So far during the previous seven days of October, I’ve eliminated the following as part of Operation Optimize October: nearly 625 poorly taken, duplicate, or “why-did-I-even-take-that-picture” photos from my phone (don’t judge); 102 nonworking pens or broken mechanical pencils (27 of those from purses!); 13 bottles of horrifically ugly or dried-up nail polish; 18 bottles of lotion or perfume that either made me gag or that were so nearly empty I’d have to add water to get anything out; and (as part of today’s “OMIT” segment) I’m preparing to take three old prescriptions to the police station for them to discard.

Additionally, my “donate” box now contains 100 working pens or mechanical pencils (all in good or brand-new condition); 8 bottles of brand-new lotion (not my favorite fragrances, but very nice for someone); and 7 bottles of brand-new nail polish.

Wha-what? Seriously. I had over 300 pens and mechanical pencils—just mine! Unbelievable. I’m a writer with a school supply fetish. What can I say? And because I love “pretty things,” I often pick up lotions and creams to try, but I never end up using them because I have so many already and receive great ones as gifts. As for the nail polish, well, I think it’s kind of like not shopping for groceries when you’re hungry: don’t buy nail polish when your nails are long and “just the right length” for funky colors. They’ll break the next day, and you’ll be stuck with three shades of teal polish that you bought on a great “3 for $___” sale because one of them may or may not match the unique shade of teal sweater that you bought on sale but have nothing to wear with!

So I’m mortified that I just shared those numbers with you, but my purpose was to a) transparently confess my poor stewardship with my resources in the past and b) show the significance behind the organization tip for this week:

Know what you have.

That simple principle is the first step in an awesome cycle that can help me—and all of us—be more organized and also be better stewards of our resources. When I scale back (or as we’re calling it on the Operation Optimize October schedule, OMIT) and eliminate what is not useful, I can properly determine the most functional location for those items (preferably one with a label on it!) and then keep better tabs on what I truly need to purchase or watch for.

Think about it. Your refrigerator is generally somewhat organized simply due to the nature that the milk pitcher can only fit in one or two places, and the eggs are only safe in one or two places. So when you’ve just purchased two gallons of milk on Monday, you know right where they are, and before you head out to the store on Thursday to purchase fresh fruits for the fruit tray you’re taking to the party on Friday, you glance in the fridge to see if you need more milk. You don’t have to look all around in each room of the house, looking for any possible milk that may or may not be soured by this time; you go right to its proper storage location, and you know right away what you have.

If, however, you need red, blue, and orange marker s for a project, and your markers are scattered all around the house, you may or may not know when you go to the store and remember that you need markers just how many—if any—you already have at home. So, like I have too often done in the past, you buy a new flashy set of markers at the store, only to return home, open the drawer to get out the ruler, and find two other brand-new boxes of markers that you had purchased previously—each neatly hidden under the stack of four unused spiral notebooks you were looking for last week.

But if you keep all your markers in one or two easy-to-access locations, you can check for your needed markers and know if you need more or not! It’s that easy. So why do we make it so hard?

I have no answer to that.

So that’s where I’ll end today. No great spiritual truths or life-impacting thoughts. Just the encouragement to keep moving forward!

I’d love to hear some of your “omit” numbers if you’re willing to share them! So feel free to use the comment box below to let me know! Also, if you’re just hearing about Operation Optimize October for the first time or if you’re thinking you’d like to join in, it’s not too late! It’s just some daily ideas for getting you started—getting me started, that should say—on some helpful habits that help all of us to optimize those little moments in between the big ones! Click on any of the orange words in the post to go to the download page. It’s free, easy, and, if I do say so myself, it’s kind of fun too!

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Image courtesy of Naypong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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For those who wish to keep updated on my dad’s health, you may click here to read the latest updates.