Clear out the Clutter

Apartment therapy’s 20/20 Home Cure episode today got me started in clearing out the bookshelf but I took it a bit further. Instead of just clearing out the books I went for the whole office. 

The best way to clear out a room is to do exactly that. Empty it completely. Remove anything you can, leaving only the bare furniture, shelves and walls.  Arrange the furniture in a way that opens up the room and provides the functionality you really need.

Once its empty, think about the purpose of the room. Visualize what this room should look like and what you really want in it. Now, start putting things back. Only put back the items that are useful, aesthetically pleasing and have a purpose there. The purpose may just be that you like it but think in terms of the perfect room.

Once you have only what you really want in the room, take everything left outside and put it away. Not sure how to deal with what’s left outside? Make three boxes: another room, donate and out. No boxes? Don’t loose momentum here. Trash bags or even piles will work, just don’t bring it back in the room. If it belongs in another room, put it there, if it’s broken or useless, throw it out/recycle it. If it can be used, donate it or put it in a box to go out and give it away.

Every time you walk into this room you will feel good.

Clutter War

I'm now trying to unclutter my office. I have these visions of a perfect minimalist workspace. You know, the kind you see in magazines and on Lifehacker or Unclutterer.com. All the books are covered in white paper, sparsely placed photos of beautiful black and white photography on nearly empty shelves and an ikea chair and desk with nothing but a white bud vase and perfect flower. But then there is the annoying reality that is my office. I can clean up and put things away and organize. I will finally get it to where it looks like no one lives or works here. Then things just seem to creep in. Files, papers, business cards etc have migrated into my workspace. Right now, there's my coffee cup, of course, and the stack of bills that need to be opened, the stack of stuff to be filed, cleaning spray from my intention to clean as I unclutter, my borrowed label maker and a host of receipts that have found their way to my desk and that little remote that comes with the mac, among other things.

All the websites devoted to organization tell you to break it down into manageable tasks, so here I go.
1. The file drawers: Business Files and Personal Files separated and labeled and purged of old stuff.
2. Take all the photos that line all the shelves and put them in an album. I love my family but I don't really need them staring at me while I work.
3. Put all photo's, printer paper, disks, extraneous cables, memory cards etc in those nice white boxes from ikea.
4. Promise myself I won't let it get out of hand again.....and do it all over in 6 months.

Wish me luck!

PS The suggestion came up about scanning all my documents and storing them on cd, but there is something about keeping the papers that I can't let go of. It seems somewhat time consuming to receive papers, scan them into the computer, organize them into related directories and then remember where I put the cd when I'm looking for something.