Organized? Who me?

I wrote this a year ago, but someone said it to me again yesterday so I have to laugh again and revisit the subject.

There are two things that people say to me often that make me laugh. The first, when they find out that we homeschool, is, "You must be so patient!" The second is, "You must be so organized." Now that my kids are older they laugh, too.

So, to set the record straight, I am neither patient nor organized. I am an impatient--often crabby--messy with ADD. And for some unknown reason I seem to gravitate toward things that require some amount of organization. I scrapbook. I do genealogical research. I have a home business. And, yes, I homeschool.

Last year I recognized that I was SO disorganized that I wasn't accomplishing anything. I knew that I needed some form of organization but didn't know what to do, so I hired a professional organizer. Emily came and helped me tame my paper demons and organize my office. We set up systems for me so that at least things have a place and the visual clutter that distracts me is minimized.

I'm stil not organized, but at least my space and some of my stuff *is.* And even though I would suppose that some of the things we did are common sense to an organized person, I would never have come up with them myself.

I'm going to have Emily back as soon as finances allow to help me get my scrabooking supplies organized. But in the meantime I've found the tips I gleaned from working on my office useful.

Follow up, one year later: Some of the systems are still in place, but man, is my office a mess! I need to get the organizing hints back out and get some things back under control!