Peace of Mind Organizing

Tiny projects challenge: Day 5

8 May 2020

On this fifth and last day of my personal tiny projects challenge, I moved out of my office to the living room and spent less than 15 minutes on the end table next to the chair where I watch TV, write postcards to voters (and in doing so practice my hand lettering) and knit.

I use different lettering techniques on my postcards depending on the content. So I bring to the end table different pens from my collection (stored elsewhere in the living room) to figure out how I want to letter. The trouble is, I’m not so great at putting the pens back. The clutter had reached critical mass by yesterday morning when I took this picture:

I set my stopwatch this time, so I know that it took me only 13 minutes this morning to get from there to this:

In that time, I separated out the pens that I’m using in the current postcard project, giving myself plenty of choices of colors, and tested all the black mono-line pens, since I knew some were wearing out. I threw away the bad pens and put the good ones together in a jar. I stored the colored pens that I’m not using on my current project, so now the pens that I want immediate access to fit in two tidy jars.

I had started five postcards last night and they remain on the table, and I moved my clipboard with addresses to my postcard supply area. It all feels great, though I realize now that I need to turn to my attention to my larger collection of pens, which has gotten a bit unruly.

My takeaway: I’ve noticed this week that by setting a timer and mindfully taking on a little challenge, rather than simply tidying up, I’m taking extra beneficial steps. This time I actually tested pens so I could toss dead ones and checked for expiration dates so I could throw away expired snacks. On Day 1, I actually scanned and filed, rather than tidying those papers into an orderly pile!

I’m going to stop blogging about my tiny projects, but I won’t stop doing them. I hope these posts have provided you a little inspiration for selecting some small and doable organizing projects so you can enjoy frequent wins and feel productive. It’s certainly felt good to me this week—and I invested a total of only about 90 minutes!

Tagged with: 15 minutes, organizing, tiny projects

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