retail

Organizing the Organization

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Wherever you look, wherever you are in the material world, in retail shops, online, and just looking around at the dining room table clutter (but that might just be me), the world is telling you to declutter and organize your stuff, from kitchenware to linen closets to offices to the stuff on top of the sofa (again, that might just be me). And amidst the clutter shaming, they tell you that they have just the right tools for you to organize not only your stuff, but the stuff your stuff goes into – organizing the organization.

Deals to Look For

I don’t know if this is still true, but the best deal on bins is at Target after Halloween. They have orange and black bins (that no one wants) for ridiculously cheap prices – less than $5 for a big bin.

Another great deal to know about is Back to School Shopping has the best deals the week after Fourth of July. Watch the ads, especially Staples. One other note, since the recession (2008), there has been almost no restocking. When they run out, it’s gone. That holds true for most things, not just back to school.

If you’re looking for a television, wait until the weeks before the Super Bowl.

Most importantly, only get what you’ll use in the next three months. You don’t need enough laundry detergent (despite what the ad says) to last through the apocalypse or Zombie invasion. The exception to this is toilet paper. After the pandemic, we always have a large package of toilet paper in reserve, so we never run out.

Where Do You Put that Stuff?

I have bins, baskets, folders, bags for this, bags for that, and what worked yesterday doesn’t always work today. It doesn’t help that I have organization envy to go along with my stationery/office supply envy. Awareness is the first step, and since my kids no longer have back to school supply shopping (everything is done on computers and laptops and Chromebooks), I’ve have been slowly going through withdrawal and mourning those days when I would spend hours (yes, hours) walking up and down each aisle in the school supply sections of Target and Walmart, and yes, even Walgreens and CVS, not to mention Staples, searching for the perfect notepad, the calendar that would get me through the year despite my proclivity to find a “better” one, a “prettier” one, one that was perfect for now, so I changed and added, and rewrote all of the information.

I finally broke myself of this financial-draining and self-defeating habit a few years ago with my calendar/planner. I used to have two (or more): One for my personal/family plans, one for my writing plans, and sometimes one for my lesson plans as a teacher, and none of the twain shall meet. At that time, however, I realized that I never used the weekly section for family plans. I might have repeated what was already on the month, but I never looked at it. That was when I decided to combine my two main calendars: family plans on the monthly section, blog plans on the weekly section, the current week tabbed with a magnetic bookmark. I’ve done this for awhile now, and it works very well. When I see a new planner that I’m drawn to, whether it’s the style, color, or organizational advantages, I walk away. I have a planner through December 31, and I am not spending money on another one. Maybe I can get that one next year. And yes, I save them all in a box in case I want to look back on blog posts even though I know I never will.

I am trying to whittle down the things I have and use to be more consistent and less wasteful. I know that as a writer, I will never run out of notebooks, journals, pens, and the like, and don’t get me started on printing, photocopies, and handouts. Although, I am in the process of reducing all of that.

This year, apart from my computer files and external hard drive, I have three main organizational items that I use regularly. They’re great for at home, they’re great for travel. Two were gifts from my husband, one for my birthday and one for Christmas: a document holder and a folio (both pictured below). I mean, I know that psychologically they make me feel more professional and think that I’ve got my act together, but still.

So…what are the main things you need for organizing your stuff.

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Travel – Caernarfon, North Wales

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Caernarfon was not a place I’d ever heard of before it was suggested that I visit the town. My friend lives near there, and offered it when I asked for recommendations for my 2009 trip. He mentioned the Castle and the Strait and the nearness to other Welsh attractions, and we could meet for lunch or dinner in nearby Bangor.

I picked Caernarfon from his recommendation before even reading up on it.

I’d be arriving on Monday morning and driving in. I’d stay at an international hostel. I had stayed at a youth hostel my first time in Wales (in 1987), but they had a maximum age of, I think it was 25. This hostel took all ages as well as families. I’d have to find my way around, but on Tuesday, I’d get to Bangor for our dinner.

So far, those were the only plans that I made.

I wasn’t exactly flying by the seat of my pants, and I would eventually have some sort of plan for the week, but it was nice to have a base for the first half of the week, and Caernarfon was perfect for that.

Caernarfon was wonderful in so many ways. I hadn’t planned on returning in 2017, but we did manage to pop in. I was happy to be able to show my family a place that I could kind of get my way around, and share my experiences with them, not to mention creating new ones with them.

Here are a few of my recommendations of places I visited in and around Caernarfon and a few on my list for next time. Please use the links to make your own travel plans. It is well worth the trip.

This and the above photo: Caernarfon Castle, taken in October 2009 in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, North Wales. (c)2009-2017

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Fandom Merchandise and Where to Find It

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​As I look at my Christmas gifts, and my recent birthday gifts before that, I am struck, but not terribly surprised by how much relates to the variety of fandoms and pop culture things I am involved in. Many of these things have stayed with me since my teen years, to the point that I no longer participate, but they still hold an important place in my heart. The one example that comes to mind was my getting a new messenger bag: ThinkGeek’s Bag of Holding. It’s so glorious that I’ll be writing a separate review of it. My son was a little annoyed that I would be getting it – it was a little expensive, but with the thirty percent discount that was offered, it was well worth it. He was still a little annoyed and exclaimed, “You don’t even like Dungeons & Dragons!” I think I may have snorted. I was momentarily speechless.

I don’t like Dungeons & Dragons?! Do you even know me?! I had been playing Dungeons & Dragons since high school. In our school cafeteria, we would use the half-pint milk container as a six-sided die. Every weekend in college, we’d get together in the blue room to play. Dave, our DM (dungeon master) would not let us have any alcohol. We got stupid. We were probably the only group on a Saturday night not drunk. We would play all weekend, talking time only to sleep before the next night’s game.

I met my college roommate in a study hall through a conversation about character sheets.

My oldest son used my original books when he and his friends played Dungeons & Dragons.

Not a fan?! Harumph!

Glancing at The Walking Dead trivia box, the Hufflepuff necklace, the Supernatural zipper bag, the Star Trek 50th anniversary gold ornament with sound, I saw just how many fandom things there are, and I also realized how difficult it was to get some of them.

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50-48 – Jane of All Trades

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When I was just out of college I got a job with the US Navy’s MWR** department as a child development associate. In order to be considered for this entry level, teaching assistant, minimum wage job, I needed to fill out a Department of Defense job application. I needed to provide ALL of my jobs and ALL of my addresses for the past ten years. As a newly minted college grad, the amount of jobs and addresses I had (a new one every semester and every summer, sometimes two) led to an application that was well over forty pages long.

Over the years, I’ve had occasion to look back on this application – yes, I have a copy in my files in the basement – in order to fill out other applications and write resumes, and in looking over I saw the plethora of different things I’d done. Upon leaving the work force to stay home with my kids, I did a number of other things that added to my job list and my skill set.

I often feel like the second half of my title’s proverb – jack/jane of all trades, master of none.

I feel less than instead of focusing on the first half of the proverb – jane of all trades – expressing my vast experiences and using the culmination of everything I’ve learned continually in my life daily.

I didn’t work until my first year in college. I lived a privileged life. I don’t believe most of my friends had jobs in high school. I didn’t have an allowance, but I had everything I needed. I didn’t take advantage and ask for crazy things, like spring break in Cancun or a European adventure. I went to the movies and the diner, and I didn’t do that every day. I did work a disastrous weekend at a delicatessen, which still haunts my dreams.

My first “job” was an unpaid high school internship in a law firm. I did all the usual secretarial/receptionist work, and got to go to court with one of the lawyers to observe. The other women in the office were very kind to me and I did learn a lot before I went to college to a pre-law/political science major.

When I changed majors two years later to elementary education, I did other unpaid internships in schools as a student teacher. I even got paid three times to substitute locally before I graduated.

At college, I worked as a Bio Research Assistant, which consisted of cleaning petri dishes and putting equipment in cupboards. I was also “campus security” for my dorm. I sat at the door overnight with another student and signed residents and guests in and out after the doors were locked for the night.

In the summers, I had an extraordinarily long list of retail and receptionist positions: Alexander’s* for inventory, Gimbel’s*, Kids R Us, Curtain Country*, Herman’s Sporting Goods*, JoAnn Fabrics,  as a temp for several offices. I also made and sold jewelry as a member of the SCA***.

In teaching, I taught for the US Navy program, a cooperative nursery school, day care at a college, Head Start as well as volunteering at my kids’ schools. As part of my teaching positions, I published parent resource newsletters.

I proctored the NYS Teachers’ Exams for several years.

I became a direct sales consultant for Creative Memories, a company that taught the techniques and sold products for scrapbooking.

I taught a tax class for other direct sales consultants.

I babysat.

I published a Travel Organizer chapbook.

I’ve been crafting this website and I think I’ve finally found a rhythm.

I’ve volunteered in ministries with my church in their adult enrichment, adult initiation rites, and day of service groups.

I wrote for a parenting newspaper, and then began to seriously freelance write. I’m currently working on two books: one on our home buying experience (horrible) and one on my travel/pilgrimage to North Wales (amazing). I’m also considering a book on my spiritual journey since I’ve begun attending church services and my conversion.

I have article submissions in process for The Sun Magazine and Vox.

So many things and most of them come back to writing.

Jane of all trades. I can use that.

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*since closed or out of business

**Morale, Welfare and Recreation

***Society for Creative Anachronism