Pens and Pencils Challenge
Gawd, I love micro-organizing. My kid’s closet right now is a disaster, but this month is not the month to spend 3 hours emptying it and putting it back together again. This month I needed a micro-project. Let’s make a nice little dent in the general clutter around the house, and do it in a half hour or less.
Step One: gather ALL the pens, pencils, markers, highlighters, sharpies, and whatnot. An adhd hack to make this happen fast: set a 10 minute timer and get searching. Junk drawers, desk pencil holders, purses and backpacks, every “work station”, art supply boxes, etc.,. What if the world was about to get hit by an asteroid, and inexplicably, the only way to stop it is to immediately put every pen you own in a plastic bag. Sometimes a little manufactured urgency can help us stay on task. Competition helps too. See who can find the most pens and pencils in 5 minutes. You might actually get the kids to help.
Step Two: Sit down with your whole collection and a pad of paper. Test each and every one of them. If it doesn’t work, it’s not worthy of your space. For all you hyper-empathisers, don’t feel bad for the pen. It served its purpose, was happy to do it, and is ready to move on.
As you’re testing, you could set a garbage can a few feet away and practice your free throw, sending all the broken pencils and dried up markers to the bin.
OR, Staples, the national chain office supply store, will recycle them for you and give you a coupon for your troubles. I know it’s just a ploy to get bodies in the store, but any corporate chain taking part in responsibly disposing of their industry’s waste, is a step in the right direction.
Step Three: put the good ones away. Consider location. Dry-erase markers near the white board. Is there a good place for a sharpie or two in the kitchen near where you label things? (I write the exp. date on the top of canned goods so finding the oldest ones to eat first is easier)
Maintenance: next time you’re looking for a pen and the one you grab is all dried up, immediately throw it away or put it in the recycling bag. Label that bag. (this is like telling kids to show their work when doing math. You don’t have to save all that info in your brain. Just write it down/put a label on it, and future you will be grateful)
