I grew up in a home where everything had it's place and everything was very neat and tidy most of the time - even with 2 older siblings. I was properly taught how to put everything back when I finished using whatever it was and knew where to find everything
when it was needed.
So, here's my issue. My dining room, living room & home office constantly looks messy - not dirty, just cluttered. I'd have to say my biggest problem is dealing with mail. I save magazines until I can read them, but that often doesn't happen. So, they start getting messily stacked on an end table. Once It gets too overwhelming there, I take the oldest ones and put them organized in a book shelf. I will have many of them for years because they have home maintenance/fixing tips or similar that I want to keep. But I rarely refer back to them. Yet, the second I throw one out, it seems that I needed something out of that one. Am I a hoarder?
Then, there is the "good" junk mail like coupons or "clipper" magazines that I may or may not use. I do throw them away if they are not of interest. If they are of interest, I try to throw them out immediately once they expire, but that doesn't always happen. So, I tried starting a coupon file, one for grocery, one for other (like Pizza Coupons, Oil Change, Carpet Cleaning, etc). The grocery file is the only one I keep up with because I HAVE to deal with it on a weekly basis. But the other one has been overstuffed to the point I don't use it anymore. I have even started fresh by throwing that stuff away and emptying out our dining room buffet drawer (since that is where it all seems to end up anyways)- I put in 3 shoe-box sized containers. One is labeled "To Be filed" which contains insurance statements, investment statements, etc. One is labeled "Good Junk Mail" which contains weekly store ads, clipper magazines, & things of interest. And one is labeled "Immediate Attention" which contains bills that I can't pay online or anything that needs immediate follow-up. Most bills I pay online, so those do get shredded right away. I have gone through phases of keeping it up to par by promptly filing and throwing stuff out, but now that drawer is full and the overflow is all over our dining room table. I don't what it is, but I often feel so overwhelmed by it that I procrastinate until it is out of control. This is NOT normal and I need suggestions!
I am so envious of friends and people that have there act together in this area. It's like I go their house and think, "where the heck do they put their mail?!" We do have a smaller home, but it is no excuse to be a pig and actually makes it look worse. I would LOVE to have a home that is clutter-free and relaxing. Please help with suggestions of how you deal with this daily.
I have books on Donna Smallin she is a clutter expert I learned a lot from her she can even send you an e-mail every month like I get her e-mail address is ____@____.com believe me it puts everything into perspective.
i had the same problem with magazines. Now, everytime i get a new mag, i put it on my night stand to read just before bed when my son is already in bed. Anyhthing that is of interest to me, such as, organizing tips, or decorating tips, i fold over the corner and the next day i rip out all of the pages that i marked and i put them in a pocket folder. I love doing this, so when im cleaning or trying to organize somthing i look through the folder!
I can't wait to read the responses! I have files and files... My dining room is filled with paper.
However, I would say: forget the coupons... they are for people who have nothing to do.. your time is $$$$. Get your bargains at the store: see what's on sale and plan around it.. buy in quantity if the price is good and its something you use a lot. But dont get out your scissors.
A tax accountant said keep paper bills until the next one to check the accounting. Sounds okay.. but in my c. 50 years of paying bills, I have only had one problem that needed a record (a credit card charged me for their mistake) and I am too disorganized to find the bills, find out who to complain to etc etc.. For the moment, I am just checking bills when i get them and if they look all right, tossing them.
If you dont like what you see, call right away and find out what they are charging you for, ask if charges can be reduced, especially telephone company ones because some rates can really go down . Then you wouldnt need to keep the paper.
Recipes, advice, furniture care, health, etc... are all on-line and up-to-date. I wouldnt keep magazines (or cookbooks) unless they are beautiful. (However, I have boxes of New Yorkers to read and a stack of wonderfully written newspaper articles. Oh dear. They take up less space than books and say more. But look soooooo messy.)
Hi L.,
I'm sorry I had to laugh at the magazines and the coupons thing. I do the exact same thing! At least I know I have someone to relate to!
Well, one of the things that helped me out ALOT was when we put a file cabinet in out basement, there I put all of our insurance, house, menus, warrentys.. anything imaginable in there. Also, which I found VERY helpful (since I'm a magazine fanatic) the magazine/paper recycle bins, (if you have them in your neighborhood) every couple months I go up there and throw (reculently) all my old magazines in there (expect for the cooking ones). I still have clutter, but thats what you get when you have kids, but I must say Im much more organized then I used to be!
And, also since you want to refer back to old issues of magazines.. I recommend looking at the magazines website!
