The first step was to gather up all of the piles and bins of semi-organized documents (I'm sure more will turn up). Next I spent a couple of hours doing a quick sort by surname and in some cases locality. Fortunately, I had been organizing and sorting in spurts along the way so the pile wasn't a complete disorganized mess. The problem I have is that life gets in the way and the half organized papers get stuffed in a pile somewhere and forgotten.
I had a file drawer in the room where I work that would be a perfect place to house these papers, so I cleaned it out and threw most of the stuff away. Yeah!! Using the advice of my daughter's fourth grade teacher that "the brain loves color," I decided to color code the files by my four grandparents' lines and file by surname within those four colors.
Hopefully with these files within easy reach of my workspace, I will make some good progress on processing the results of some of my research.
© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum
OOOOOO, nice. Come do mine??? LOL And, to think, that I was happy to find my kitchen table this week, err, well, the surface of same.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it fun to see progress and neatness once in awhile to our digging madness? I know I need to organize a bit again myself. How are you liking your class?
ReplyDeleteCarol, I seem to be having the same problem with my dining room table right now. At least I have until Thanksgiving to get it cleared off!
ReplyDeleteCheryl, I am breathing a sigh of relief that this set of papers is at least all together, nice and neat in one place so I can find things. Now if it all would just magically process, analyze, and file itself in its final home with the proper ancestors. Ha ha! I do like the class because it is forcing me to choose some goals and work on them.
good to read, I Just got to dive In and do it.....
ReplyDeletedecisions and a plan is the basic start!!
I used to print scan/ copy stuff on backs and had other different stuff on the back with seven pages of this and ten of the other and maybe three different trees. Oh the paper accumulation to recopy it to file it. and try and sort it... headache/
Isn't great to have everything organized! I love being able to locate things quickly. My paper file system and my computer system are the same. It makes sending info to family via email easy and fast. My mother's cousin contacted me for naturalization papers and I emailed them back with minutes of her email. She was amazed, I felt proud. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteRootdigger, I feel your pain, I've done the same thing with putting multiple items on the same page many times. I still catch myself doing it on occassion.
ReplyDeleteYes, decisions and a plan is the start and the hardest part.
Amy, Thanks for the encouragement!
What a good idea! I've just been trying to figure out how to organize the digital files I haven't sourced and analyzed, etc. Maybe the same technique will work for these. Thanks!
ReplyDeletePat
genealogygals.com/blog
What a great idea! I've been trying to figure out how to organize the digital files (downloaded death certs, census images, etc.) that are in the same category of not being processed yet. I think I'll try to set up a series of files on the computer that work that way. Thanks!
ReplyDeletePat
genealogygals.com/blog
You have inspired me :) I think I shall set this coming week end aside to actually put the filing cabinet I bought to use... Probably wll take more then the weekend but it's a start.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing with us.
Loved the post! I've had everything organized and then collected more on trips home and find that I need to do it again! I know how I will be spending a Saturday soon! :)
ReplyDeleteCheryl, It's never ending isn't it?
ReplyDelete