British Expatriate Network

Are you organized? So organized that you never lose anything, know where everything is in your home and never forget a birthday or aniversary? Or are you so disorganized that your family and friends know not to ask you about anything lol

Are you somewhere in the middle where you can organize yourself with some things but not others. Are you organized in your bill paying but forget remembering dad's birthday. Or bills get paid at the very last minute because you keep forgetting, or you are even late with them, but your house is so tidy and pristine that it looks and feels like a show home. Or are you organized at work so let it go at home?

I haven't decided where I am on the organized scale yet but I can tell you it isn't in the home roll

Nope. Not all. Never seem to have enough time to organize my stuff. I would rate as very much down on the "organized" scale of things I'm afraid.

I'm pretty poor at organizing, I rely on my wife to remember BD and aniversaries.

Thank goodness for automatic debit/credit banking I don't have to worry about that.

Im pretty meticulous about putting things in there assigned place .
I pay all the bills usually though bank drafts/auto credits /debits i dont usually pay much attention to birthdays ourtside of the direct family and of course i remember our anniversary ( forget that at your peril guys ) .
i do tend to put my glasses down and forget where i put them and same with cell phone someetimes have to call myself on the wifes cell to find location .

Kind of vague here. If it's a book, odds on I can find it, if it's a bill, not so much.
Was channel surfing the other day and came across a program called Real Simple, they have a magazine too, they were organizing a closet with cardboard boxes for out of season clothes and shelf canvas hangers for sweaters. I was thrown at the point, I don't have that many sweaters.
I guess my organization skills apply only to my interests. The kitchen, the garden and the books. Oh and maybe the music collection. Other than that, bloody awful.

I am very disorganized roll But the strange thing is if I can't put my hand on something I need because I have failed to put it where it belongs all I have to do is stop panicking, concentrate on when and where I last had the said object and then nine out of ten times I find what I am looking for.

Paying bills on time was always my big problem and as someone said thank goodness for automatic bill pay, it's been a god send to me! I'm pretty good at remembering birthdays etc and the house stays some what organised but that's mostly down to Mick lol He is the neat and tidy one out of the two of us which does help as I never have time to be a spick and span housekeeper (more important and enjoyable things to do in our life!)

We work in cycles, things get out of control and then we have a big clear-out, tidyup, and set up systems for things such as bill paying. Then slowly we let it slip until things are out of control again.

Much the same scenario for cleaning, laundry and dog training... mrgreen

I am organised where I need to be and disorganised where I don't!

Right now the house is a tip and I am trying to organise it - but the biggest problem is too much stuff! (My head is full of too much stuff also.) Of course in my efforts to become organised I acquire more stuff to put my stuff in and then when it doesn't all fit it's very tedious.

I would like to know how and where to draw the line between what to keep and what to get rid of - every item ahs a story - and unless I can detach myself from that story it has value to me and I want to keep it!!!!

Help!!!

Afraid I'm the same as Kentgirl.
I try to organise only to find it more stuff to find a place for.
I do manage to pay the bills on time but also mislay the odd one or two everyother month or so.
At the mo I'm sorting my bedroom, as it got to where I can barely get aroung in there. I keep dumping stuff in there from other rooms that really would go in there if I could get a plumber in to do the baths upstairs and then get all the walls finished and bedroom finished.

Anyway needless to say I am a disorganised mess. Luckily my significant other is a neat freak and has the outdoors looking neat and tidy.

I'm somewhere in the middle. I can be quite organsied with some things but terrible with others.

Very organised but problems occur when I rely on others or they interfere in some way.

How organised would you be if you only had to look after yourself?

I'm a bit fussy about things around the house. I remember family birthdays and anniversaries. My wife is a complete slob so that leads to many arguments, threats, demands that all disappear in a puff of smoke in 5 minutes flat.

My stepdaughter believes we are on the doorsteps of divorce because we can really go at it and forget about an argument in the space of 3 minutes.

Not sure if it will help or incur more expense and buying, but what we do is relegate stuff to the trunks in the garage. Piles of stuff accumulate on the landing and in corners of rooms and after a few months we back the cars out of the garage, get down one of the many trunks we have stacked at the side, go through it, chuck out stuff we don't remember and no longer want, stuff we haven't missed and put the new stuff in. We work on a basis of if you don't miss it for a year you don't really need it. We're really good at this, mind, we do have 12 metal travel trunks :roll:

Now that is a good question! One person.... one job to do..... one life to live..... No more multi-tasking 24/7 for a start! Sounds good.

I was a multi-tasker at work when I was single, but only had to think of myself and my own concerns once I left the building. Nowadays I have to compartmentalise my thoughts because I cannot think of more than one thing at a time, which is hard when you have fifty things to do in a day.

I relate my thoughts to my location. The minute I get to work I think only of work-related tasks. The minute I am back in my car I think of shopping lists. The moment I am at home I remember all the chores and who needs to be where when etc.

Problems arise when there is a change in routine or when a work matter arises at home and vice versa. I am a church secretary and I can happily type my husband's name on a volunteer rota for church activities, but then completely forget about it at home and forget to relate my husband with the name I typed. I know it makes no sense but there it is.

I have also volunteered myself to do things on dates when we are not even here :roll:

Define organized.

My place is a dump (Ben will testify to that).
But I can pretty much find what I need when I need it.

I'm often on the last minute, but we get everywhere we're supposed to be and I do everything I've said I would (and that's a lot).

If you had asked this question several months ago, I'd've answered "Hell NO!, my house looks like a jumble sale in the worst part of town", but as we left the Preschool -where I've been president for 3 years and treasurer for 1, and as I leave the treasurer position at the elementary school, so many people have gone out of their way to tell me that they appreciate how organized. methodical and on-the-ball I am, I often think "have they got the right person?" And one of the things they mention is that I can deal with short notice changes of plan. Now to me, I can deal with them because I keep it all fluid, but apparently others view this as organization. Who knew putting of definite plans until the last possible minute could be considered organization? lol

So it really does depend on your definition. Our stuff isn't organized, but I can find almost anything pretty quickly among the piles of junk on the floor in every room -and I mean anything! Our lives are busy, the calendar's always changing, but can usually manage to fit a new item in. It that organized or are we entering the realms of chaos theory? Is there a difference?