A List for Balance

I have always been a list maker. I have lists of things I want to do, things I need to do, things I plan to cook, things I need to buy to actually cook what I've planned, places I need to be, people I need to call, messages I need to send ... my life is ordered by my lists.

My love of lists springs partly from a need to stay on top of what's going on. If I didn't have a list, I would be a hot mess: constantly late, always forgetting things and generally letting people — myself included — down. But the real joy in lists, for me, is how they make me feel, as if I am actually accomplishing something.

I do a lot of stuff every day. And yet, at the end of the day, I sometimes look around at the messy kitchen, the stack of mail cluttering up the sofa table, the toys that are strewn across the living room floor like casualties of bombing raid, and wonder "What the hell have I done today?" Lists are a physical way to remind myself: oh yeah, I did a LOT today, it just didn't happen to be anything involving housework. (And yes, I have been known to add an already accomplished task to my list just so I can gain the satisfaction of crossing it off.)

The challenge for me has been organizing my lists. They end up in the margins of planner pages, on the back of receipts or even scrawled over the back of my hand. I started carrying a blank notebook around in the hopes of trying to keep my various and sundry lists straight. And yes, I even considered the idea of making a list of my lists (and that would be my OCD, thank you very much!).

This weekend, while enjoying some Mommy-time on Pintrest, I came across a bullet journal pin. And, oh happiness, I have found list-maker nirvana. For the uninitiated, the bullet journal is basically a way of managing your lists. Many of the pins I found involve an awful lot of what looks like scrap-booking techniques to make things pretty, which appeal to my crafty nature, but the essence of the bullet journal is MANAGING THE LIST. I'm not sure I can adequately convey the depths of my nerdy excitement. I IMMEDIATELY bought a new blank notebook (I don't really need an excuse to do that, but I'll take one if it's handed to me) and have begun my new adventure. I'll keep you posted on how the journey progresses!

The Theory of Being Organized

I like the theory of being organized. Heck, I even enjoy the practice of being organized. It's the actual "staying organized" bit that I struggle with.

I've learned through the years that any organization system is only as good as your follow-through. If you don't take the time to sort that mail into its appropriate home each month, your organization system is still a pile on the counter, not that pretty filing box with pre-labeled folders. (Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.)

My challenge is finding easy, simple organization systems that are FAST. As a single working mom, I am way more likely to be interrupted in the middle of a task before I get the chance to finish. I also have a limited amount of time that I'm willing to invest in any given task. At the end of the day, I'd rather spend my free time with my boy than organizing my mail. But I've also realized that I'm much less stressed and generally happier (which means the boy is also less stressed and much happier) if I have a neat home.

So here's my strategy for working toward an organized home in 2016 (because it's good to have goals!):

* Practice child labor. Seriously, I am going to put the Boy to work. I realize that this effort is going to be harder on me than actually doing it myself. Right now. But when  he's 17, I am not continuing to pick up after him, and chances are highly likely that I'm also not going to be doing his cooking or his laundry. This effort has multiple purposes: I will (eventually) end up with a neater home; the Boy will grow up to be a self-sufficient man; and I will stop screaming profanity when I step on Legos.

* Find shortcuts for important things, like this one from my seriously clever big sister: instead of throwing my recyclables into plastic recycling bins that I reuse, I'm going to start using the sturdy, grocery store paper bags. The whole dang thing can go in the recycling, and that's a bin that I never have to clean again.

* Do something every day. Even if that something is throwing one piece of mail in my new recycling bag. One thing. Every day.