diy: reorganizing

if there was one thing that ondoy taught me on a more personal level, it's the importance of organization.  specifically, it's the need to place everything where they will avoid being flooded.  during ondoy, and santi last weekend, i've had to scamper to take files and boxes to higher ground because water was seeping in through the cracks at the floor.  i remember thinking i really need to move stuff to new places.


like most family homes, my house is a hodgepodge of old and new, function and sentiment, clutter and more clutter. we also have a peculiar situation where three of us almost literally live in one big family room, and only go out of it to get dressed, go to work, and eat (and most of the time we snack in anyway). so we have to share not only sleeping space but also dresser space and office space.  and i, for one, have been having difficulty tearing myself away from that room to study or do anything else but surf on the net.  and this is why i'm undertaking the home office project.

i have an actual deadline for this project.  my uncles, who come home from abroad every christmastime, are additional users of the bedroom and consequentially, the dresser and "office".  i really want to be able to compartmentalize this bedroom in time for their arrival, since obviously they bring in more clutter with them (men are slobs most of the time).  but i'm also currently studying for an exam that i'll be taking the week they were due to arrive, and i feel that i need to be able to finish long before that.  so i'm giving myself two weeks from today to migrate the office from the dresser to the desk.

the desktop is easier: get the stereo out to get more space, put office supplies in small trays and boxes to keep them together, set up a filing tray.  but the more difficult thing is organizing the supplies and file storage, and i have to take into account that my whole family, save for my youngest uncle and me, are all over 50.  bending under tables to retrieve something should be minimized.  right now i'm looking at some home office websites to help me get started (i just googled "office organizer" and hit on the first 3 blogs i encountered).  i've also repurposed this year's starbucks organizer to keep a list of stuff that i'll be moving, stuff that should go together, etc.  and i'm hitting the mall tomorrow to look at desk and office organizers, and hoping that i'll be inspired to discover a similar item at home that i could use so i don't have to buy too much.

it's a confusing job, and dealing with chaos is not one of my strong points, but i'm excited.  here's hoping i'll be successful.