Paper Clutter

Creating New Habits

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Have you moved forward on your New Year’s resolution to declutter and organize your home? It is said that very few people follow through with their resolutions. That’s probably because they don’t have a plan in place or even know where to start.

The first place to start is to recognize and acknowledge the bad habits that got you in this mess to begin with. Clutter and disorganization doesn’t happen overnight and all by itself. It happens over time due to bad habits on your part.

So if the root of the problem is bad habits then the solution would be to have good habits instead. Studies show that the best way to get rid of a bad habit is to substitute a good habit in it’s place.

An example of a bad habit that contributes to the clutter in your home would be bringing in the mail and dumping it on the kitchen counter to “go through it later”. Later may come in a couple of days or longer. By then the pile is toppling over and in the way. Now you feel overwhelmed by the pile and don’t know when you’ll find time to deal with it. In your mind it will take forever so you put it off for a few more days when you may have more time. This bad habit creates a vicious cycle.

Now a good habit to substitute for the bad one would be to deal with the mail on a daily basis. That doesn’t mean you will take care of paying the bills that day or reading the magazine before cooking dinner. What you want to do is set up a plan to organize the mail as soon as you bring it in the house.

You’ll want a file folder or basket on your desk for bills and items that need action taken right away. You’ll want another folder or basket for items that don’t need immediate action and can wait a few days for you to look at. You’ll also want a place to keep the reading material, maybe a basket by your favorite chair.

As soon as the mail comes in take a couple of minutes to separate it into piles according to the categories above. Have a fourth pile for trash that needs shredding. All other junk mail can be recycled or thrown away immediately. Take another minute or two to put the piles into their proper folders or baskets.

Do this 2-5 minute routine everyday and before long you will have substituted a good habit for the bad one. No more piles of mail cluttering up the counter!

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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National Clean Off Your Desk Day

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National “Clean Off You Desk Day” is observed the second Monday of January. If you desk is always a mess then today is a good time to start a new habit to keep you desk clean everyday of the year.

So how do you create this new habit? One babystep at a time!

A good way is to take a timer and set it for 5-10 minutes at the end of the day (if you work there all day) or at the end of your bill paying/paperwork time.

File away the papers you have completed. Put the unfinished papers in a folder with current paperwork tasks. Keep that folder on a shelf, basket, or in a file drawer at your desk. Your goal is to have the desk as cleaned off as possible for the next morning.

A cleared off desk first thing in the morning will help put you in a brighter mood instead of feeling overwhelmed. Because you put the unfinished tasks in a folder you know exactly where to start working. No more digging through piles of paper to find what needs to be done.

Habits take time to develop but with babysteps you can have that cleaned off desk almost everyday.

If your your desk is piled high with papers you’ll want to read the article on “How to Divide and Conquer Paper Clutter” first. It will help you organize those papers so you can put them where they belong.

If your whole office is a mess then consider organizing it in zones.  This is also a way to help keep the desk cleaned off. Having a permanent home for the different papers will make it easier to put them away.

The article, “How To Organize Your Home Office” will show you how to organize with zones.

 

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

CutClutterWithScissors Facebook Page

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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An Organizing Journey

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I love January. I hate the cold weather but January means it’s a new year and another chance for a new beginning. That’s what New Year’s Resolutions are all about. A clean slate to try again to make our lives better. It’s another chance to get it right this time.

This year I plan on losing some weight. How many years have I made that resolution? Too many to count. But hope springs eternal and it’s a new year to try again.

Another resolution is to have my paperwork more organized and get rid of more paper clutter. I want to organize my photos in scrapbooks, both the physical ones and electronic ones. I bought the supplies a few years ago so maybe this will be the year to get it done. Like I said – hope springs eternal.

So what are your New Years Resolutions? If organizing your home is one of them then stick around for lots of tips to help you move forward.

If you haven’t received my free ebook loaded with tips then sign up in the blue box on the right side of this blog. You’ll receive the ebook and a free weekly newsletter filled with tips, website links, and other information to help you get decluttered and organized.

Remember, organizing is a journey, not a destination. Make 2010 a journey you will enjoy traveling on!

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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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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Decluttering Your Recipes

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I love to cut recipes from magazines and print out ones from the internet. I have good intentions of expanding my culinary skills with mouth watering new recipes. The pictures look so good. I love to bake but I have very little family in town to bake for.

Since my children have grown and moved out of town I find I cook the same old recipes each week. Because my husband doesn’t have a sweet tooth (a real oddity) I don’t have anyone to bake for besides myself (I do have a sweet tooth). Controlling my weight is a problem so not baking is a good thing in the long run. It’s just not much fun when looking at those recipes for cookies (my big weakness) and other sweets in the magazines.

My local grocery store puts out a bi-monthly brochure filled with recipes for the upcoming season. Autumn is just around the corner so recipes for those sweets are catching my eye.IMGP0384_edited-1 But what about all those recipes I already have collected but never tried? It’s time to do some decluttering of the old so I can start collecting the new. The key is to be very discriminating about the criteria for keeping a recipe, whether old or new.

So I am now going through my old recipes in the evening while watching the baseball games (Go Cardinals!) on TV. Here are a few questions I am asking myself with each recipe. I hope you find these questions helpful when decluttering some of your unused recipes.

1. Is this a recipe my family would like, not just me?

2. Are the ingredients ones I have on hand?

3. If I need a special ingredient is it hard to find, expensive, and will it be used up? Is it worth it if I only use a small amount and the the rest gets wasted?

4. Is the recipe time consuming and would I ever want to spend that amount of time on it? I love baking bread and don’t mind the time but other recipes are not worth it to me.

5. Is it a recipe that can be cut down for fewer servings? Rarely do I cook for more than two and my husband isn’t good about most leftovers from the freezer.

6. Is it a recipe where leftovers or extras freeze well? Cookies freeze great but I love them frozen. Not a good thing when watching my weight.

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7. Is it a healthy low fat recipe for everyday? Special occasion recipes don’t need to meet this criteria.

Do you have other criteria for keeping recipes to try? Please leave a comment and let me know. Thanks.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors (please follow me on twitter)

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