As I’m sure you’ve heard (or experienced, depending on where you are in the country), it’s been unseasonably warm around these parts. This time of year always inspires me to do a deep cleaning of my things including lots of weeding of unwanted items. Growing up, I was something of a packrat. While I’m mostly reformed now, this means I still have lots of old items that I don’t use regularly and can get discarded. Unfortunately for me, I’m extremely busy this semester, what with teaching a class and working on things for the theatre. In fact, this week I’ll be out every single evening leaving precious little time for organizing. So, in lieu of actually doing it myself, here’re some organizing tips for those of you who may not find spring cleaning quite as exciting as I do.

• Do a little—but just one area—at a time. Even I can’t clean for hours on end. Instead of picking up one item from the desk, making the bed, then skipping to the pantry, commit to doing one small area from start to finish. By doing the desk today and leaving the bed until tomorrow, you’ll feel much more accomplished when one area is completely clean and useable.
• Be ruthless. Don’t keep anything you “might need someday.” If it doesn’t fit, you’re not using it, or you can’t remember why you bought it in the first place, throw it out. Sure, months from now you may need to buy a new item, but in the meanwhile, you’ll be living with less stuff.
• Don’t put anything away until it’s ready to use. If that roll of twine is coming undone or your pants need to be hemmed, wind it up or get the alterations done before putting the item back in its place. That way, when you go to use something, it’s in proper working order and the task at hand is made much easier.
• Discard multiples. Who needs 100 pens? Or 60 pairs of shoes? Or a drawer full of twist-ties? Sometimes just a few is more than sufficient.
• Spice up your closet. Some herbs and spices such as cinnamon, pine, and lavender, can help protect your stored winter clothing from insects. Plus it’s a sensory treat when you unpack those items in the fall!

I’m always looking for brilliant tricks to streamline my cleaning process. What tips do you have to speed up your spring cleaning or to make it more fun?

Yesterday, as happens every few months, I spent over twelve hours in the basement of the local community center. This is because every couple of months the community theatre I referenced the other day holds auditions for its new production. In yesterday’s case, we were auditioning youth and young adults for The Wizard of Oz. As auditions typically are, the day was very long and filled with nervous actors, parents asking multitudes of questions, and frustrations over who would be precisely the right choice for a particular role. All that said, auditions are one of my favorite days of the year. Chaotic though they may be, auditions are when my true talent, organizing, comes through.

I spend my typical day working in information technology. I’ve been playing with computers for a long time and am pretty good at troubleshooting problems and explaining to folks how to better use their software, but my real ability lies in organizing information. I simply adore making lists, making sure databases have all the proper bits of information in their fields, color coding, and filing. In truth, I’d probably make a spectacular personal assistant, which is really a shame because being a personal assistant does not require a college degree and does not pay very well. So, in lieu of making organizing my full-time job, I take great pleasure in getting everything in order for a day of auditions. What could be better than preparing audition forms—copying them double-sided to stay green and reduce the increased paper shuffling—compiling the list of actors who will be sharing their talents, stapling together forms, headshots, and theatrical résumés, and assigning numbers to help my directors stay more organized? Though many would surely say that sounds miserable, I can’t imagine anything better. (Well, aside from perhaps drinking a glass of wine with friends in an avant garde art gallery somewhere.) Especially amongst creatives who typically have difficulty remaining organized and focused, I really feel like my ability is unique and helpful.