Getting it together

Friends, there was a time that I was a very organized person. My room was not necessarily clean, but I never forgot birthdays or anniversaries, and I always could put my hands on items that I needed. Then I got married, bought a house, got some dogs, and had kids. Now my friends and family are lucky if I get my head out of my butt often enough to look around and notice there is a world out there. I'm making small strides to reorganize my life (or, I should say, our lives), and I hope they lead to bigger steps. These may not seem profound, but they are important to me.

For starters, about 5 months ago I joined the Women in Red Racers . No, it's not a group of women wearing red tennis shoes (as I envisioned when first hearing about them). It's an offshoot of the Women in Red (http://moneycentral.msn.com/community/message/default.aspx) on MSN.com, which is a group of ladies talking about their debts, their savings, the financial state of their households and the world. The Women in Red Racers have chosen to list their debts for all to see and are racing those debts from here into oblivion. If that sounds competitive, it's not. Each woman is merely racing against herself to try to become debt free. It's a nice way to be accountable to yourself and your financial mistakes, all the while remaining anonymous if you so choose.

I do choose to remain anonymous and won't tell you my WIRR screen name, but I do urge you to join if the situation suits you. In 5mos I've cleared out 23% of my debt, and it is a good, good feeling. Knowing that I'm going to be reporting monthly on my debt paydown has made me much more aware of where every dollar is going. DH and I have perpetually been about 2yrs from financial solvency, and finally I think we'll actually get there. I can't wait to see what it feels like.

Other organizational parts of my life involve getting rid of all this baby stuff that the boys will no longer use. It's a bittersweet process--I cried a few months ago when sorting out the 0-6mo clothes to give to a coworker whose daughter was going to bring them to an orphanage in Haiti--but it has to be done. The bigger gear is headed soon for my ILs' house, where it will sit in anticipation of my forthcoming niece or nephew coming to visit. The clothes are going to various places. Some will go to my neighbors' nephew who recently had a little boy join the family, and the rest will go to a local church's consignment sale. Proceeds of which will go toward purchasing gently used play clothes for the boys from the same sale. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

The harder part will be organizer the grownup stuff here in the house. I know I should just do one box at a time. I will. Some day. But first the baby stuff, and then I'll tackle the rest. I'm motivated by the urge to some day see the corners of my house. I know they're there. Somewhere.