I had a problem

I had a problem that I have been working on for the past few days. This problem had totally taken over my life. I had anxiety about it, I had frustration about it and my kids were starting to emulate it. I was........(gasp!) a PILER,PAPER HORDER! I had piles of newspaper articles and recipes I wanted to keep, I had piles of important school paperwork that I needed or wanted to keep and one of the biggest piles was the kids artwork that I thought I should keep. Well over the past week I have implemented a system that allows me to touch paperwork ONE TIME and actually know where it is supposed to go. Please, please hold your applause until the end.

I have always been a piler and an incessant keeper for most of my life. It all started when my family moved us across country from Indianapolis when I was 12. My mom wanted to cut down on items for the moving van so she was throwing away my treasured items all the while saying things like "this will weigh the moving truck down" (she was referring to my paper maiche pig that won 1st prize at the county fair. We all know how much paper maiche weighs don't we?), or you don't really need this, as she put my prized Babie Townhouse in the giveaway pile. As I got older I started to save every momento that said something, anything about my life. Now don't picture a home that needs to be visited by Neicy Nash and her CLEAN HOUSE crew. I have always kept things somewhat under control and certainly kept it to one box of momentos; My highschool graduation gown, my college graduation cap, my pet rocks, my Jamie Summers Bionic Woman doll with her stop-action feet. Well I was on the road to recovery until October 22, 2008 when we lost all of our possessions in the fire. Thank God, we only lost possessions because the fire was moving quite aggressively. Well there went my momentos, again as well as any artwork, kids mother's day cards, handprint, report cards, and class pictures that I had been saving for my kids or should I say myself. Now I'm not telling you this to generate sympathy, I'm telling you this because I know that I had a problem. (SEE ABOVE). Notice I continue to use the word HAD. I know I am not cured but if I talk about it enough it will come to fruition.

Here is the system I have implemented for our household. I have 5 binders filled with page protectors and tab dividers. Each binder is labled with a childs name with one labled household (Cabb, Andre, Anisa, Alexander, Household). Within the individual child's binder I have tabs like, report cards/progress reports, calendar, stellar work, keep, return. From the week of endless papers that are sent home we choose 1-2 items to put under stellar work, reading logs are kept under "keep," I have a monthly print out of the current month for their activities. In the household binder I have the master calendar for the family, restaurant coupons, and coming events that I may want us to attend as a family. I actually filed the recipes in my recipe box.

To say this is a work in progress goes without saying but it already seems to be working. For example, we went to Parent Teacher conference yesterday and was absolutely inundated with work, artwork, report cards and the like. Both Anisa and Dre, came home and put their "stuff" in their own binders with everything else being recycled. (I have to keep telling myself: It's okay not to keep all of their work.)

After I completed this project I was proud of myself. It felt good to look on my counter and in my kitchen drawer and not see any paperwork. To know I will be saving time looking for lost reading logs, lost field trip slips, recipes and upcoming events makes me happy.

Whew! Now if I could magically make my laundry disappear I would be super happy!