Someone Trashed My Desk AGAIN!!!!!!!

Geez! I get it looking good and someone trashes my desk for me again! Whoops. Just looked in the mirror and the someone is me.  The mess is as bad as the last time. How on earth!!!! I had such good intentions too.

I made this statement yesterday while volunteering at our genealogy library and got a few smiles in the room. Plus some comments like “been there, done that” or “why should you be any different”.

I’m sure this is not restricted to just people into genealogy. But it DOES seem to plague us fairly often.

Identifying why my desk got trashed again & how to find a permanent solution.

Why my desk got trashed again.

Good intentions.
My office has a door. I can stash things out of sight there. And since it is MY office, I’m not trashing someone else’s area. Soooooooooo–I have ever such good intentions however it was those good intentions when repeated became a habit.

Habit.
I’m in a hurry. I need to get things picked up quickly. Get it out of sight. I toss the stuff on my desk to deal with later.
They (whoever they are) say that it takes 16 to 21 times of repeating a task to make it a habit.   I believe that is true for a GOOD habit. For bad habits — it takes only 2 or 3 times and there ya go — a trashed desk. So on top of everything else, I have to break a bad habit.

Too much clutter.
Now here is where those organizational folks get into the genealogist enthusiast’s knickers! What those declutter-your-house folks don’t realize is:

THAT IS NOT CLUTTER! THAT’S MEMORIES!

Okay — I grant you. My office has some clutter that should go. But much of what an organizational maven would call clutter is memories. It may look like a tacky little napkin holder to you, but to me it is a precious childhood memory. That was always in my mother’s kitchen. It rarely held napkins. I have NO idea who gave it to her. But it’s probably 75 years old & was treasured by her. Enough said! Hrumpf!

Not enough filing space.
Every desk drawer, filing cabinet drawer, shelf in my office is full. I’m very lucky. I have an office. This is MY space so I can’t complain that “someone” has trashed (my favorite word for this post) my space. They used up my filing room. Nope. It’s ALL me.

But because I don’t have enough filing space, I’ve now got piles on edges of the desk. Even on the TV stand. On the floor.

Obviously, I need to free up some of the currently used file space so I’ve got a place for the piles to go. Neatly organized, of course. Free up space. Easy to say. How? My first reaction is I need everything there. But do I really? How can I tell what can go?

Too many years of not entering data in my software.
If you regularly enter data into your software, your piles are smaller. You can actually donate some of the data files to a genealogy library. (Our genealogy library has over 5,000 family files of such things.) But if you haven’t entered them, then you have to keep ’em. And there ya go! Piles here. Piles there.

There is no quick fix for this one. But I now know that when I realized my database was a mess, I stopped entering period. For a while, I didn’t even know why. I’ve written articles on that. See categories “Organizing a Genealogy Mess” and especially “Database Cleanup“. I’m hardly done in this area but given where I was — I have considerably improved the situation. If you have done the same, then so have you. Congratulate yourself. It’s no small task.

How to find a permanent solution to my trashed desk.

Since this has happened to me before…seriously, you can’t be thinking this is only the second time! So as I said, since this happened to me before, I’ve done some hard thinking about a solution — some of it so hard it’s kept me up at night. I checked out of the library various “How to DeClutter Your Life” books. Found several free on Amazon eBooks. And read them all. Read some of them multiple times.
And I’ve come up with a plan. Yep! a plan that I hope will be a permanent solution. No. More than that. Hope isn’t enough. I BELIEVE it really will be a permanent solution. Oh — my desk will get messy again but I truly believe that I will be able to walk into my office and actually be in the office I’ve envisioned for so long.

• Really look at the space. This should apply to an office or to the area you “do genealogy” in. I mean really look at it.
  • If memories of childhood and you do not have an office space, then it is doubtful you can afford to have them in your where-you-do-your-genealogy-space. Find another shelf or cabinet area in the house — maybe even in your bedroom — where these can be placed. I suggest the bedroom because these items usually are like a warm hug when you see them. A nightly hug sounds good, doesn’t it?
    
  • In my case, I have an office space, but I can’t let even “precious” childhood memories take over the place. So by the next post on this subject, I must decide how much space I give them. Do I need to have them ALL out at once? Hmmm? Never thought of that until I typed it just now.
• Are there books that are on the shelves that could be removed?
  •  A good question for either situation. When I first asked myself this question, I wanted to say “Of course not!”
  • What the repeated messy desk — even after multiple cleanups along with an office space that NEVER has improved since I moved into it — what that has taught me is I need space. I can’t keep a book on the shelf just because I want it. Is it useful? Is there ANYTHING on the bookshelves that could go? Anything?
• Check each “filing space”. 
  • This too applies to an office or your “genealogy area”. This means opening up every drawer, every door and really looking at the space. Ignore the genealogy files at the moment. Look at the other ones. I can think of one folder in my filing cabinet labeled “Things purchased online“. I add things to it all the time. I haven’t LOOKED in it in years. What if I could reduce that file by one-half? What about a file folder with bank statements? Do I really need to keep them in THAT drawer? Could they be moved elsewhere?
  • Hardcopy genealogy files can be purged a bit too. Pull a file; doesn’t matter whether it’s a surname or place (location). Look for duplicate printings. Remove the extra. I did this on one file at the tail end of last year and found I had printed out two LARGE files (over 25 pages) twice. Several years apart. Argh!
• What things could change spaces?
  • If something is placed horizontally, would it take a smaller footprint if stacked vertically? Are there things filed in a “filing cabinet” that could be filed elsewhere?
• Can some things be moved to a different location in the house?
  • A piece of ‘spouse-ly‘ advice from someone married decades. Don’t assume you can move anything you want anywhere you want. Murphy, the opportunist, will tell you your choice is great but it turns out to be THE #1 Choice for your spouse. From another view, don’t assume that a location can’t be used either.

What do you think?
What have I missed? Can you identify with any of the above? Anything make you feel like I’ve been watching you? Please leave a comment.

What’s next?

Implementing the above plan and bringing you along. I’ll document the steps. What I found on those shelves, in the drawers, etc. What was going where. Whether it worked or not.