Lately, I’ve been on a cleaning kick. The past two weekends have had significant parts of them focused on moving out the clutter. I’ve found the floor of my office once again, along with some organizational helpers to make finding things easier. The hubby and I worked on the garage on Saturday (not finished, but we made significant strides). And I’ve dug through the extras in the kids’ rooms to get out the too-small clothes and leftover baby accoutrements. I probably wouldn’t have tackled that job, except the seasonal consignment sale that I participate in is coming soon.
Now, don’t get me wrong, we are not neat freaks around here. As a matter of fact, I’m often bothered by the fact that clutter and piles (of Lord knows what) often find their way into the house, sometimes within an hour of my cleaning it. But as long as the carpet is vacuumed, I can handle quite a bit. I can safely say that our house will never look like those in the magazines with everything PUT AWAY.
But from the time I was a teenager, I’ve had a certain tolerance for clutter. I can handle it for so long, then it’s clean sweep time! Of course, I try to institute areas, containers, and the like to prevent piles from creeping back up, but no one uses them except me. Eventually, I get so overwhelmed picking up everyone else’s crap that I don’t get around to mine and… Deep breath.
But I have to say things are looking quite nice at the moment. Maybe I’m more into fall cleaning than spring, which is busy with lots of school stuff and the HOD luncheon. Seems like I went through a similar spell last September with the still-unopened boxes from our move…
So, what’s your clutter strategy? Do you find it helps you get more writing done if your office is in order?
Angel
Coming Soon!
Author Julie Cohen joins us on Wednesday Sept. 10!
PS. I typed The End on my latest manuscript Friday night. Yay!!! Now I've got September to revise 2 books. Boo!!! :)
24 comments:
I'm sure you know the answer to this already, but I can't work if my office is a mess. I can have a few small piles, but even those are distracting. My space has be uncluttered so that my mind can be.
I clutter, then I clean. Then I clutter again. I'm trying hard to break myself of the habit, but it's dying hard.
And Yay! on The End!
The clutter usually piles up around here when I'm working and don't see it. Then the book is done and I look around and I'm stunned by how BAD it is. :-) When I start to have nightmares about people stopping by and my house is a mess, I know I've gone over the edge. This week is a de-clutter week for me. I mailed off a manuscript and am taking some time off.
Congrats on The End! :-)
LJ
I can handle clutter in my house for a while, and then I too have to clean like crazy. I usually deal with the clutter during the week and get rid of it on Saturday. That is my plan for this coming Saturday.
WooHoo on The End!
I used to be very anti-clutter. With my OCD mom cleaning all the time and our constant moving, you kept to the essentials. Nomads carry very little from place to place. Then we moved to Alabama and (gasp!) settled down. We bought houses and stayed there for years. This is a record for both of us. Without constantly moving, I (and DB) accumulated so much crap I had to buy a bigger house.
Sadly, I'm becoming immune to the crap. I don't even see it if I'm busy, which is almost always the case. Sigh...
Congrats on The End!
My strategy? Wait until 'Zilla picks it up? Seriously. Clutter usually doesn't have a chance to accumulate around him. There are a couple designated areas of the house (the washer/dryer and kitchen table) that usually have crap spread across them...until he can't stand it anymore. But we've learned to compromise. He doesn't sweep everything directly into the garbage can and I try really hard not to disturb the piles he's sorted everything into. (I sometimes fail but...)
Instigator
Like PC, I have the clutter/clean cycle going on. Right now I'm in clutter mode. :D
Go Angel! Congrats on "The End"!
Creative people aren't usually known for being neat. When I worked at the newspaper I had a sign over my usually cluttered desk that read "NEAT PEOPLE DON'T MAKE THE EXCITING DISCOVERIES THAT I DO". I continued being messy (I am still a pack rat, but a neater one) until I hired a house cleaner at age 81 I am entitled.) Now I know that every 2 weeks they are coming in to clean so I keep things in every room but my
"office" picked up and put away - I don't pay then to pick up my junk. Besides, they would not know where to put it. My "office" though is a different story - neat (?) little piles of junk everywhere.
I need a maid. Hubby said I could have one, but first I need to clean up before I could have one come in. *sigh* I'm very much a clutter/clean queen. It piles up while I'm busy -- I know it's there and I hate it -- and then it reaches critical mass and I MUST do something about it.
I WANT one of those magazine houses where everything is put away neatly. I love decorating, hate cleaning.
Yay on typing "The End!"
My house is pretty good. When we moved, and I had to clean up twenty years of stuff to do it, I vowed I wouldn't let the new house get cluttered. And I haven't. Mostly. I have a few piles here and there. My office is not bad. Well, not too bad. I have HOD stuff in one corner. I only have one little pile of San Francisco stuff left to put away. My desk top is "neat" clutter if you can call it that. And there's the pile of stuff for the next time the veterans group is in my neighborhood We won't talk about the DH's office.
Now dust is another matter entirely. As long as I don't drag a finger in it or move something and leave a "hole" in the dust I'm okay.
Clutter? One person's idea of clutter is another's artistic selection. When it comes to piles of paper, however, I do try to keep that organized in the file cabinet or tossed. Things pertaining to writing/HOD, etc. go in the cabinet underneath my desk. I think we're doing very well in this area at the moment.
Congrats on The End!
Dang, I meant to say CONGRATULATIONS on typing The End!!!! That's much more interesting than clutter. *G*
My mom told me about Dennis the Menace today. Cute!
My office is my room too because we dont have enough rooms for me to make a separate office. So, I've been ignoring the clutter. My mom comes in and constantly tells me to clean; but I just ignore it until I'm done with school work and writing a page or two (which, now, is also school work lol)
It gets piled up and then I declutter and we're okay for a while...until it piles back up. Vicious cycle.
Congrats on typing THE END!!!
No strategy for me. I think I'm kinda like you though--I can let it go only for so long and then I just can't take it anymore. As far as the desk/office goes...YES!! I can't concentrate with clutter at all. :(
Congrats on 'the end'!!!
I got the statement for my IRA contribution in today's mail and instead of sticking it in the box on my desk, I opened the other 8 months of them and put them in the folder I so conscientiously started back in January. Eventually they'd get filed cause I have to give them to the DH for taxes in January. At least I'm more than halfway done for next year's tax return. :-)
I spent all day Saturday going through stuff. And when it was all over, I realized I hadn't put much of a dent in anything. Argh!!!
Oh man! I forgot to tell you, "SQUEEE!" for finishing your book!!! :-D
Certain areas stay cluttered even though other parts of the house are neat and clean. My desk is never completely neat, but I try to make it so that I'm able to locate anything I'm looking for.
Looks like I'm in good company! I'm glad I'm not the only one who can take it only so long... And did I mention the hubby is a piler? He piles stuff here, piles stuff there... He falls solely in the "I don't care" camp. Although it does have it's benefits. Not only does he not clean, he doesn't care whether or not I clean either. :)
Usually, the first thing to make noise on my radar is my desk. If it gets too cluttered, I have to stop and clean because I get tired of spending all my time trying to find things. The only thing that I really hate to do is filing. Such a pain!
Thanks for the congrats on my book! I'm excited because I worked really hard to get this one done in record time. Can't stop for long, though, because lots of other projects are on the To Do list.
And Rhonda, I definitely knew that about you. :) I'm afraid for you to ever set foot in my house...
Angel
By the way, LJ, that's a nifty little icon! Cool! Has it always been like that? Love that cover, regardless.
Angel
Yep, I can clutter with the best of them. Every so often, I'll get it cleaned up and start over. Right now my home is pretty much spotless - it's on the market. Once I get settled into a new place, yep bring on the clutter.
robertsonreads
Have any of y'all ever done the Fly Lady thing? It's www.flylady.net and she has a program to declutter and keep it that way. First you're supposed to get completely dressed first thing in the morning -- including shoes. Supposedly you act and feel better about yourself if you get dressed. Then she has things like the 27 Fling Boogie where you take a garbage bag, go through your house and toss 27 things. Then you take a box and find 27 things to give away. She also talks about hot spots that are places that will take over if you don't keep them under control (like the end of my kitchen counter).
Anyway, it's a good program though you end up with a gajillion emails telling you what to do every day. I did it long enough to get things under control and then signed off. LOL! All those emails were cluttering my inbox.
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