2010: The Year of Organization
As I lay on the couch, piecing together my idea for a post on themes versus resolutions, I went through the various themes I’d had in previous years, out loud to my boyfriend.
“’07 was well, just surviving. ’08 was the Year of Relationships. And this year was the Year of Finances.”
“So what’s 2010?” he asked.
I took a deep breath.
The Year of Organization.
My theme is usually based on the big hairy elephant in the room. Last year, I was over-drafting my bank account at least once a month. I never had enough money to last till the next paycheck. I had zero savings and three maxed out credit cards. I was perpetually without and didn’t have anything to show for it.
Enter 2009: The Year of Finances. It took me a while to figure out what would work for me. I had a lot of bad money habits and I really didn’t want to change many of them. After a few months of trying different things out, I finally got on board with Dave Ramsey. As I related in my previous post, I was able to not only stop over-drafting my bank account, but I paid of the credit cards, got current on my student loans, paid all my medical bills, and socked away almost three months of living expenses. In total, I paid down nearly $5,000 in debt.
So, when I say 2010 will be the Year of Organization, I know it will be a challenge.
The Year of Finances sucked. It wasn’t all la-la-la, I have so much money to throw into things. I had to budget, I had to forgo vacations, I didn’t get to buy any tech gadgets… and I had to start drinking coffee at home. I’m kidding, but it really was a painful change to make. I had a lot of great support from other Ramsey-ites (thanks to Michelle, Ashley and Kendra!), which helped.
Why this theme
As I said in the previous post, you should pick a theme that solves the most of your problems. And most of my problems these days seem to come from a complete and utter lack of organization. And there is mounting evidence that if I don’t make 2010 the Year of Organization, it might kill me.
I have two jobs.
I love my “day” job working in marketing research and don’t see that changing anytime soon. I work for a company that genuinely cares about me; I have a great boss and believe that management wants me here. I also have my own company that I work with after-hours and on weekends, which scratches my entrepreneurial itch but also fills my every waking moment outside of work. Having two careers is tough, and there’s a lot of schedule juggling to make it all happen without losing any integrity or quality in one or the other.
I have time-consuming allergies.
I have six – count them – SIX allergies. Four are environmental (dust mites, cat hair, mold and trees), but the other two are the tough ones: food allergies. I’m allergic to both wheat and soy, which means I pretty much can’t eat anything manufactured, processed or pre-packaged. I take medication for my environmental allergies, which works sometimes. I have to wash our comforter, comforter cover, sheets, special allergy pillow covers and mattress cover in hot bleach water every other week, which usually eats up an entire Saturday. I have to pre-cook my meals for the week, or I end up eating stuff I shouldn’t or not eating anything at all. And if I don’t make everything click exactly right, my allergic reactions usually take the form of intense fatigue.
I can’t say no.
They always tell people to make realistic goals. Saying “no” just isn’t a realistic goal for me. Start a local chapter of Social Media Club? Yes. Start a company? Yes. Put on a conference? Yes. Write some ebooks? Yes. Sit on this special committee? Yes. Take on a new client? Be on a radio show? Plan an unconference? Write for this new blog network? Yes, yes, yes and yes please! I like doing a lot of things. But that takes organization.
I’ve always been “messy” and I’m tired of it.
I don’t want to shatter anyone’s perception of me, but um… I’m really messy. Right now, I have four coffee cups on my desk, a spoon, two open bottles of water, and various tiny pieces of paper with notes on them. I never really finish the process of getting the laundry into the appropriate drawers, if by some miracle I fold them, and I don’t use my home office because I can’t move in it. When I was a kid, my mom coined the term “fire path” to describe the clear lane from my bed to the door in an otherwise unruly bedroom. I’ve always blamed this messiness and disorganization on my creativity… a big brain like mine simply can’t be bothered with details. But this isn’t really who I want to be. And I’ll be the first to admit that a neatly-appointed space just feels nicer.
I know there’s a long road ahead as I fumble through what doesn’t work before I find what does, but a New Year’s Theme shouldn’t be easy. And if I have anything like the kind of success I had in the Year of Finances, then the Year of Organization is going to be a very good one.
If you haven’t shared already, what’s your theme for 2010? Why?
Photo courtesy of austinevan via Flickr.
AW-but messy is your middle name and how will we know you any other way
Joking aside… I have always hated the idea of wishing away or loosing time. I can say for the first time in my life I am glad to see 2009 become the past. It took me to 50, and I am tired and this year will be about “me”. 2010 will be my year of RELAXING. Good luck to everyone’s good intentions and successes in 2010!
What a great theme! After your first post on it I’m definitely excited to think of mine for 2010.
I just wanted to let you know I am SO there with you on messy. And I’m always scared to tell people…like they’ll somehow think less of the exact same “fire path” that exists in my house. When I have people over I clear an entire day during the weekend to clean everything up. And it perplexes me, cause I LOVE having a nice neat orderly and organized house. It just makes me happy. But somehow I just can’t get my stuff together enough to do it!
In other words, I look forward to learning from your endeavors so update lots!
I’m an organizing freak, and a little compulsory about it too. Like, I get messy, but then revel in cleaning it up. Just giving you a fair warning that once you start, it’s hard to stop
Have you ever looked at Apartment Therapy? They’ve got a good program for getting organized.
But your laundry routine is too much work. Get two of everything, and then send it out when it’s dirty (yes, there are places that will use organic cleaning products that won’t aggravate your allergies.)
See a nutrition specialist to set up a practical diet list of foods you can eat. There’s plenty of foods that don’t have wheat or soy–and you shouldn’t have to spend a ton of time preparing everything in advance.
Hi,
I’ve had a lot of allergies too, and switched to all organic products around the house. I’m allergic to cat (all furry animals) and have wheat intolerances.
I read about washing your comforter in Bleach every second week and thought… whoa that could be half your problem. Have a think about switching to organic biodegradable cleaning products for a month, and see if it helps. Cutting out bleach, sprays etc helped me a lot.
Also for the food intolerances, check out failsafe. It’s mostly for Kids, but I ran thought this with my nutritionist years ago and it helped find out what was the problem. I’ve been able to introduce a lot of foods back (just not wheat).
Best of Luck.
I am a messy person as well, maybe to the extreme end. As long as I have room for my laptop to work on I am golden. Getting organized and instilling a clean habit is something I aim for to in 2010. I actually analyzed my messy behavior and it looked something like this- room is a mess, spend hours cleaning and organizing to get 70% complete, and then stop and do something else. Wash, rinse, repeat… been doing it the whole time. I spent a good amount of time getting to the 100% organized the other day and it is making all the difference. When I got “almost there” it would quickly revert to the disorganized state where it once was in a few days. Now when I walk in and see everything organized, something goes off in my mind to try to keep everything in order.
I was completely inspired and decided to come up with my own theme for 2010. If interested check out my newest post about my decision ti become healthier this year.
I too need to become more organized, but to that I kind of still need to be breathing…:)
Good luck – can’t wait to follow your progress!
Hey Holly! I came acros your site from a link from iwillteachyoutoberich. Nice blog! I agree with coming up with a theme, great advice. 2010 is sort of a “get-it-together” year for me, but sub-themes if you will include being present-minded and striving to give my best effort all the time. Although I know those are general and from the surface unmeasurable, but I have other very specific goals, and it really helps me to think how I can carry them out with the themes in mind.
Can’t wait to continue reading about your progress!
[...] to say with a smile, “It’s the year of organization!” And I like to say right back, “It’s the YEAR of organization – not the JANUARY of [...]
Organization bleeds out of me…I start in on other people when I feel I’m up to date on my own stuff.
I wonder how many blogs I missed?!
Hi, Holly
So… I’m just now discovering your blog… and I really enjoyed this post. This year is MY year of finances. I read Dave Ramsey’s book, began to sell off (and give away) some much unneeded “stuff”, and looked into reducing my expenses – particularly the top two, rent and car – by drastic means. I’m not nearly finished and yet already (at the end of March) much more equipped to handle my finances. (I have an emergency fund and haven’t been overdrawn in months!) By the end of 2010, I should have everything paid off except school loans, which I plan to pay off early. And now, after getting set to have everything in order, I’m seriously considering quitting my job out of utter dissatisfaction. Which, inevitably, will unsettle my finances. Funny how that works. =)
I look forward to reading about your organization successes!
Melissa
Hey Melissa! Good job on the finances! Want to know the awesome thing about Dave Ramsey? Following his steps allowed me to leave my job to pursue my dream of being an entrepreneur without unsettling my finances at all. I listen to his radio show a lot (available online or here in Corpus Christi on 1440 AM weekdays 1-3pm), and I’ve heard him advise people who want to leave their jobs to put their debt snowball on hold (while maintaining the minimum payments of course) and go to Baby Step 3 (fully-funded emergency fund). I’m about a year away from paying off my debt, but that emergency fund takes all the pressure off whether or not my business works out. If not, fine – I have the money to keep myself afloat for 3-6 months. Good luck!