Just in case you haven’t heard (and I know that you have heard) it’s been a long, cold,
snowy winter here in Waukesha, Wis. I could go on and on about the negatives of
that reality, OR I could (and I will) tell you a way that this cold snap served
to improve my quality of life.
Long story short – I’m getting organized!
Let me take a quick poll. How many of you have
counter clutter? Raise your hands. Okay, good, so I see I’m not the only one. These
past weeks of cold and snow-filled days served as a great time to shred old
papers, file others, and hopefully not get the two categories confused ;) (eeek!)
I took this frozen tundra time of life to wade thru old
bank statements, statements so old that I will not be divulging their years.
Suffice to say that I feel much better now, and much more “in control” of my bank
statement life (wipes sweat from brow because finances are a HUGE issue and not one to be shluffed off for so long).
It was interesting though, even with what I just said… most of my calculating
has been very accurate. I’ll even go so far as to say I impressed myself with
my bookkeeping accuracy. BUT (and here’s the interesting part) the places that
I found a few errors in my accounting were during hectic and stressful times of
life - a week before or after a major event – say a wedding or a funeral, a
graduation or a move. This is good to know about myself. I need to be extra
diligent at busy times, to ensure I don’t make foolish mistakes. Good to know
now that I plan to account every single month! (at least until I get busy)
(then every two months) (uh oh, this is how the trouble began in the first
place!) lol
Another project I undertook was transferring all of
our family’s names, addresses and phone numbers into a new address book. Do
other people do this too? I’ll write down a name and phone number on a scrap of
paper, and rather than enter it into the book, I’ll shuffle that paper around
for a reeeeally long time. If I pick
the book up in a hurry, those scraps of paper usually flutter to the floor and
either get lost or stepped on. So I took this cold weather opportunity to go
through all of the paper scraps and get them organized.
It was so interesting because I haven’t done this
project in quite a while, and I realized that so many of our siblings, friends,
nieces and nephews have moved around a lot.
It’s probably best to write an address book in pencil because so many of the
entries get crossed out and adjusted over and over and over again, until people
finally settle into a spot where they remain for a long, long time. There were
quite a few names of people we never see or hear from anymore. There are as
many reasons for this as there are people, but due to moves, job changes, kids
growing up, divorces, etc. there are people we may never see again. Strange,
isn’t it? There were days that we sat in a living room, on our driveway, or
around a campfire, watched our kids run around, exchanged stories and made
memories; but sometimes people are only placed in our path for a short time. We
remember them and the experiences we shared, but they’re not permanent. But on
this cold afternoon, it was fun to think about them again - and smile.
Anyway, to be true to my project I got honest with
myself, and eliminated some of those names from my new address book. It hurts a
little, I’m not gonna lie. But I must say that my countertop looks better
already, and seems lighter without the fluttering clutter.
HOWEVER, should those people ever contact me with new information,
I promise they’ll be right back on a new scrap of paper, stuffed loosely into
my new address book – just until I take the time to permanently add them in ink, during
a Wisconsin winter cold snap – in 5 or 10 years, tops! ;)
Hope all’s well (and warm) in your necks of the
woods.
Katie
Kolberg Memmel is the author of “Five Fingers, Ten Toes – A Mother’s Story of
Raising a Child Born with a Limb Difference.”
For more information, go to her website at: www.katiekolbergmemmel.com
