Organizing Family History: Part 1 of Infinity

Though I’m not immune to being overwhelmed when faced with disarray, there is something about having a place for everything and everything in its place that appeals to me. I like the challenge of strategically adding structure to chaos. I love functional organization and the ability to efficiently find what I want. The biggest hurdle is figuring out where to start!

So. Remember my intimidating mountain of unattainable goals? Well, I emptied some office shelves (please don’t ask to look inside my closet right now) and found a place for everything! Um, kind of. At least the albums, photos and documents are more accessible and easier to sort than when they were in random, teetering piles.

I’m trying to organize the rest of my office along with the family archives, which is a similarly daunting task (and why you’ll always see books, various crafting materials, home office supplies, and random toys/ephemera mixed in when I share office photos). But it’s a good thing I shifted the family stuff to shelves when I did, because the very next morning (one day earlier than expected), I received my shipment of archival porn archival storage boxes from University Products!

It may not look like much right now, but it will be GLORIOUS once all of the homeless and disorganized family history materials are sensibly placed in clearly labeled boxes. I know for certain that it won’t happen overnight because we’re closing in on two weeks and I’ve barely scratched the surface. But you know what? It’s a start. And you can’t have a raging forest fire without a spark.

Hmm. Something tells me that I could have used a better analogy.

I should thank my husband for giving me the extra motivation that I needed to prepare my office for the influx of organizational materials. My new comfy chair was expected around the same time, and he said that the chair would go in his office space if I hadn’t cleaned up by then. Not that it mattered… shortly after the chair arrived, Phoebe the cat claimed it.

Our other cat, Loki, checked it out first but quickly returned to his basket on my desk.  A place for every cat and every cat in its place. At least I know that I’ll have company during my long hours of sorting and labeling!