Lost and Found

My dear friends, do you know what is in your wallet? Sure there's the normal credit card/ID type of stuff. What about membership cards? Insurance cards? Account numbers? Social security numbers? Because of a small mishap I had this week, I am going to encourage you to do something you may consider a bit odd. It is not something I would have ever considered before this past week. First, I will share my story. What happened this past week? We had a holiday. (Yay Memorial Day!) My family met up with some friends at the local zoo. (Yay jaxzoo.org!) And come Tuesday morning (aka grocery morning) I could not find my purse. (Boo!) I did have my Driver's License and my annual zoo pass, (Yay!) which were in the stroller pocket, not my purse. So what did I do? After a cursory search through the house and car, I grabbed my spare credit card and headed to the grocery store. By Wednesday afternoon, after checking my accounts status and calling the zoo's lost-and-found, I had concluded that my purse was lost and gone forever. (Boo.) Thus, I canceled the cards that were in my purse and panicked about what other info may have leaked into the wrong hands. (Double Boo.) Wednesday night, by God's grace (and probably some tiny little hands), my purse materialized. (Super yay!) All of this really got me thinking... It's time to take 15 minutes and.... inventory your wallet! I will implore you to write or type a complete inventory of your wallet. File it with your other personal information or add it to your HOUSEHOLD HUB binder. Update it regularly. .

Organizing as a teaching tool

What I have learned this week about myself and my household while being incapacitated: 1. Being organized allows me to sit on the couch and direct others to the proper location of important items (like my son's jacket, shoes, and proper pjs). 2. I do not like asking for help. 3. Being organized allows my son to know that while I may be stuck, we will still have a schedule. He will still be fed at least 3 times a day, bathed, given time for free play, and put to bed at a time resembling reasonable. 4. You really can only watch so much tv. - Okay, that may not be related to organizing... but it is true. I would love to hear what organizing has done for you in your life. That's enough introspection. Are you ready to clean out some real clutter now? Since I'm not overly mobile at this point I'll give us an easy 15 min task. Grab your purse and a trash can and get ready. It's time to clean out the deep recesses of the purse and all the pockets. 1. Empty the entire contents. 2. Sort into categories: Keep in purse (wallet, cosmetics, gum, pain reliever, etc), Put elsewhere (toys, receipts to file, mail, duplicates of items, etc), Trash (expired receipts, candy/straw wrappers, open food items, obvious trash). My find upon doing this task recently? A lollipop which had been tasted and placed in my purse... without a wrapper. What will you find? If you have recently cleaned out your purse and think you are off the hook, how about your gym bag, your child's backpack, or your glove box/console in the car? 3. The trick now is putting all of those "elsewhere" items into their proper homes. (and putting the "trash" into the can. 4. Wipe down, mini-vac, or wash your purse (gym bag/backpack/glove box/console) before replacing the "keep" items. 5. Replace the "keep" items. 6. Smile! You have a lighter cleaner purse! What did you find that surprised you the most? Next week: Taxes.