It's a mess

Posted by Lorraine Bartlett (also known as Lorna Barrett)

My office is a mess.  There are piles of paper everywhere.  I can barely find anything.  And yet, I don't feel motivated to tidy up.  Why?  Because I have nowhere to put anything.

Every once in a while I get the urge to purge.  The thing is, I'm too sentimental to throw out stuff that just isn't worth saving.  Is there any reason to have a box of safety pins on one's desk?  Okay, I needed one the other day and for the first time in a million years, didn't have to go hunting for one.  (That's one brownie point in my favor, right?)

Because I didn't have a flat surface to work on, I recently bought a little wooden TV table (quite sturdy, too), and guess what?  Now IT'S covered with papers and stuff. (You can tell this picture was taken the day I bought it, right?)  I bought it so I could work on my postcards (which I'm sending out on Friday) and it worked great, but once I finished putting all those stickers, labels and stamps on the postcards, I should have taken the table down and put it away (although where that particular "away" is, I don't know).  But, there it sits right next to me, looking like a place a cat should go, get comfy on, and knock all the papers on the ground.

Of course, this untidiness has spread beyond my office.  Sometimes I find it easier to just go write on my laptop in the dining room.  But of course, that entails more than just the computer.  I have a wireless mouse (because I can't stand that little pad on the computer) and an auxiliary keyboard, because I can't seem to type on the one that came with the laptop.  The keys are too close together.  (I don't understand how anybody can text.  Then again, they don't write full words or sentences, do they?)  And I must have my notebook with the manuscript to date in it, colored pens for making notes, and my yellow pad for writing down those notes.  That takes up one whole half of the dining room table.

Don't talk to me about the kitchen.  When you run two households (and have just closed one down for the winter), you have double the staples.  I found homes for the olive oil, ketchup, mustard and Worcestershire sauce--but what about all those pretzels, cookies, crackers, and potato chips (only still around because the bag hasn't yet been opened.  Once that happens--poof!  Gone!)?  I'll tell you where they are--living on my kitchen counter.  The space I finally cleared when analog TV went the way of the dinosaur.  (Okay, I am thinking of buying a flat screen and getting cable in there.  I mean, shouldn't I be entertained while I'm slaving over a hot microwave?)

And why is it the linen closet is too small for a house this size?  How come my extra bedspreads need to live on the dryer for months at a time?  Maybe I should toss something out, but what?  One day I might need that beach towel that says BIONIC WOMAN (complete with Jamie Sommers apparently running on a beach).  I have a lovely hand crocheted (in some Southeast Asian country) full-sized tablecloth (still in the wrapper) that my mother-in-law gave me ten or twelve years ago.  Should I toss that to make room for the $4 bedspread I got at a yard sale (that seems immune to cat barf--and washes beautifully)?

Okay, let's face it; we all have too much stuff.  Is there an antidote?  If you've got one, please share, because I'm being cluttered to death.

Comments

[Elizabeth Spann Craig]

If there's an antidote, no one told me about it! I try to keep up with Flylady.com, which is a cute, fun way to keep up with the clutter. She has drills during the day to "Put out your hot spots" (places where junk accumulated.) My hot spot seems to be the kitchen counter near my garage door!

But I still get the clutter. Maybe it's a writerly thing?

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

[CindyD]

We had to declutter very quickly when our house sold right away (we were expecting it to take months in this economy) and we left a lot behind that we wish we'd moved. So I urge anyone to start downsizing and not put it off till "someday."

[Shel Franz]

You don't want the solution that worked for me, hon. I had a house in Texas that was full to the brim with not only MY clutter, but my late mother's as well. The solution? A nasty divorce where I left with basically the clothes on my back. I lost all my books, some pretty collectible dolls, not to mention a house full of keepsakes, but I don't have any clutter!

[Julie]

The more I read your blog posts, Lorraine, the more I believe we were separated at birth LOL
My writing area (more than a desk, because the mess spreads out into other rooms, like mold) is always cluttered.
I really like to start a new book with a clean desk, but I didn't have time before I started this new manuscript. Here's my solution -- and it works for every room on the house. Take everything that makes up the clutter - drop it into a very big box and remove it from sight. Only return to the box if you really need something you left in there (chances are you won't). Repeat as needed.
As you may have guessed, I have *lots* of these boxes in my basement... all waiting for "someday" as CindyO puts it ;-)

Julie