All I Wanna Doo……….

Is have some fun. Or so the song goes. In Partner’s case, all he wanted to do was write a book. Another book. He’s already written one (no, not published, but thanks for showing interest, which, apparently was more than the lonely two publishers he sent the manuscript to did) Any-way, all Partner wanted to do, he said, was write.
Easy, I thought. Dead easy. We’ve cleaned out the computer room, providing the perfect space (that was the other spare room, if you’re keeping up – and why wouldn’t you be?) Hell, I’ll even let him chose the colour, as long as it’s not screaming scarlet or some form of khaki drab. No worries there, we agreed on a cosy mossy-green, that blended superbly with the existing carpet (lucky break!) Partner insisted that all he needed was a small corner desk, large enough to accommodate his laptop, so corner desk it was. We chose a really cool frosted glass circular segment (if you get my drift), which, by happy coincidence, happened to match my desk next-door (Partner referred to Witch-Craft, but he’s wrong, I left the coven months ago)
So there I was, mission accomplished, two redundant disaster areas, transformed, via my genius into integrated, de-cluttered, uber-cool work spaces.
I had a day. A whole day. 24 hours. ‘Twas but a short time to bask in the general well-being of a job well done. Then Partner (who, I might add, had not written a skerrick (ancient Aussie word meaning Nix, Nada, Zilch) in that time announces that he now feels the need to re-visit his bloody childhood. He wants a ‘hobby’. And what hobby does he want? Are you ready for this?
Radio Controlled Aircraft.
Not a video camera. Not gardening. Not even restoring old furniture. RC aircraft (I’ve been told never to call them ‘toys’ ……………..O………..kay)
Well, there goes my uncluttered space.
Well maybe
I have a plan!!
See ya next time, when I will reveal all!!!!
SorterSuzy.

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Don’t you just love mixing up metaphors? (or in this case putting them through the blender)
I know the question on all of those lips out there, out in my vast arena of   Suzy fans. (OK ego trip over now) But I do hope you still want to know. What do you want to know? Well, of course, you want to know the answer to the last blogs cliffhanger ending. The subject of endless discussions around office water coolers and on building sites around the globe. How did she do it? How does she bring such order to such chaos? How is such genius contained within one person? (Sorry again, ego under control now. Promise)
So how did we do it? How did I manage to clear the up the space in those unused bedrooms, and still get to use most of what had been hermetically sealed into plastic crates and stored?
iTunes (and no, this is not an advert for any particular brand of software,  it’s simply a tool, please feel free to choose your own) solved the major problems. The files are stored, catalogued, and then accessed through the computer interface, and then played through the appropriate stereo/surround sound equipment, whether we are playing music, or watching a movie/TV series.
Just a note here, about copy-write or DRM (digital rights management) You are permitted, and always have been permitted, to make one backup copy of any movie/piece of music/TV show that you own, and have purchased. In other words, if (in your past life) you saved your pocket money up, and then raced down to your local record store to buy the latest single by*********** (insert name of favored teen idol here) then you were entitled to make a copy of said single. (if you had a cassette recorder, yes, I’m going back a ways here to make the point) You can do the same today (using easier more digital methods) What you cannot do is sell/give/or otherwise distribute the said copy. OK? ‘nuff said.
So, we used iTunes. But…..you may ask, what about the books? How do we access them? Surely iTunes can’t help out there?
Well, yes it can, it can deal with eBooks, but reading 365 books of varying lengths into a computer wasn’t a job that my partner was going to attempt (although he does have a great voice, and I did beg) So we did the next best thing. We used a great program that allowed us to catalogue every single one of them and log exactly where each one had been stored. If we need a book, we know where it is. (Again, the software is just a tool, you can use whichever suits you).
Now, if we want to listen/watch/read, all we have to do is click a mouse button. We have the space cleared, and we still get to enjoy what used to be clutter.
I think that’s neat.

Next blog, we’ll move onto more sweaty, practical stuff. Yes, that’s right, I’m going to clear the old computer room/office. Its going to get messy!

Cheers for now

SorterSuzy

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  Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great transition and that you’re  sticking to your resolutions! HUH? yep those things that we get all worked up about but seem to fizzle out after a short while, some in days others weeks or months. Was ‘getting organized’ one your resolutions, maybe in just one part of your life? Perhaps just your office or your time management or certain rooms in your house.

It’s certainly the prime time of year for this kind of big sorting and organzing to happen or get started. Where the problem often lies is in the planning that precedes it or more to the point doesn’t precede it and hence ultimate failure. Planning is of course a type of organising in itself and it that isn’t our strong point then you run into trouble right from the get go.

One of the most common ways to do so is to make lists. Now for the less linear oriented thinkers mindmaps are the perfect alternative where it looks more like a drawing with things grouped together in related bunches on the page. Whatever works best  for you, don’t just slavishly follow a recommended techniques if it doesn’t jag with you.

You could start by just doing a list of everything you can think of at the moment that you need to do or get done or want to do this year. These can be anything from ballroom dancing lessons to patching the hole in the kitchen ceiling. As a way of prompting your memory take a wander around your house and list things to be done in each room. Next you can then break the list up into various categories that make sense to you.

Such things as Self/Personal, House, Family, Finances and so forth. Next prioritise each task in each list from most important to least important. Finally go through each task a look into what’s required to make that goal happen – if it’s to patch the ceiling then step 1 might be to ringing a number of repairmen to come out and quote etc.

Now you have a to do list that has some very logical and sequential steps in it for you to follow in order to achieve your goals.

Next time; How to put this list into your weekly schedule.

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