organization – Emily Read, PhD, RN

Alright, it is time to write about September. This month I’ve been taking a closer look at all my clothing and stuff, and here is my conclusion:

I have too much stuff.

That’s it; that’s the post.

Just kidding… but I do have a lot of stuff and much of it is clothing (and fabric). Not only because I have three growing boys and I am a woman, but because one of my hobbies is sewing clothes.

As I mentioned, I moved at the end of August. Apparently, the average number of moves in a lifetime is between 8–12. This was almost my 40th move. That’s a lot of moving, and I’m hoping my next one will be the last move for a really long time! This move has also come with some pretty big life changes, so I’ve been doing a lot of sorting through things and figuring out what I want to keep, what I need, and what I’m ready to pass along.

It really wasn’t a big deal to move when I lived in a residence room or a small apartment, but having kids and more space naturally leads to accumulation of clothing, toys, books, house stuff, etc. It all comes in, gets used/enjoyed, and then it leaves.

I think there are basically three main things that need to happen to manage the stuff: 1) Input management, 2) Management of current belongings, and 3) Exit management (hand down, donate, sell, discard).

Importantly, making decisions about input has downstream effects on the other steps. Less stuff in = less stuff to manage and deal with when you no longer need or want it (or it is unusable).

Way to state the obvious, right?

Well, sure. But it’s not always easy to make these decisions.

Broken BBQ? Easy to replace—toss it. Super-heavy, pain-in-the-butt-to-move cable weight machine? Keep it (obviously!)… one more move to go…

It’s not just the amount of stuff I have, but the amount of work that comes with having it. Buying it, organizing it, cleaning it, storing it, moving it, and eventually figuring out what to do with it. None of these things is particularly difficult on its own (especially when you are not moving), but it all adds up.

I’d rather spend my time doing other things.

Clothing

Clothing is both easier and harder for me to manage than a lot of other belongings. Bodies change, as do styles and life stages. The kids just keep getting bigger, so that cycle is pretty easy to manage seasonally.

Well, easy in theory.

In practice, keeping track of clothing for three growing boys takes a fair bit of work. What fits? What will fit next season? What can be passed down (or not)? What do I need to buy? And where did I put those winter boots that I know I bought on sale last year?

I started trying to manage all of this with a Google spreadsheet. Nothing fancy, just a way to keep track of what each kid has, what they need, and what can be passed down. The biggest pain was adding pictures. I wanted to be able to see what we had, not just read a list of clothing items. And getting pictures into the spreadsheet was a pain in the butt.

So, I started wondering if I could make an app instead. I’ve been experimenting with AI-assisted app development, and this seemed like a good opportunity to try building something that would actually be useful.

I’m now almost done creating an app to replace the cumbersome spreadsheet and make it easier to manage my kids’ clothing, outdoor gear, and sports equipment. It’s been a lot of work, but also really fun! I’m also exploring the idea of turning this and a few other projects into a little side business.

So much for simplifying my life, right?

At the very least, I’d like to stop buying things we already have. Like another pair of snow pants when there’s a perfectly good pair sitting in a bin somewhere.

As for me, some clothes were really easy to pass along. It’s been a long time since I’ve had any use for Saturday nights at the ‘Vil outfits or Snowball formal dresses. I’m done having babies, so all my maternity clothes have been passed on.

Other things, for whatever reason (no good reason?), I’ve been holding on to. This includes a few pairs of jeans that are currently too small but maybe I’ll fit back into, my powerlifting singlet (I haven’t competed for 10 years at this point and I’m not sure I will again), and some handmade pieces that I’m hesitant to part with because I made them.

Why does one hold on to such things? Hope? Memories? An old version of ourselves that we’re not ready to say goodbye to?

I’m not sure. Maybe it doesn’t matter.

At any rate, my actual usable clothing (things that fit, look presentable, and I like) is where I should probably focus my attention.

I have a lot of clothes, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into having a lot of things I want to wear. Some things don’t fit quite right, some are more suited to a different time in my life, and some I just don’t particularly like anymore.

So, rather than getting rid of everything or buying a bunch of new clothes, I want to figure out what I actually have, what I wear, and what I need.

What goes together? What am I missing? What, if anything, should I alter or repair? And what am I keeping around for no particularly good reason?

I also need to take a look at my fabric stash. Sewing is a hobby that I really enjoy, but it’s easy to get carried away with buying fabric and planning projects. There is something very appealing about the possibility of making something. Actually finding the time to make it is another story.

And, of course, just because I can make something doesn’t mean I should.

I think this is really where the input management piece comes in. I’m not particularly interested in having a minimalist wardrobe, and I certainly don’t want to stop sewing. But I would like to be a little more intentional about what I buy and make.

Maybe I don’t need another dress. Maybe what I really need is a pair of pants that goes with the tops I already own. Maybe I should use some of the fabric I have before buying more. Working on it!

Sometimes it’s not the stuff. It’s the space.

Something else I’ve been thinking about since moving is how much our physical space affects our ability to manage all this stuff.

For example, in my current rental home I have a giant, awesome boot room. It has a place for everyone’s coats, boots, shoes, backpacks, hats, mittens, and all the other things that come and go from the house. It’s a huge upgrade from the split-entry situation in the last house (definite dealbreaker for my next home!).

With three boys, there is a lot of stuff that needs to be accessible each season. And I don’t think the solution is necessarily to have fewer things. We live in New Brunswick, Canada, where we have four distinct seasons, and often multiple weather situations in the same day. We need different kinds of footwear, coats, hats, etc.

We also have lots of gear and equipment for several sports and activities. I think it’s really important for kids to learn fundamental movement skills and have the opportunity to try different things. To keep costs down, I often pick up a pair of skates or cleats, etc. at thrift stores or yard sales when I see them. Obviously, this contributes to having a lot of stuff right now, but I know the boys will use it eventually. And when they outgrow it, I can pass it along to someone else. Eventually, it all goes through the cycle.

I’ve been thinking about this as I consider what I’d like in my next house. Rather than just looking at the number of bedrooms or square footage, I’m thinking about what we actually need to do in our home and how the space can support those things. I’ve noticed a lot of new homes lack functional storage spaces. We need linen closets and storage rooms and boot rooms, especially with kids. Many older homes have dressers and china cabinets thoughtfully built into the walls. Bring it back!

A boot room isn’t particularly exciting in the grand scheme of things, but having somewhere for the kids to come in, take off their outdoor gear, and put everything away without creating a giant pile by the door sounds pretty awesome to me. Better yet, a boot room that connects the garage to the house would be all that and a bag of chips.

So, what’s the plan?

I guess my conclusion is that I don’t necessarily want to get rid of everything. I like having things. I like sewing. I like books. I like having the things we need to do fun and interesting things as a family.

I just don’t want to spend so much time managing it all.

So now I’m going to go through my clothing, figure out what I have, what I wear, and what I actually need. I’m also going to take stock of my fabric and try to be a little more intentional about what I buy and make.

And I’ll finish making my app, because I think there is an opportunity to make managing the kids’ gear a whole lot easier.

I’m not aiming for some magical number of clothing items or a perfectly organized closet. I just want to have things that I like, that fit, and that I actually use. Ideally, without having to sort through a whole bunch of other stuff to find them.

Maybe having less stuff is part of the answer. Maybe better systems and better spaces are another part.

At any rate, I’d like to have a little less to pack when move number 40 comes around.

Except the cable weight machine.

That’s coming with me.

The end of term is a busy time that often involves a lot of final assessment activities for the courses you are teaching. It can be challenging to go the extra distance to make sure that you stay organized during the transition from one semester to the next. Today I’m going to share with you what I consider the “must-dos” to close out your semester, stay organized, and learn and grow as a teacher.

1. Submit your final grades on time

This should be low-hanging fruit but you’d be surprised how many faculty members either do not keep track of the deadlines for grade submission or struggle to get all of their grading done on time (especially with final papers/essays). You need to know your institution’s policy and dates for submitting final grades. It is very helpful to add the relevant dates for each course you teach to your calendar and plan your assignments and exams in a way that gives you enough time to grade them and submit the final grades on time.

As an aside, we usually underestimate how much time it takes to grade assignments so it can also be helpful to do some time tracking when you grade so that you have a more realistic estimate of the time you will need to block off in your calendar for this. Time tracking is simply keeping track of the amount of time you spend doing things and can be as basic as writing it on a piece of paper or in a Word document. Even timing grading a random sample of papers can give you a decent estimate of your average grading time for that assignment.

Obviously, it will vary by course, level, quality of writing, etc. but moving forward, this information can help you make informed decisions about the assignments you develop for your courses. There is also the whole AI thing which means we could be (some are) moving away from more traditional scholarly papers or essays or that we need to allocate more time to grading smaller scaffolded assignments throughout the term. We may (probably) also need more time to deal with AI cheating issues for some types of assignments. Even so, you need to get your grades in on time and make a plan that allows you to do that.

2. Clean up and organize your teaching files

You should have a personal filing system that makes it easy for you to find information. Personally, I have a main folder called TEACHING with a subfolder for each of the different courses I’ve taught and another level of subfolders by year for the courses that I have taught multiple times. You might prefer to organize by year. There isn’t one best way to organize your files but you do need a system that is consistent and works for you.

When it comes to teaching, there are basically three types of files: 1) content that you’ve created for teaching and learning, 2) content that others have created that you are using for teaching and learning while minding copyright laws (e.g., book chapters, journal articles, etc.), and 3) content that your students have created during the course (e.g., assignments, discussion posts, exams, etc.).

In my view, the student-created content and your evaluations of it require the most consideration due to privacy concerns and the potential for grade appeals. As a general rule, I would recommend finding out how long you are required to keep student work at your institution and then deleting the student work once that time has passed. For example, if you need to keep it for 1 year, then at the end of this term you would delete/electronically shred all student work from the Winter 2023 term. This includes discussion posts in your LMS.

The exception to this would be excellent work that you would like to use for accreditation/program review purposes or as examples to share with future classes. If you would like to save specific pieces of work from students for these purposes, you should ask them for permission to save and share their work in those ways now and file it in a special folder. The best time to ask students is now after you’ve just taught them (and after submitting final grades). Generally, I would ask for this permission via email and then if the student replies giving their written permission, I save the email thread as a PDF in the folder with their assignment.

The other types of files that you have (created by you and resources created by others) can be kept indefinitely in your personal filing system. I like to have folders organized by class or by week of the course and then a separate folder for assignments. I also create a brand new folder for each time I teach the same course. While this does create some duplication, it means that I have an archived version of the course for each time I taught it. Note that I always update and revise my courses to improve them so no two offerings are identical.

3. Read your student teaching evaluations

It might not be your favourite thing to do, but you really do need to read your student evaluations. Yes, there are known problems with student teaching evaluations – most students are not experts in teaching and learning, people have personal biases that negatively affect their ratings of women and members of minority groups who are professors, hard classes/subjects are viewed less favourably than others, and students with strong extreme opinions are most likely to complete the evaluation – however, there can still be helpful nuggets that can help you improve as a teacher so I wouldn’t advise ignoring them or sticking your head in the sand.

I would advise you not to take the feedback personally and to approach your teaching evaluations like a researcher instead. This is data after all. Print out your evaluations and go through them with different coloured highlighters. First, highlight all of the positive feedback in one colour. Then, highlight the negative feedback in another colour. I would ignore comments that are irrelevant to teaching (for example, comments about your appearance which yes, does happen when you are a woman). Look for common themes in each category. Are students consistently saying they didn’t like the textbook? Is there a 50:50 split on loving and hating an active learning strategy that you used? What is the data telling you overall? Write a brief summary of the overall feedback and consider what you might do differently next time to improve your teaching and students’ learning. You might also want to talk to your teaching support center or colleagues, do some research about the scholarship of teaching, or attend a teaching professor conference. Excellence does not require perfection, but it does require effort and there is always more to learn.

4. Take a day off (at least)

Lastly, it’s important to take at least a day off and decompress after a busy few weeks. Go do things that you enjoy and let go of the stresses of the semester. If you can take a vacation (at least a full week) I would highly encourage you to. Sometimes it feels like there is never a good time to take one but it is super important for your health and wellbeing, and, perhaps counterintuitively, taking vacation benefits your productivity at work long-term. Burnt-out people are not productive people so let’s avoid going down the burnout path 😉

And that’s it for today. Go wrap up your teaching semester and enjoy a well-deserved break~!

Tag: organization

September: Too Much Stuff