The Art of not getting to your In Tray

Dear readers should know that I consider myself to be a shit housewife. Absolutely crap. My adoring husband would vehemently disagree of course, but I think he's only being kind. One of the reasons I'm so shit is that I find it impossible to differentiate between work and play without a location change. Home used to be for play only, now it's for work as well and I'm not coping at all. Part of trying to cope is to be more organised at home. But since home used to be a place where I could leave behind the pedantic, organised work self, I'm having trouble getting organised in this location, and sometimes I lose all sense of perspective.

I started on the pile of things to to on my desk at 10pm this evening, only to be distracted by an item I didn't have a manila folder for.... Oh No!

The new "Organised Me" had to fix this right away by getting the good old labelling machine out. Now the label was to be for a new folder for my ten year old son who, so that he may remain anonymous, we will call Smarty Pants, because he is. Also, Smarty Pants sounds so much nicer than Spoiled Rotten Little Moaner, which would have been his title for this evening... I digress.

A folder label requires thought, many things must be considered:

1. What is the specific thing that I am making this folder for?

2. Can this thing have its own category? or would it be more efficient to create a broader category?

3. If I make a broader category, will I just end up with a bulging heifer? One that I don't have the time to split into subcategories so that it remains in my filing cabinet as a bulky ill fitting reminder of my lack of forethought?

4. What if I create a useless category so that the folder just sits there, a joke with it's one item? One that later gets absorbed into a broader category when I can't stand the sight of the lonely misfit any longer?

Sometimes the terror of making a wrong decision can put me off labelling all together and the item goes back into my inbox to await the day when I have the nerve to make a mistake, or I find a way to see into the foggy future of my filing cabinet, whichever comes first.

However! Today is a good day. Today I boldly create a category, foggy filing future be damned, and print it out. I now have a brand spanking new manila folder. They're always so full of potential, the new ones, unlike the old ones which are usually full of things I didn't really need to keep in the first place and have become bulging eye-sores. Did you think that this was my problem though? Was this the reason I didn't get to my In Tray? Oh no...

When I went to put the folder away, what did I see? Dozens of folders all *gasp* hand labelled. Of course, those who know me well would be able to tell you what I had to do next, there was no choice, I was in labelling mode, I saw labels that desperately need tidying. These labels needed to be made official looking so that next time I went to the filing cabinet I would feel that my lonely housewifely existence had a proper purpose after all, that I COULD be good at this organisation stuff, that keeping house could be made to feel more like a proper job. Because, having motivated myself through my work all my life, using my place of abode for rest and relaxation, the plummet to housewifely earth where work and play coexist was a very long drop for me, and boy does it depress me most of the time. So, the filing cabinets were to become more work-like. I was armed, I got to it.

Smarty Pants Health...Smarty Pants Banking...

Don't I have more important things to do? Nah...

Smarty Pants School Receipts...Smarty Pants Photos...

This had better be worth it.

Smarty Pants Letters & Cards...Smarty Pants Sport.......

On and on and on and finally.... BEAUTIFUL!

I pull the draw in and out a couple of times to admire the effect. Then a couple more times in order to counteract the sudden depression brought on by looking at my tottering InTray. Never mind... there's always tomorrow.. and I'm 99% sure Smarty Pants didn't have any notices needed returning.... and will you just LOOK at that beautiful filing cabinet drawer...