Fire drills

I sent this note to a hand full of people yesterday:

Here is my plan for myself. I have cupboards, closets, bookshelves, cubby holes, piles etc that need to be cleared out. I thought I'd try a little experiment. I am going to list the top 10 things that are bothering me from a home organization perspective and test how much I can get done in 15 minutes on each item. Now, I may have to make some areas a double dip where I believe they are too large for just one fire drill. So here are the rules (that I made up just today).

1) Make a list of the things (up to 10 if you are brave and remember you can double dip (but them as 1,2,3 on your list)
2) Prioritize the list whatever way feels good (least scary, highest impact, most visible, biggest pain in the ass, smallest pain in the ass)
3) Set the intention that every day I will set the timer for 15 minutes and see what progress I can make on my item (checking it off as you get done).
4) My goal is to keep it simple and manageable so I may just do one item per day
5) After each item, I will celebrate my success by doing something for myself (buy a coffee, watch a show, read a book, take a nap...whatever)
6) Also after each item I will acknowledge the hold that item had on me and release it and not beat myself up for how it got there or how 'little it took' to get rid of it
7) After 10 days (and all items checked off)....I will reward myself big...movie? buy a piece of clothing? go to lunch? watch tv all night? read a whole book? buy flowers?

My list is below:

1. My closet - done
2. My closet - done
3. Linen closet -done
4. Coat closet
5. Other linen closet
6. Laundry room
7. Garage
8. Garage
9. Playroom
10. Playroom

11...BONUS, MY OFFICE.

My other big thing that has been 'bothering me' is my photo albums being behind...so....between now and Dec 22, I am going to find 15 minute 'spots of time' to make progress...the list of things I need to do is:

Day One: Assess how many albums I need (making sure to buy one for 2009)
Day Two: Buy albums
Day Three: Find out how far back I am behind in printing pictures
Day Four: Put all pictures I have printed already in one box
Day Five: Separate pictures by year (and further by 'time of year')
Day Six & Seven: Go online and purchase the pictures for each year (up to the number of pages in ONE book per year)
Day 8 & Nine: Organize newly purchased pictures by year and general date
Day 10/11: Put pictures in albums (and drink wine!)

Does this sound like a challenge for you too? Even though we might argue we don't have time because of the holidays...what a gift to give ourselves for 2009 to start out a little more 'organized'....that is my thought anyway!