1.16.2012

Task Jar

Happy Monday readers!

As I've been reflecting on the blog and considering future posts, I realized it has been quite a while since I've updated y'all on my life.  Sure I post my day-to-day activities, but I haven't filled you in on some of the 'big' things that have been going on.

As you know I finished my student teaching in December and have now completed my Bachelors of Science in Psychology and my Masters of Teaching in Elementary Education.  Rather than trying to find a full-time teaching job immediately I decided that I would give myself a little time to relax and also get to know the schools in the area through substitute teaching.  Additionally, as I mentioned in this post, I was accepted into Teach for America in Memphis.  It was a big decision for me and I ultimately declined the offer.  I think TFA does really great things, however, I was hearing a lot of mixed messages from people I know currently in the program and because I am so happy with things the way they are now, I decided staying at home and pursuing a job here was the right path for me.

My plan was to give myself a break through the holidays and start subbing in the New Year...well I'm waiting for paperwork to process so that I can attend training, etc and have not yet started subbing as much as I would like.  I've had A LOT of down time, and am honestly getting a little stir crazy and ready to get back to work.

I've been trying to think of what projects or things I could do to fill my time constructively while I'm in this limbo phase and a big one has been to get organized.  I tend to be a neat freak (maybe even a tad OCD) but since moving home and being so busy with student teaching, Bryce, and friends, my room has taken the back burner.  It is a mess!  It also could use some serious TLC--not only do I have things crammed in it from my childhood but also things I accumulated during four years of college.  I really want to tackle my room face on, but when there's so much to do, the task can be a bit daunting and it's hard to know where to start...so now I bring you the idea of a TASK JAR!  I actually got the idea from Bryce's stepmom (they're planning on implementing one to make changes in their house).  The concept is simple--you fill a jar with "tasks" that you want to get done.  Her idea was that you pull a task out of the jar on Sunday.  You then have Monday-Friday to get any and all materials necessary for the task and make a plan.  Then during the weekend, Friday-Sunday you get the task done.  Most of the things in my room do not require a lot of time and planning ahead, so I'm stealing her idea but tweaking it for me.  When I have some down time to get in my room I'll simply pull out a task and plunge into it.

I cut up pink and green notecards to write down my tasks and placed them in a cute bowl I painted a few years ago:

My Task Jar

The tasks inside include:
  • Books (I have tons of books in my closet that I just need to clean out)
  • Shoes (I need to go through decide which shoes to keep, which to repair, and which to get rid of)
  • Teaching Books (the teacher at my school was nice enough to donate a ton of her old teaching books to me, I now need to go through them and decide which I'd like to keep)
  • Jewelry (you guessed it--what do I want to keep and get rid of?)
  • Desk (the drawer in my desk is basically a junk drawer--time to clean out!)
  • Under-the-Bed Storage (I have tee shirts, etc stored in drawers under the bed and let's face it, how many sorority tees do I really need now?)
  • Games (I store a ton of board games, etc in my closet and need to clean out)
  • Beauty Things (I can't tell you how many creams, etc I have that I just will never use)
  • Headbands and Hair Accessories (ditto the last bullet)
And last, but finally not least:
  • BLOG SALE!  I have some really great clothes (some even with tags still on them) that I am planning to get rid of, so I'm in the process of trying to organize it all into a blog sale!
What do y'all think?  Would you ever create a task jar?  I also love the idea of it being expanded to other things, maybe weekend activities you want to do with your family (bowling, movie night, cook dinner together, etc), for example.

What do you think?  How do you get started when you have a lot to accomplish?

Have a great day!