The Down Side Of Being Organized?

Do you think there is such a thing as being too organized and overly prepared?

I have been making an extra effort lately to get things in my house organized. I'm cleaning, giving thing away, throwing things away and so far I'm very pleased! The kids' closets are tidy and I can find their clothes with ease. My refrigerator is sparkling and well-stocked. Even the toys have been sorted with the Legos and Tinker Toys in their proper containers.

A couple of weeks ago it was time to do the online sign-up for the kids' parent/teacher conferences. I logged on bright and early and was able to secure a good conference time, with each meeting perfectly timed so there was no down time in between. I would be like a well-oiled machine moving from teacher to teacher and Don would be home in time so I wouldn't have to worry about babysitters--I thought, "How nice it is to be so organized!"

Fast forward to last night--conference night. Don was home, but shuttling Patrick over to a sleepover and I was preparing to leave the second he came back. I knew I had printed out the conference schedule with the times, teachers and room numbers--which was pretty complicated because I would be meeting with all of Teddy's teachers separately--there were probably over ten meetings in all!

I started looking through my giant pile of papers (I haven't organized this yet) but I couldn't find the schedule. Meanwhile, Don would be home any minute and I would have to leave immediately to get there on time.

I went through the paper pile again...and again--starting to get panicky. After a few searches through the pile, I gave up and tried to get back into the conference maker through the computer--but that wouldn't work.

Then I frantically started searching through my old emails to see if the schedule was on there. I was so frazzled, I couldn't remember the date I had scheduled the conferences and couldn't find the email.

I could hear Don at the door and knew I HAD to leave--I was almost in tears. Then I turned around and noticed that I had neatly tacked the schedule to my bulletin board.

In my eagerness to be organized, I actually ended up being disorganized! If that schedule had been in my giant pile of papers, I would have found it in two seconds!

I know it's better to be organized--but I guess I had a certain method to my madness that was actually working for me! So maybe I should just keep my giant pile of papers? It's ugly and messy-looking--but I know where everything is!!