Decluttering

Home Office Desk Paper Clutter

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It seems like the home office desk is the dumping ground for papers of every kind. We know if we put it on the desk we will eventually take care of it, plus there is less chance of losing the paper or bill. The problem comes in with trying to keep it organized with the constant influx of papers.

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When the desk is piled high it is hard to work efficiently there. It is easy to miss paying a bill because it’s lost in the mountain of paper on the desk. Permission slips for your children’s school don’t get turned in on time. You lose out on refunds because they expire before you get them filed.

With the holiday’s coming up you want to make sure your finances are in order before you set your budget for holiday shopping. Take some time now to declutter your desk so you can take care of your bills and other important papers. If you send out holiday greeting cards and you use your desk to make your list, gather your addresses, and write out your cards, then you will want to get it cleaned off. It will be hard to get them out in time otherwise.

My weekly newsletter is currently giving a 6 step plan to simplify the writing and sending out holiday greeting cards. You can sign up here to start receiving these free weekly newsletters.

I wrote any article on eHow about how to “Divide and Conquer” paper clutter. Check it out for a step by step process to helping you get control of you home office desk.

Halloween is just over a week away. If you haven’t bought my eBook yet, it’s not to late to benefit from all the tips on safety, decorating, and storage of your Halloween decorations and costumes. Get it here: How To Have A Fun, Safe, And Decluttered Halloween.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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Autumn and Halloween Decorating

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Halloween is only 12 days away. If you haven’t started your outdoor decorating now would be a good time. In my eBook “How To Have A Fun, Safe, And Decluttered Halloween” I talked about extending the season. This is where you layer your decorations for Autumn, Halloween, and then Thanksgiving.

Many seasonal materials, such as colorful leaves, gourds, pumpkins, etc. can help create an Autumn feeling outside or inside your home. Halloween decorations can be added for a couple of weeks then taken down. Then you can add Thanksgiving decorations to the Autumn ones. …

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Houseplants in the Fall

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In the Midwest, Autumn is definitely showing it’s face. Some of the trees are losing their leaves. The evenings are beginning to cool down. And the sun is setting a lot earlier than just a few weeks ago.

I have mixed feelings about this time of year. I don’t like the shorter days but the cooler weather is nice. It’s sad to see the vegetable garden looking tired and worn down.

But my houseplants, especially the flowering ones, are looking great with the cooler weather. IMGP1737They will soon have to come inside. That’s where the problem is.
As much as I love the houseplants I don’t have a lot of room to over-winter them inside. When I squeeze them in front of the windows the rooms start to look cluttered. I do have some lights on a timer in my basement for the smaller plants but the big ones are heavy to carry downstairs.

Each year I go through the same debate. Do I let the frost take them or do I bring them inside and have the room look cluttered? I’ve had many of these plants for years so it is hard to let go of them.

Maybe I will get more lights downstairs and put most of the plants there. Then if I can remember to water them on a regular basis they should survive until next spring.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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Creative Procrastination

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We all have more to do than we have time to do it. The reality is we will never get it all done so we have to choose what is most important. This is what creative procrastination is all about. Choosing what to procrastinate on and what to make a priority. We do this everyday, most of the time unconsciously. The problem arises when we choose low-value tasks over high-value tasks.

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Creative procrastination applies to all areas of our lives. The book I’m reading right now “Eat That Frog!” by Brian Tracy is mainly geared towards business but the principles can be applied to home management. His definition of creative procrastination is “…to deliberately procrastinate on tasks that are of low-value so that you have more time for tasks that can make a big difference in you life and work.”

If you go through the whole day and wonder what you accomplished, chances are you are procrastinating on the important long term activities. Sometimes we get so caught up in doing short term low-value things that the long term ones get unconsciously procrastinated.

For example, you decide today that you are going to tackle the clutter in your bedroom. But first you have to plan for dinner. You realize don’t have all the ingredients and have to run to the store. While you are out you might as well stop to get gas because you’re almost on empty. Once you’re back home you put the groceries away and remember the the load in the dryer from yesterday. It’s all wrinkled so you put a damp towel in it and set the dryer for a short time. Then you remember you have to bake cookies for your child’s party at school tomorrow. This goes on and on all day.

When you go to your bedroom exhausted and ready to collapse in bed you realize you didn’t spend one minute on tackling the clutter. Now you go to bed feeling frustrated and like a failure because you didn’t tackle a task that can have a long term positive effect on your life. Decluttering your bedroom will give you a place to get quality rest and peacefulness at the end of a hectic day.

So how do you change this routine? By using creative procrastination. Something has to be procrastinated for you to have the time to tackle the important jobs. The best way to “procrastinate on purpose” is by choosing what you are not going to do today. Don’t run errands today. Make a dinner with what you have on hand. Bake the cookies in the evening with your child spending quality time together. Or plan ahead and purchase cookies while on your weekly shopping trip.

Write on your “to do list” each day what you want to do and what you plan to procrastinating on. This will help remind you not to waste time on those low-value tasks until you have completed the high-value ones.

As I read this book I will let you know of other ways to stop procrastinating. If you would like to find out more about the book here is a link to it on Amazon.

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time

If you have little tricks to help stop procrastinating I would love to hear about them. Please leave a comment.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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“Clutter’s Last Stand” Book Recommendation

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I purchased the book “Clutter’s Last Stand” by Don Aslet in the mid 1980’s when I was trying to get control of my bad habits of disorganization and clutter collecting. I still have my original copy and read it when I need some motivation to jump start a decluttering session. To me it’s the gold standard of books on decluttering.

Don Aslett’s humor and writing makes you question why you’ve kept the junk to begin with. When you realize how silly some reasons for keeping things are it becomes easier to let go of them.

When I need motivation on dealing with paper clutter I’ll read the chapter on “Taming the Paper Tiger…”. Or if I’m having trouble letting go of items that I never liked but were gifts, I’ll read the chapter on “Those Personal Treasures”. I don’t want to hurt the giver’s feelings if they find out I gave their gift away but at the same time why is the giver’s feelings more important than mine? Don helps me see that it’s the thought that counts.

If you have a particular clutter problem this book probably has touched base on it. You can read it over and over again to help you declutter your home no matter what is going on in your life at the moment. Life is always changing and so are we. There’s things such as moving, traveling, lifestyle changes, and children growing up.

Check this book out to see if it can help motivate you to clear out the clutter.

(Disclosure: Amazon Affiliate link)

 

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice Scissors

 

 

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