I’m delaying the inevitable. There are so many things I’d rather be doing than starting on my paperwork. A trip to Hobby Lobby for some spritzer bottles would be one of the things I want to do. Read a book and recline in my chair would be another. Veg out in front of the television would also be a good way to spend the day. Or, how about a nap. They all sound good.
Discipline. Doing what I don’t want to do but needs to be done. Get started on a dreaded project and it will get done quicker. The “Peter Principle” states that “The time alloted to do a task expands exponentially to fit the time frame” – or something like that. What this means is that my three week job of sorting, sifting, shredding, filing and QuickBook entries can be done in the three weeks or drag on until December 31, 2010….whichever I allow it to do.
Sitting at this computer and working on this blog is another thing that will delay this project…but I want you all to feel sorry for me and see all the work I have to do 🙂
Picked up our mail
Our Postal workers deserve to be recognized for the extra work they do for us. Most other Postal workers would send all the mail back to where it came from if the box is not emptied in a timely manner.
I so appreciate our Postal workers and try to give them a “goody” of some kind around the winter holidays. This year I’ve got to figure out a good way to thank them for what they do.
Since we are hardly home during the year, they fill the box then remove it and bundle it and put it in a large packages box to hold for us until we get home to empty it. This is today’s loot and both of the boxes are cleared out. Hopefully they won’t grumble too much when they get to our mail this week. It will be emptied on a daily basis now for a change.
Last foray to the mail box
The last time we were home and emptied the mail boxes, I went through and got the bills that need to be paid and took them with me. What remains on the counter top are settlement sheets, bank statements, and general mail that does not need immediate attention.
I have a good case of the “piles” when I get home for the winter. Nearly every flat surface has some kind of a pile on it that will need my attention at some point.
All the crap that comes in the mail drives me nuts. Grocery store flyers that have expired, a little local newspaper that everyone gets in their box, politicians hawking their skills and wanting our votes are tucked in the box. Plus Joe gets a lot of magazines. Office supply catalogs clog up our box too.
IKEA bag
Trip envelopes
I sure wish this IKEA bag had more fun stuff in it than trip envelopes, settlement sheets, Corporate Lodging receipts, bank statements, grocery slips, electric bills, mortgage payments, Stampin’ Up! order invoices, and a myriad of other mail detritis that is part and parcel to my bookkeeping stuff.
Looks daunting. My recliner and a good book is really beginning to look enticing right now.
Printed email receipts
Stuff I've put off
My well used printer has Corporate Lodging receipts printed out from my email account, receipts from Stampin’ Up! for my monthly website payments, and any payments made online during a bit of time at home, as well as any online bank transfer of money from one account to another.
Whoever said that the computer age would do away with paper clutter had to have been taking a few tokes from the wacky weed. I have paper clutter up the wazoo.
My desk
I have paper piles on my desk that will need to be sorted out and cleared off before I can begin making my huge mess. I have no place to write anything or to stack stuff for the computer entry process.
I think I might just turn the television on and watch some stuff that has been recorded while we were gone. The new episodes of “Medium” or “Ace of Cakes” sound good about now.
Maybe I’ll hire someone to do all this for me. No, then I would have to explain how I want it all done, sorted, filed, and entered. Might as well just do it myself, it would go faster that way. Anal control freak – me.
Previous years records
Filed neatly
Giving the task to someone else to do would deprive me of the satisfaction of knowing that everything is in the current years boxes and can be accessed easily.
All these boxes, I know I only need to keep the past seven years of records. But to lift the lids on these and see everything properly done is satisfying to me. Crazy lunatic I am but I know that all the mess I have in the piles and piles, bags, boxes, and flat surfaces will finally be reduced to a plastic bin.
Don’t pay much attention to the mess on our bed. I’ve had to go through the suitcase and take out all my clothes and load it with Joe’s clothes. Can’t have him pulling out a pair of my underwear instead of his when he changes clothes, now can we. It would be funny, and might be good blog fodder 🙂
My trusty timer
If I’ve learned anything from Flylady, it is “You can do ANYTHING in 15 minutes”. So…I’ll set the timer for 15 minutes and sort through the IKEA bag. The next 15 minutes will be going through the bundled mail and shredding all the junk mail and throwing away all the flyers and newspapers that have expired. The next 15 minutes will be to gather up all the settlement sheets and bank statements and getting them in date order.
Tomorrow, I’ll let you know of my progress, or lack of it. Maybe making myself accountable with this blog and adding photos of my work in progress will keep me on task – or not. I do have my “Carrot and Stick”. Get some work done today and I can play in my craft room tomorrow 🙂
Hope you guys all enjoy a good week. It will be windy here today and a bit chilly. A good day to stay indoors and do some work.
Foolishness and Mayhem 