Organization 101 (Better known as Ask Tracy, she will know what to do)

I am a stacker. Just ask my husband he will tell you. So not only do I collect things I manage to stack them in piles precariously perched throughout the house. That being said I immediately stacked the 3 HUGE boxes of organizational tools I received this afternoon courtesy of our local FedEx Guy and Walmart. I had to move some things over, so I stacked those also. As I was looking around the living room I noticed that there were stacks everywhere! Clothes, videos, books, bags, you name it it was stacked somewhere in my living room. I finally managed a nice size spot for my new containers.

Stack of organizational tools (this is Alyssa, shes almost as bad a stacker as I am)

You cant see it from the front, but there is a huge stack of yard sale items right behind the huge stack of boxed containers. I have been collecting and sorting to have a yard sale also(for several years actually). As I have been sorting and organizing, I have been taking my friends advice to heart, If you haven't worn it in a year get rid of it, if you never plan on wearing, it get rid of it, and finally if it doesn't fit get rid of it ( I hope I got all those right). These are excellent principles to use when organizing. As a result I have a trailer full of things, a storage area semi full (not all of it is things Im getting rid of ) and an attic ( that I have yet to even look at for fear of panic setting in) all for a yard sale that I have been planning for a year or more. Now granted not everything is for a yard sale, after all I must stay true to my collector roots and preserve some clutter for myself. I would like to think that I may be blessing someone else with the things I'm not using anymore ( if I could actually find anything like that).


So this is the beginning of my organizational journey. I will be sharing my struggles and triumphs, and the things I will learn along the way over the coming weeks (mostly from my friend as I know none of this on my own!). Hopefully this will be as pain free as possible with minimal emotional or physical damage to myself or others ( my children in particular).

Help! Im not Organized!

This will be my first attempt at any type of Blogging.
It seemed that organization would be a good topic for my first post, as I am probably the most unorganized person I know, and this seems to be the problem I am dealing with at the moment.
Oh I have friends that are really good at it, but for some reason I just can't seem to get the hang of it. Coming from a long line of collectors has been a severe damper to any type of organizational skills I may have at one time been able to cultivate. My mother is a collector, my Grandmother was a collector, and her mother before her, and so on. With those type of odds, I would be surprised if  I ever accomplish any organization at all.
Fortunately for me, I have a close friend that LOVES to be organized. She is a source of inspiration to me (even though I tend to zone out whenever anyone says anything about getting rid of my considerable amount of STUFF.) I always manage to come back to earth and listen at some point, but I'm sure she can remember seeing a glazed look in my eye a time or two when talking about seasonal clothing or getting rid of stuff in my attic.

My Attic

She did come over once to help with my attic. It was brutal! I haven't been able to go up there since to organize, as I'm afraid I may find things that I know I should just get rid of.
With all that being said, I finally came to the realization the other day, that I cant take it with me, and after I'm gone no one will want it. It was very hard for me to think my things may not be important to anyone but myself. I asked my kids for 2 things each that they would want from my considerable amount of stuff (since I have 6 kids that adds up to at least 12 things I wouldn't have to get rid of, which helps the appease collector in me). Surprisingly, they all mentioned things that were actually practical. I was amazed that not one of my girls asked for my sewing things. One of them did ask for my clown collection.
Right now I am working on organizing Winter clothing. I ordered 24,  18 gallon containers in a variety of colors hoping for inspiration. I thought red and orange for summer and fall, pink and green for spring and blue for winter. I will be surprised if I manage to get it all the containers, let alone color coordinated to a specific season.

Pink Containers

Right now I only have the pink ones (the boys are not happy) and I'm trying to decide how to use my 24 containers to organize the large amount of clothing I have scattered throughout the house and I think I may try to use them for other things also, like my sons baseball memorabilia, or things I got them while I was in Australia, or years and years of accumulated birthday cards. The possibilities are endless! Actually, maybe I wont have to get rid of anything! I can organize it ALL In my new containers! Cool!