This is both literal and figurative.

I need to “clean house” with my inherited, merged, and other messy data in my genealogy DB.

I also need to clean house, by organizing my workspace better. I let my home office get messy over the fall, but I did a major clean-out and reorganization this winter. However, I ran out of steam and did not finish the job. So, ever so slowly, it got piled up again. Not as bad as before, but I could not get to the genealogy reference I knew that I had stored “where I could find it”. Those will probably be my famous last words.

If I file away something I am working on, even if I do not get back to it for awhile, it takes me longer to get back in the groove, than if I put it all away neatly. I tend to have stacks of things that I know what is in that stack, until my wife or sons move it…. My wife had knee surgery last month so the week after, my in-laws came to help so I did not have to take off work. I love my mother-in-law, but she cannot sit still, and if I clean something and have it done, she comes behind and re-organizes it. Thankfully, she stayed out of the home office, but she got into the garage, my tool box, and re-arranged things. I appreciate the good intentions, but I have to make another mess to try and find things that are not where I had them.

Anyway…. I started back at cleaning up the clutter in the home office, so I can finish the job I started a few months ago, and get it all put neatly away, and keep track of where I put it. This will also give me room to start going through the ten file boxes of research from my parents.

Getting paper information organized, is just as important as good organization of the information electronically. I urge all those new to genealogy to find a system that works for you to keep your research organized, and stick with it!

Getting Things Done (GTD) websites, such as 43 Folders and LifeHacker, have lots of hints for organizing and focusing on doing tasks that get the results you want with the minimum of distraction. While they have some good ideas, that I have adopted in part, some of their suggestions are either not a good fit for me, or do not fit what makes sense for organizing genealogy. For example, in my email, I have a genealogy folder for general information, and under that, I have one for each surname for which I have email correspondence. If I organized it by date or other matter, I would have a hard time finding it. The key is to find what works for you to be efficient in you efforts.

I do like suggestions for a clean workspace and getting rid of “cord clutter” from all the extension cords, power strips, and accessories on your computer. I have some “spaghetti” that I need to clean up, it is just a matter of deciding how I want it to be when I am finished.

I will have another article with links to websites with systems for organizing genealogical research, plus some more specific tips.

Well, I made the dent in the clutter, so I can finish what I want to do in the office, but now, it’s off to mow the lawn and enjoy some sun! After that break, back to organizing!