Do you use processes to help you get or stay organized? If you are not sure what I mean - I mean doing things the same way or on the same day or at the time every time you do them? I try to. Lately though, as part of this craziness going on here, things slip through the process and go awry or go missing.
Sometime around December my desk scissors went missing. I keep them in the drawer over the leg hole of my desk, right in the front. Husband and I both looked high and low for them over the ensuing couple of months. He thought he found them in our studio in the “small tool drawer”, where our scissors for the studio are, but that was the duplicate pair I keep there. I really like these scissors. He started suggesting that I get new ones. I am a stubborn person and refused. Well, last Friday I opened my desk drawer for something and - the scissors were back. Neither of us has any idea how this happened, I am just glad they are back and I no longer have to use a small knife for things I should be using scissors for.
I have a definite process for credit card receipts. I collect them in a pocket in my wallet. I empty the pocket Friday night and Sunday night (we do a lot of our shopping over the weekend). When I take them out of my wallet they go into a basket hanging at the foot of the stairs - the mail and similar go here also - and my next trip upstairs they go upstairs. I then sort them at my desk and put them into the corresponding pockets in a small loose leaf book. They then wait snugly there until they are matched with the statement and then will be attached to same when I pay the statement. So how do they go missing? One night in January when husband had a cold we stopped between Saturday night dinner and Saturday night movie to buy a box of cold pills for him. On arriving home we found out we already had a started box of the same medicine. (Ever happen to you - I am sure it has.) I put the box and the receipt into a section of the holder for files on my desk to wait until I knew he did not need a second box. He took the medicine once from the started box and decided it did not work.
So a couple of weeks later I went to take the medicine back. The box was there, the receipt was not. I went crazy looking for it. I climbed all over the floor in the office. I disassembled the folder holder so I could look under it (too big, heavy and unwieldy to move as one piece). I checked where the receipt should be. Not found. I finally tried to return it without the receipt - not for medications, so we have a spare box of a medication we don’t really take. My fault - if the receipt had gone where it belonged in the interim, it would have been there when needed.
Now the latest thing gone astray - and the worst. I am the treasurer and the membership chair of our reenactment unit. In mid January I mailed out the renewal forms to members. It is sort of an odd setup. Members join in family groups which can be from 1 person to any amount, generally 4 is the largest group. Members can also just join our unit or also join a national reenactment group that our unit is part of. I need to keep careful records of which group rejoined, who in the family rejoined, who in the family rejoined or joined the national group also. I have a spread sheet that I copy over year to year to keep track - I remove anyone who was not in “last year” and add anyone who joined “last year”. It is all set up to keep track of and total what each group paid and the totals of everyone. I am suppose to send the renewals and dues of members of the national group by the beginning of March to the national group’s membership chair. I also list all checks - for this or any other reason - in a notebook.
So last week I emailed out to those members not listed on the spreadsheet a reminder to renew. I heard back from one member. Her husband had mailed us the renewal form and check for them and their 2 sons and they had gotten the “if you are receiving this you did not renew yet” email. I remembered receiving their renewal. I also remembered, as she mentioned in her email, that her husband had taken care of it and had filled in and paid for the national group also. Since they were not members of same in the past - and her husband had done the paperwork - I decided to check with them about the renewal and set it aside to contact them.
And that is where the problem comes in. I can’t find their paperwork or check. I emailed her back right away and told her I remembered receiving it and would get back to her. I am pretty sure I know which day I received their renewal - it was the day in January I went to my client in Manhattan, husband could not go out food shopping for the upcoming storm due to the van having no brakes, when I came home we ran out food shopping, then back home as I forgotten the items I needed to mail out for us and the client, and while at the post office I picked up the mail. The date fits and then we did not go out for several days. I also remember it was the first renewal I received and that my husband was not in the post office when I found it in our box - and he almost always comes in with me - except that day. I have been thorough all of my briefcases and computer bags - even the ones that were in the closet straight through. Any folder I could think of. The desk and file drawers. Under the desks. The car and its hatch. I cannot find it. My husband cannot find it. I have been getting lectures from husband (who cannot find anything without me) about being more careful.
Today I gave up and humbled myself and sent an email to the member apologizing, explaining, apologizing again... I told her I marked them as renewed. I suggested that she send a replacement check as the first one was the wrong amount (paid too much) anyway. I told her when I find the other check, I will return it to her.
I am kicking myself about what went wrong. It bothers the heck out of me. Generally paperwork is the one area that I keep well organized. I am not suppose to loose things - and not be able to find them - and 3 items in a couple of months is 3 items too many. I realize that all I can do is keep looking until I find the item or it becomes moot. I am hoping whichever “fairy” gave me back my scissors will smile on me again and return the missing renewal to me and the missing receipt - but the missing return is more important.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Set up processes to help yourself get organized. Keep at them and follow what you set up and it should help. Whether it is keeping track of papers, doing the laundry on the same day each week, changing towels and bed linens on a weekly schedule, or cleaning the house. I keep the daily (make dinner), weekly, monthly, annual and other odd repeating items in my organizer and Palm - they could also be in a smart phone or paper calendar/appointment book. This helps to remind to do things at the same time. On Wednesdays I start doing the laundry (usually takes 2 to 3 evenings between washing, drying, folding, and putting away) at night. I also write my post to all of you if I have not done so on Tuesday. (Last week I got it done on Tuesday and then forgot it was Tuesday and posted a day early.) I also go and “visit” an embroidery group online if I have time.
What can you set up in your calendar to remind you to do every day, week, month, etc.? Try it, it works well. A reminder alarm can even be set to remind you.
Hoping you have a nice Valentine’s Day tomorrow.
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