Getting organized

So, having finished my first full week of unemployment, I'm feelin pretty good. Not the least because I am getting organized!! I expected to have a hard situtation made worse because I'd be down and depressed in response to it. I don't mean that I wanted to be depressed, just that I expected it. 

What helped hugely to get me on a good footing was the friend who spent nearly three hours last Sunday tackling my storage unit with me. I had accumulated so much stuff in my classroom (same problem I have at home, but that's another project I hope to begin managing this summer - a way of making unemployment work for me!). With fifteen or so hours to clear out the room and organize it for the custodians and for next year's teacher, there was little chance to sort-as-I-went, which I had hoped to do. Plus, the longer I was at school, the mroe sad and angry I felt. I came home very depressed on the last day of school, having spent a couple of hours in very hot weather, beginning to pack up. Realized that night that I needed to get out as quickly as possible.

With that in mind, and with limited hours to access the school anyway, the best I could manage was to load my stuff into bags and boxes and transport it to the storage unit for later sorting. In the process of moving, I did throw out and give away half dozen trash bags full of stuff, but took a ton more with me. As a result of this process, I had a storage unit so full I couldn't step inside the door. This was going to make it hard to begin the work of sorting and organizing all the stuff I had stored there. Along came my friend, someone who doesn't suffer from procrastination and disorganization. Her first reaction was to look at the unit and declare, "There's plenty of room in there!" and to dive in. At her direction, we emptied everything out of the unit in order to pack it back in more effectively - leaving a path in the center to allow for access. Wow! What a difference. In the process, my friend directed me to do at least a little sorting as we went, and she did some herself. To my delight, we were able to accomplish the goal she set. I didn't throw out much that first day, but we managed to organize what was there in a way that allows me to get at the stuff without assistance. (Does that make any sense ?) Altogether an empowering experience. I'm deeply grateful to my friend for her help.

More organizing updates to follow....