At Last! Retiring for GOOD!

It's been good. My house is on the road to organization. In other words, small pockets of it are cleared out. I have a LONG way to go. Part of this, I realized after talking to my sister-in-law, whose home I'd always thought perfectly lovely, is that the modern no longer goes through this purge process once a year (Spring Cleaning). I never valued it before, but doing a regular yearly 'turn-out' is something desperately needed in American life. It might be a good plan for a small business, for someone who is mega-organized. Not a professional organizer, but just someone who can come in and nudge that person to: Put away in some organized fashion Give away Sell Throw out This can be an overwhelming task, needing weeks of planning, moving stuff out of where it's at, cleaning the containers, and putting back ONLY what should be kept. It's not a fast process. I'm doing it in bite-sized hunks. Much more, and I'd be facing massive back issues,...

This is one of the BIG things I have to do over the next 3 months or so. We have a ridiculous amount of loose paper around our house. This paper onslaught comes from several sources: Work papers Paycheck stubs, communiques from our benefits department, receipts Related to professional activities PD (professional development) Continuing coursework and CEUs Mailing list items, catalogs, random CD/DVDs PTRA - we provide workshops for teachers - this will continue even after retirement Student work - this will be less of a problem, as I will no longer be generating these. But, Den still has responsibilities to maintain records and grade papers Financial Bills Financial investments Banking statements Refunds in process, warranties Taxes Hobby/Church Radio and electronics (me) - I recently built a workbench in the attic, and will be moving most, if not all, of my gear to that space Magazines, mailing offers Church bulletins, Catechist paperwork and materials, ref...

Den and I were kicking around this very topic last night: What do you wan t your retirement to look like? Ways to get things done I'm changing life-long habits My husband indicated that he wants to see changes in how we do things at home. He wants me to schedule weekly chores, and become more organized (OK, he's right that I could definitely benefit from this). I set up an erasable calendar, with just a few things scheduled. Later, once I get those things a part of a routine, I can add more stuff. I have two calendars: Monthly - it's erasable, and has been a great help in getting my commitments in front of my husband (I've try using online calendars, but he doesn't look at them). It's also helped me in daily/weekly planning. A workweek-only one under the monthly one, with room for daily tasks/reminders. So far, this system has been working for me. Catholicism My husband picked up a couple of the Matthew Kelly books at church. The organiza...