I like to organize

I have this utopian dream of getting rid of all my junk and living one of those highly organized minimalist lives. Lately I have had the strong urge to get things in order around my house. It may have something to do with recently becoming an empty nester.

A couple of months ago I organized my budget. Quicken has a free online budget tool. I totally recommend it. I am the CFO of my family and for me the hardest part about managing my budget is all the miscellaneous things that come up each month. I find it really helpful to be able to look at exactly what I am spending in each category. I have been checking in on it about once a week.


This past weekend I finished organizing my file cabinet and then I moved on with great force to my laundry room. The last time I organized it, Forest was 12 and I made it a project for us to do together. After I sorted everything out, I loaded up my car and set out to disburse my junk.


I had tons of home repair stuff that I'd kept, thinking I might need it someday. I wanted to donate it to Habitat for Humanity Restore but they were closed and a sign advised of a camera and threatened prosecution for leaving stuff after hours. I knew that if I didn't get rid of it then, I was in danger of driving around with that stuff in my car for the next 6 months. So, I dropped off my collection of misfit plumbing parts at Goodwill along with 5 other grocery bags of stuff. I am positive that someday I am going to buy something at a thrift store that I actually donated.

I dropped my stash of used batteries off at Radio Shack to be recycled and I dropped off plastic bags at the grocery store for recycling.

So far so good. I am trying to psyche myself up for the next project: the junk closet under the stairs. It's the type of closet you open very carefully. Lord knows what I have in there.