Controlling Clutter

My home office is small but bright. I can watch the birds and occasionally a squirrel in the trees that are visible from my sunny window. It's my dream office, except the clutter is making it my worst nightmare.

I think it's important to have a well kept, tidy living room. In my house, it's the first room anyone sees when they walk through the front door. I like to the simpleness of our furnishings to make the statement that things are done in our household with ease. I also believe the bedroom should be kept simple and clean, because when you retire for the evening, you want to relax, and not worry about where to store all those paperbacks you've been meaning to read. These may be good rules to follow, but the result of wanting these rooms tidy and clean, means that my comfy little office is always run over with clutter. On one side of the room I have miscellaneous papers in piles on the floor, stacked on top of boxes filled with craft supplies and scrap paper. On the other side of my desk, there are piles containing sale flyers that I want to look at, school papers, photos that need to go in albums. You know, all that "stuff" that I want to get to but haven't yet. There's even clothes that I no longer wear in one of the piles. Why does it end up here?

I always thought I was lazy. If I'd just spend more time picking up after myself and my family, I would keep on top of things. Of course, it's almost impossible to keep up if you don't have a system, or enough storage containers, and don't have, "A place for everything, and everything in it's place." That was my mantra during my worst periods but now I know that to conquer clutter, I have to acknowledge what my clutter is; it's more than a mess, it's an underlying fear of letting go. Take the clothes in my office. I find myself thinking that maybe my sister would like that blue jean dress, so I'll hang onto it until our next visit. The scrap paper? Note pads are expensive. My grandmother taught me to scribble my notes on the backs of opened envelopes, and to use both sides of the paper, long before recycling became a way of life. I see a second purpose for every article that I've collected. I like to think that makes me resourceful and creative. The truth? It makes me a slave to my possessions.

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