De-Cluttering Your Genealogy - Introduction and Part 1

With the new year right around the corner, it is time to think about de-cluttering your life. In particular, I am talking about de-cluttering your family history. And I'm not just talking about that filing cabinet you have full of records - I'm talking everything from your computer genealogy program, that family website, your email inbox full of correspondence, the piles next to your computer, your accounts at genealogy websites, your contact list, etc., etc. Everything needs a good cleaning out once in a while!

By de-cluttering, I mean make your family history organized, efficient, to-do list ready, and presentable. Now, for some of you - this task may be HUGE and seem incredibly daunting. For others of you, this may seem like a good yearly clean-out. Whatever side of the fence you are on, I urge you not to panic, but to take some baby-steps towards achieving beautiful results with your family history.

The way I am going to conduct this de-cluttering task is by presenting smaller tasks. By breaking one big task up into smaller tasks, we will be able to feel some achievement even before we are done.

Now, I know that most of my work won't be completed by the New Year - but, I am going to get a good start. I will have lots of time to work on my genealogy during the rest of December and January and I am definitely going to need it. The point is to get the ball rolling, and if it means having to keep de-cluttering through next year, then so be it. Remember, baby steps is all you have to take.

Task 1

Create Goals: Is there anything that you have noticed that has been bothering you about your family history. Maybe it is that you can never seem to find that website with information about your great-great grandpa or maybe you have lost track of what is sourced and not sourced in your genealogy program, maybe your genealogy program doesn't have information that matches your files - whatever it is, write it down.

Priotize Your Goals: Pick 1-3 goals that you are very much looking forward to getting done. It doesn't matter what it is, just pick it.

Final Note...

I am looking forward to hearing from all of you about your progress or about your disaster of genealogy stuff (Trust me - genealogy disasters when it comes to organization and clutter happen, very often in fact). Let me know if there is any area in particular you would like me to focus on.