, but the pile of mail and my mismatched socks were hurting my soul. Daily.