Dear Friends and Family,
Well... The daily discipline is keeping the kitchen in order. And, I've gotten ambitious enough to try to tackle a "random pile of paper." Now, these "random piles of paper" are hardly "random" or "piles of paper." They are piles of stuff paper, postcards, receipts, souvenirs, stickers, etc. that Mr. mouse amasses. They're a hodgepodge of stuff that take an inordinately long amount of time to go through.
Why?
Well. Each piece is random so there's no pattern. First decision point: what is it? Second decision point: is it worth keeping? Third decision point: what is a logical home for it? Action: place accordingly. Rinse. Repeat. Now any one piece probably takes 30-60 seconds. But, a typical random pile of paper usually contains somewhere between 100-200 random pieces. So, a pile takes a fair bit to get through. And, there's little sign of progress while you're working your way through it.
Now, the one part that gives me hope in all of this is that by keeping the counter clean, I am close to eliminating any new "random piles of paper" since the counter is the main source of "random piles of paper." What inevitably happens is the stuff builds up on the counter because it has no real home - it could be partially opened mail, it could be stuff left over from a trip, it could be stuff from work. We need the counter for something or other. We pile all the stuff into a pile and move it somewhere else for the moment.
Voila! Random pile of paper born.
Well, last night's pile's route started in the kitchen and went from the kitchen to the living room coffee table to the bedroom floor now to the family room coffee table where it sits to be tackled a little bit every night. It's a combination of stuff from our spring travel including San Diego and Omaha and bills and coupons.
Sigh. 15 minutes a day. Signs of progress.
Cheers!
mouse
Well... The daily discipline is keeping the kitchen in order. And, I've gotten ambitious enough to try to tackle a "random pile of paper." Now, these "random piles of paper" are hardly "random" or "piles of paper." They are piles of stuff paper, postcards, receipts, souvenirs, stickers, etc. that Mr. mouse amasses. They're a hodgepodge of stuff that take an inordinately long amount of time to go through.
Why?
Well. Each piece is random so there's no pattern. First decision point: what is it? Second decision point: is it worth keeping? Third decision point: what is a logical home for it? Action: place accordingly. Rinse. Repeat. Now any one piece probably takes 30-60 seconds. But, a typical random pile of paper usually contains somewhere between 100-200 random pieces. So, a pile takes a fair bit to get through. And, there's little sign of progress while you're working your way through it.
Now, the one part that gives me hope in all of this is that by keeping the counter clean, I am close to eliminating any new "random piles of paper" since the counter is the main source of "random piles of paper." What inevitably happens is the stuff builds up on the counter because it has no real home - it could be partially opened mail, it could be stuff left over from a trip, it could be stuff from work. We need the counter for something or other. We pile all the stuff into a pile and move it somewhere else for the moment.
Voila! Random pile of paper born.
Well, last night's pile's route started in the kitchen and went from the kitchen to the living room coffee table to the bedroom floor now to the family room coffee table where it sits to be tackled a little bit every night. It's a combination of stuff from our spring travel including San Diego and Omaha and bills and coupons.
Sigh. 15 minutes a day. Signs of progress.
Cheers!
mouse
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