Change My Life, Organizing, Minimalizing

As I work to change my life, I have been trying to become more organized, and to simplify things. Now those who know me would probably not see the results of this effort. I would say that I am more in the thinking about it stage than I am doing, although I’m working on it. This post is more of a rambling question with a little bit of wondering thrown in. I wonder and question the idea of organization, and mostly simplifying. Let me explain.

In trying to organize myself, I am trying to de-clutter and file things or put things away. Now if we are talking about putting away clean clothes, that’s great! If we are talking filing things in my office, then maybe not. I read once, I wish I knew where, that there are two kinds of people. Those who put things or file them away, and know where to find them, and those who, if they do file something, can never find it again. This may be an excuse, but I think I am one of the latter.

Yes, this really is my desk!

My desk often looks like a windstorm just went through. There is stuff all over. I hate the clutter, but I know where everything is. If you asked me for some piece of paper, I would know right where, on this mess of a desk, that piece of paper is. If I file it away, I will probably never see it again. If you ask me for it, I will search my desk and then conclude that it is lost, probably thrown away. Is this an excuse?

I hate the clutter, but I also hate not being able to find things when I need them. If I file them away, I won’t know where to look a week from now. This might be because I am so left brained that organization eludes me, or it might be that I am just not used to organization enough to know where to look. I am going to go through my files and organize those so that, hopefully, I will know where things are. I want to simplify, or minimize, and being organized is part of that.

Simplifying or minimizing, is something that I have been reading and thinking a lot about. To me, it means cutting down on the mess, the clutter in our lives, and getting rid of the things that you don’t need. Leo, over at Zen Habits, started this some time ago and I have recently started following his blog and I think simplifying is a great idea.

I know that I have way more junk than I need. The biggest problem with someone my age is that so much of this crap has some sentimental value. I have stuff in my office that my kids made in school, twenty years ago! I have pictures that I never look at, but do I want to get rid of all those memories? I think the first step is not to eliminate those things, but to dump the stuff that really has no sentimental value. It might take a year just to get through that. By then, I should be able to decide on the rest.

What are your habits or lifestyles in regard to these two things? Are you organized and have a nice clean space, or does it usually look like a bomb went off? Do you have more junk than you know what to do with, or are you minimal in your belongings? I would love to hear about what you do. Leave me a comment or email me. You never know, you just might help me out!