At 4’9 my grandmother was a strong, hard working, loving woman. I remember how her apron pockets always seemed to hold a delicate white handkerchief and little treasures, such as pink semi soft mints.

We always felt so special when Grandma gave us one of those mints or offered her handkerchief to wipe our little noses. My mother also used her pockets to hold a handkerchief and today, in my pockets, there are always tissues handy. Our pockets have been well used.

Similar to the pockets on our clothing, we all have pockets… pockets of time. We may have a 10 to 15 minutes ‘pocket’ of time during the day as we sit waiting for something to get done or procrastinating the start of a large project. Those small pockets of time have the potential to be productive and very rewarding!

“What can I use those pockets for?” you may be asking. Here are a couple of ideas: take off that old nail polish, better yet call for a manicure appointment, read a magazine article you have been meaning to get to, straighten up the bathroom counter, dust the pictures in your room, call an old friend and have a short chat, crop some photos for scrap booking, or slip them into a sleeve of an album, make a grocery list for that “inevitable grocery run”, clean out your purse/wallet, throw away those old receipts. The list can go on and on.

You get the idea! Simply, by using these little pockets of time you won’t be so overwhelmed with all you have to do. Soon people will be saying to you, “You get more done than anyone I know!” And you can think, “It’s because I use my pockets.”

A few years ago I was giving my 10 year old daughter instructions on cleaning her room and the things that needed to be put away, where to put them etc. I was going a mile a minute just picturing the progress she would make with my expert advice when she said to me “MOM, ISN’T THERE A TUESDAY?”

That brought me up short. I didn’t know what she meant until I stopped to think what she was saying. When we get an idea that we are going to organize and everything will be perfect right now, —remember the saying: “Rome wasn’t built in a day”—we don’t need to get everything de-cluttered and organized in one day.

By taking things one step at a time we will accomplish what we want to get accomplished and be organized with the least amount of stress. When I was helping another daughter move her things out of a storage shed 2 years ago the task looked so daunting she wondered out loud how were we ever going to get the task done. Her friend spoke up and said, “Just like the ants do it, one thing at a time”.

So, when tackling a room, a box, the kitchen cupboards, or that closet that will hardly close just remember there IS a Tuesday and just like the ants– do it one thing at a time.

Last September I visited Boston and ate at Durgin-Park, touted as “Boston’s most famous dining rooms in the shadow of Faneuil Hall.” “Their sign said “Established Before You Were Born”. (Now that’s old)
We were ushered up some old, steep wooden stairs to the dining room where we shared a table with 3 other delightful older women from Louisiana. In the course of conversation when I said I was a creative organizer, going into people’s homes and offices to help them organize, one of the women asked me if my closets and drawers were organized. I immediately answered yes, they were.
That question stayed with me and on returning home I took an inventory of my closets and drawers. I have a saying “things just get undone”. One week a drawer can be just how you want it, you can find everything and the next week it is in chaos. That is just life and how it goes.
Did I need to take my own advice that I give to others? YES and I DID.

Do you know what is on top of Faneuil Hall in Boston? They called it the spy buster during the Revolutionary War. ….….Till next time

Marilyn 
Get It Together Organizing