Chapter 14 in Organize Now by Jennifer Ford Berry is “Organize Your Crafts”.  This one has me in a quandary… I think the work I’ve been doing on my office is addressing the craft organization, but I am intentionally ignoring the closet full of sewing supplies.  To be really faithful to this process, I should set that closet up before I can say I’m truly done with this chapter.

But, guess what? We’re in the process of buying a house!  We’ll be moving at the end of August!  I am not going to set up the sewing closet just to pack it up and have to do it over again.  AND – all the craft stuff that we put in the attic this summer will be coming out.  So I am going to put Chapter 14 on hold and do it at the new house where I will either have a whole room devoted to my crafts, or the whole two-car garage!  Woo-hoo!

Chapter 15 is “Organize Your Photographs”.  I am considering this part of my crafting process and will do once I set up the new craft room – so, it’s also being postponed.

Chapter 16: “Organize Your Purse”.  I feel like I’m cheating a little bit.  When I started college, I got my first purse. I had been using a man’s wallet in my pants until then, but I started wanting to carry other things around with me and I needed a really big bag for it all.  I had everything I could possibly need at a minutes notice!  Chapstick, membership cards, screwdrivers, tape measures, books, colored pencils – whatever!   One day, with a great deal of asperity, my Mom said that I couldn’t carry a can of WD40 in my purse and I realized that she was right.  What I needed was a toolbox in my car and then I could quit carrying that heavy bag around!  PHEW!

I do have a purse now, but it’s very small and fits in Robin’s diaper bag.  I emptied it out and straightened it up so I can say I am done with Chapter 16! WooHoo!

So, a long time ago, I was working on Chapter 9: Organize Your Files.  I was in the midst of scanning and recycling things – I made progress on old letters, manuals, and recipes.   I never said, but I finished my file organizing!  Now, all I have are four files that I keep on my office tray and use immediately after getting paperwork to file.  I think I felt like I wasn’t done, because there is still a drawer of files, but I am letting those go since they are my husbands. I do not need to worry about them!

I had reviewed how I already have Chapters 10, 11, and 12 done and was ready to start on the next section “Organize Your Things” with Chapter 13: Organize Your Child’s Toys.  This chapter has components that really should be done all year – like discussing the importance of sharing and donating; and, although the author Jennifer Ford Berry doesn’t specifically state it, directly teaching about “enough” and “need” rather than acquisition and consumption; as well as being cognizant of the types of toys available (imaginative rather than … the opposite).  I like the idea of sorting through toys before Christmas, but since it’s June I am settling for scheduling that as an annual chore in my calendar.  Other than that, I feel we have a good handle on toys – Robin is only a year old so we don’t have that many! 😀  One large basket holds his ‘hard’ toys and another large basket holds his ‘soft’ toys.  That is a random segregation, but the stuffed animals take up a lot of space and he doesn’t play with them that often.  This chapter has a lot of great ideas for when the kids get older and toys more numerous and complicated – I’ll be referring back to it as Robin gets older!

I did decide to split his toys in half for rotation, though.  I loosely filled his accustomed toy basket and put the rest in his second basket in the basement.  I took some of the more developmentally advanced ones out and hope that when I reintroduce them, they’ll be novel enough he tries more things with them other than clicking them together.