Dear Subscriber,

What do you think might be your worst Organizing enemy?

It may surprise you to learn that surfaces can be the enemy in your efforts to get organized. The fact is that the more surfaces you have, the more clutter you are likely to collect.

To see what I mean, look around your home or office. Maybe you’ve set up an extra “work” table in your office, or a side table in your living room. But the fact may be that you haven’t seen the top of that surface in quite some time: it’s covered with papers and other items that don’t belong there: clutter. Do you actually use that work table – to work at?

Wouldn’t it be great to display a beautiful art object on that table, or use it to hold a lamp – or maybe even get rid of it altogether and free up some floor space?

If you answered yes to that question, what should you do next?

First, do an initial sort. By this I mean, separate the papers from the other items that have collected on the surface in question. Put non-paper items in their “homes”: office supplies back in the cabinet, placemats and napkins near your dining table, pencils and pens in a jar on your desk, and so on. Photographs go into a special box that you’ve set aside just for that purpose (don’t forget to put a date on them!).

Then, take a closer look at the papers. What do you have there? Receipts? Put the ones you’ll need for taxes in their own file, and throw out the rest. Last year’s taxes? Into the file drawer. Business-related papers most likely either go back to the office or into the trash. Keep the ones you want to archive for your personal reference in your file drawer.

Scraps of paper with addresses and phone numbers go into a pile of their own until you enter them into your address book ( a good TV-watching activity). Keep on going until you’ve defined and dealt with every piece of paper you’ve found.

Now – relax and enjoy the beauty of your cleared surface. And feel free to decide what you really want to do with that table!

Until next time, Happy Organizing!

Sincerely,

Ann Bingley Gallops
The Organized Life

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ORGANIZING DISCOVERY OF THE MONTH: PLANNER PADS

My favorite planning product right now is my brand-new Planner Pad.

Not just a calendar, this is a useful tool that will corral all your "to-do" lists and help you to actually "do" the things on it via an ingenious page setup.

And you don't have to wait until next January to get one, because its creators have even thought to provide quarterly "start" months. I just bought one with an April 1 start date, so I didn't waste any pages at all.

Highly recommended!

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Contacting me I’d love to hear from you. Please drop me a line with comments, questions, or suggestions for future newsletters.

Ann Bingley Gallops
The Organized Life
ann@theorganizedlife.net
www.theorganizedlife.net
646-382-3878

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Copyright 2004 - 2008, Ann Bingley Gallops