Category: Organization

Back when I first started to get my research together, I had a single 1-1/2 inch binder with all my documents in it. Then I got all those boxes of information. While I don’t have all that stuff anymore, I still have enough that it’s outgrown the original binder. So I organized that chaos here. And I went ahead and set the binder aside to be used on another project someday. That day came last week. I’ve been reading a lot of organization blogs, hoping to get inspiration to make my bedroom/office into an organized workspace. This is going to take awhile to plan out, but I did get myself a good idea.

The new Genealogy Binder.

This one doesn’t have records in it. It has lists, and I know now that I need lists. I even lucked out with all those extra sheet protectors from the organization project.

Continue reading “My Genealogy Binder” →

I can pinpoint the exact reason for my failure to fulfill my 2012 goals. I didn’t keep to my list. That is definitely why I haven’t had more posts up, and why I always wonder why on earth I didn’t get those things done that I listed at the beginning of every year.

You see, I’ve been reading organization blogs this week and I know now what I have to do. I have to make lists, and checklists. I’ve always been a list person, so I knew this already. It just never occurred to me that I wasn’t a follow through list person. As long as I’m keeping to the list, I’m getting things done. The minute I start flying by the seat of my pajama pants, that’s when things go wrong. So this weekend, I’m going to get a little bit more organized and make my weekly, monthly checklists for my genealogy and my house duties! I’m going to print them out, and put them where I can see them every day. Lists do me no good on the computer, because they’re easily forgotten.

Now I just have to come up with reasonable lists and not overwhelming ones, because that’s a distinct possibility too. Now I just have to go get on the treadmill, it’s the next thing on today’s list. Oy.

One of the things I resolved to improve this year was my blogging. I’m not going to get upset if I’m not able to blog three times a week (Tues, Thurs, Sat/Sun). However, I’ve taken steps to keep myself motivated.

I’ve started a list of “blog ideas”. Sometimes I get blog ideas in the middle of washing the breakfast dishes in the morning. Sometimes it’s while I’m folding the third load of endless laundry. It seems so simple to keep a list but for some reason I’ve never done it. I guess I just assumed my memory would come back as soon as I sat down at the computer to type. Boy am I optimistic!

The list has already served me well, because I can judge how my mood and time will effect each of these ideas. When I get some free time, I can start to research or gather the information I’ll need for each entry. If I find myself with a lot of time on my hands (in my dreams?), then I can start writing the posts in WordPress, and just save them and add to them as my week progresses.

It’s funny how much the idea of free time fluctuates in a busy household. I found myself home alone for the first time in months the other day. Unfortunately, I had no idea what to do with all this time. So I kind of squandered it watching a DVR’d episodes of Real Housewives of Beverley Hills. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, but I feel like if I had consulted my list, I would have accomplished much more! I would have had no interruptions! That would have been the perfect writing time.

I know better now. I’ve learned my weaknesses. Like the one where I’d rather watch Bravo then do laundry, dishes, or be productive. So my personal goal, on top of my genealogy/website ones, is to be more disciplined in how I spend my time.

Now that I’ve owned up to how I went wrong last year, it’s time to set some new goals for the upcoming year!

Genealogy File Goals

1. I want to finally finish getting everyone added into my new, cleaner family file. I’m so close now I can see the finish line!
2. Get everything in the ‘To Be Sorted’ folder, sorted into place or added into a ‘Maybe’ folder for those that no longer fit into my family file due to the cleaner nature.
3. Put together a To Do List for the people in my family file. RootsMagic has a great new Research Log feature I want to utilize and I also want to use the To Do List features in both RootsMagic and FTM2012.

Record Ordering Goals

1. How many records I order depends on how well I budget through the year, so I won’t set a specific number. Really as long as I make forward progress in my research, the number isn’t important. So I will just say I want to make a list of records I’d like to order and where I need to order them from. There’s a great place for this in the new RootsMagic update.

Website Goals

1. Finish the new website design. I have to finish the new website design. I have no problem with the current design but I would like a little more color on my blog. So I’m going to finally sit down and finish the design… or start it again would be more accurate.
2. Make sure the sources on the website are more accurate.

Blogging Goals

1. I’ve been very good about getting my Diary of Llewellyn posts done but I need to fit regular blogging into my new schedule. So I want to at least have 3 non-Diary blogs a week. Maybe two blogs during the week and one on the weekends when I have a little more time.

Alright, I’ve researched my supplies, I’ve made plans, and I’ve used trial and error to go through my chaos of papers. All of this with the help of Elyse Doerflinger‘s book Conquering the Paper Monster. If you feel even a little overwhelmed by the task of organizing your genealogy papers, I definitely recommend this book. I’ve changed my methods a million times in the last 10 years. She explains in very easy to understand terms all the technical terms you may be stuck on. The different types of supplies, the terms you should look for in your supplies. There’s so much information in there and I wouldn’t even dream of trying to reiterate it all here! Just go get the ebook, it’s only a couple of bucks. You’ll spend more on your office supplies then you will the book.

Continue reading “Organizing my Chaos: Part 4” →

I’ve learned some more valuable lessons this week. I recently figured out how to “schedule” posts here on the blog. So I wrote up two entries this weekend and “scheduled” them for Monday and Tuesday respectively. Then I went in Monday night and made some changes to yesterdays post to reflect that I was planning on ordering my office supplies yesterday. Have to keep the space-time continuum you know.

Lesson 1: Don’t schedule a post until you’re sure of the outcome you discuss.

The problem comes up when I got up in the morning. The reason I was trying the schedule method is my mornings are often filled with errands. I thought, “Hey, that could be cool! I write the entry the night before and schedule it for the morning while I’m out!” I think it’ll be a great way to pre-write the GeneaBloggers themes and even my Diary of Llewellyn posts.  When I’m home though, I think I’ll stick to manually posting.

You see, I had every intention of going into town, depositing my pay and coming home to order the supplies I picked out. Somehow in the trips to a million stores, I figured why not just stop by Staples and see what the in store prices were. I had checked online and they were quite a bit more expensive then Office Depot. I was shocked when I got in the store.

Continue reading “Organizing my Chaos: Part 3 and some lessons” →

Okay, I’ve made my decision. I was dogsitting again this weekend, so I have some extra money. This extra money is going to be the start of my genealogy organization fund.

I’m going to have two sections of organization. My mother’s side and my father’s side. Then I’m going to split each section into my 4 great grandparents. So on my father’s side, that would be Moore, Thorward, Redford, and Parkin. On my mother’s side it would be Mays, Moyer, Taylor, and Applegate.

For now I’m going to stick with my Walmart Hanging Folder crates. My hope is that once I’m actually organized, they’ll be more efficient for me.

I’ve ordered my supplies from Office Depot and now I wait for them to get here. Then it’s time to work! These hanging folders come with five of each color and I’m using one color for each of the eight surnames. My current setup has two hanging folders (Moore and Mays) and all the documents are in acid-free sheet protectors. Everything else is just hanging around in no particular order. Everytime I need to find something I have to pour through everything.

Continue reading “Organizing my Chaos: Part 2” →

I’m moving my deadline for the new site design. I know I’ve been working on it forever, but I just didn’t take into account that November and December were to busy to code a new website. I thought I could get it finished in the week after Christmas, but that just didn’t happen either! I don’t know what it is about this year, but I’m busier then I ever have been and yet I feel like nothing I’ve wanted to accomplish got done!

So there’s a new deadline for the site design. The new deadline is when I get it finished. It’s almost done. By almost I mean the nuts and the bolts. The genealogy database section is done and tested. The blog portion is the part I’m working on. Really I’m just fine tuning and testing it now. The only hangup being that I don’t have enough hours left to fine tune and test between now and January 1st.

As you can see, the right sidebar needs a little work, as does some of the blog entry coding. It’ll be worth it in the end because this design was 100% coded by me!

Continue reading “New Year, New Deadline” →

My internet was very spotty last night, so I decided to take the time to work on my Roots Magic source lists. I was going good, but things got out of hand and I ended up putting most of my info into FTM instead of RM. So I decided to start the source list over since I hadn’t gotten much done there anyway. It wasn’t long before my original roadblock came back.

Continue reading “Opinions Welcome” →

Today I was supposed to go into town and visit the LDS Family History Center. It’s been there forever and I’ve never known it.

What kind of genealogist am I?! I know the answer to that, the hermit type. I will get my license by December of this year if I have to save my pennies and give up my Ancestry.com membership to do so. I’ll just have to sacrifice Ancestry for awhile, I can always get it back right? The Ancestry price alone is half of the fee for driving school. I’m not into self torture or I would have given up my website hosting fee too. That wouldn’t do at all. I’ve had this website (moore-mays.org) since May 2003 and we won’t even discuss all my little pet projects that give me joy. No that’s not an option.

Continue reading “My Tools: Microsoft One Note” →