Got through the last two drawers quickly. Recycled notes and business cards no longer of use, shuffled pens, hanging file tabs, paper clips and post-it-notes to their respective homes elsewhere, and voila, tidy drawers.

Fourth desk drawer functional again

Much better.

Bottom drawer--tools and envelopes found

That’s the last of the desk reorganization. Small chores, easily accomplished in a few fifteen minute sessions.

How I feel: I’m relieved to have completed clearing another entire area, no matter how small. This is going to work.

Strategy update: Followed my own advice and set the timer when all I really wanted to do was change to my jammies and crawl under the covers with a cup of tea. I still need to solve the problem identified last night of what to do with items that have no designated home, like dead batteries waiting to be carried to the recycler.

Next: Tomorrow is Saturday, but I’m planning a fifteen minute maintenance session with the desktop this weekend. More to come on the why and the what of that.

Messy third drawer

Oh boy, this is getting better and better. Clearing the third drawer, I found a motherlode of scotch tape in every type we might use, a ton of post-it-notes, and our entire supply of paper clips–large, small, fancy, plain. For at least six months, I’ve had to dig and dig to find a clip when I needed it.

How I feel: Maybe it’s the time of night that I post here, but I feel giddier and giddier at the prospect of eventually getting everything in my house as tidy as these drawers.

All things useful visible and handy in third drawer

Strategy update: There are some things, like dead batteries, that I simply do not know where to put. Think overnight about a strategy to handle things like that so I don’t spend half my fifteen minutes trying to find their true home in the chaos of the rest of the house.

Next: Start clearing Drawer Four. There are five in all in the tower that serves our desk, so getting close to the last.

Second desk drawer spiffed up with unused storage space available in back

Second drawer was easy to tidy. (Forgot to take a before pic, but here’s the after.) Started on third. It’s going to take a bit more time, as you can see from the image below, but in the two drawers, I’ve already found–and put away–some “lost” and much-missed items.

Finds:  A baggie full of recycled rubber bands; an old pair of glasses in a case; a handy dandy, tape measure we use for a quick read when planning a project; and DP’s calligraphy pens which, amazingly, still flow perfectly with ink.

Third drawer is a bit messier than the second

How I feel: Rather amazed how much lighter I am each time I do this. I arrived home flinching with back pain as I dragged my sorry self up three flights. After nibbling away at the clutter and achieving this tiny success, I feel as if a weight has lifted, far larger than the work accomplished would warrant.

Strategy update: Next time I feel I just cannot do the fifteen minutes, set the timer and give it a whirl. Clearing clutter energizes!

Next: Finish Drawer Three and, time permitting, begin Drawer Four.

Top desk drawer tidy with its pens, markers and other tools easy to get to and use

It took only a few minutes to finish tidying the drawer. I found enough quarters to do a load of wash, a hair band, an old grocery list, a Starbucks receipt, a pretty read bead (to what, for Pete’s sake?), and glory be, my pocket knife. I’ve been wondering where that thing got to for two or three years now. A good pocketknife is as useful in emergencies as the proverbial hairpin of old. I put it in my handbag, where it belongs.

I chose not to test every pen and marker for ink. We’ll discard them one at a time as we use them. The good news is, most of the pens in our drawer are refillable, as opposed to the disposables we used to buy by the gross. Sure, we still have to dispose of the empty refills, but they’re much smaller, and at least fifty percent of their packaging is recyclable. The other good news is, I found refills for most of the pens, as well as leads and erasers for the automatic pencils. They were lost under all the junk.

How I feel: Pleased and a little giddy to have nicked away one tiny thorn in my daily life.

Strategy update: Always go for the solution that will take the least time overall. Faced with a slew of pens and pencils that may or may not have outlived their usefulness, I could have spent another evening or two testing them one by one. That would have been a waste of time. Next time we pick up a pen, it will take one second to pitch if it turns out to be useless.

Next: Dive into drawer two.

Top desk drawer supposed to hold pens, markers and rulers

What is all this stuff? This is how our top drawer looked tonight before I began clearing the clutter. Right on top is a Starbucks gift card I received months ago. How did it get there? This drawer is supposed to hold pens, markers, rulers, and letter openers. Before I could find any of those, though, I had to clear two tubes of hand cream, an old toothbrush, a blank gift card without an envelope, money, nail files, gum, and a note with the name of my friend’s mother and the organization to which I was to have sent a memorial donation a year ago.

I put every one of those items where they belong, went online, made the donation and sent an e-card to my friend to let her know.

How I feel: Good. I feel good for having made room in that drawer and put the other things where they belong and where they can be of use. I especially feel good that I finally took care of that donation. It’s been in the back of my mind all this time, and I was ashamed to admit to my friend that I had lost the note containing her mother’s name and memorial info.

Strategy update: Unfinished business creates mind clutter. When there’s something you mean to do, stop and do it so you can move on. It’s never to late to do the right thing.

Next: This drawer is going to take at least fifteen more minutes. What do you think? Shall I check every pen and pencil to see if they work? Or shall I go for simply clearing the items that don’t belong there.

Well, puhdoodie. We were busy with family on Days 10 & 11, a weekend, and since I’m only clearing clutter five days a week, that was fine. Alas and alack, on Day 12 I had a recurrence of the stomach flu, followed by eight days of back pain that kept me from most of my evening computer work. On top of that, every four weeks, I work twelve to thirteen hour days or more. That was last week, and I came home too bushed to eat some of those days, much less tackle one more pile of clutter.

How I feel: Disappointed in myself for falling off the commitment so quickly.

Strategy update: Clearly, I need to plan for the unexpected. I also need to decide how I will handle the conflict between long work hours, fatigue and my desire to keep on track clearing my clutter.

Stumbling block 1: What to do about unexpected illness and other vide interruptus? As the sages say, crud happens. When it does, I’ll take time out to take care of myself, get well as quickly as possible, and return to task without guilt, which is emotional clutter and a big time waster.

Stumbling block 2: What to do about the every fourth week I work long, exhausting hours? I was aware each evening last week that, while I was motivated to do my fifteen minutes of clutter clearing, I did not have the energy to document my progress. I let that stumbling block stop me cold, so here’s what I’m going to do: Keep my commitment to spend fifteen minutes clearing clutter, but only after I’ve rested a bit and nourished my body. What I probably won’t do those days: Post here.

Next: Begin clearing the clutter in the desk drawers. Not glamorous, I know, but I discovered very quickly while clearing the desk top that it was extremely difficult to put away desk items because the drawers were packed with junk. Instead of four tidy office supply receptacles, I am faced with four difficult-to-close junk drawers.

A week ago tonight I did my first fifteen-minute session, clearing clutter from my desk top, which looked like this.

Desk New Year's Day 2009

Tonight, I paid the last bill, wrote the last check, and filed the last document. (The check was to Sierra Club, btw, to help them lobby Congress to protect Giant Sequoia National Monument from logging.)

I also took care of a couple of new pieces of mail that landed on my desk today and required immediate attention. Here’s my desk now.

Desk free of clutter 01-09-08

The rolodex, book and cards, lotion and headphones are staying because I use them too frequently to be getting them out and putting them away. Er, I suppose that’s not absolutely true about the book and cards. I keep them because they comfort me.

How I feel: Blessed! Yes, I feel blessed. Strangely, I feel as though I can breathe better. Perhaps the Feng Shui people are right about freeing energy when we free clutter.

Strategy update: Lay a plan for keeping the desk clear.

Next: Begin clearing the clutter in the desk drawers. (More on that tomorrow.)

I can’t believe it. I cleared all but one piece of paper from the desk pile tonight. That is, I cleared all but one of mine. The remaining two belong to my DP, so will stay where they are. Wow. Only one piece of paper requires my attention tomorrow night.

How I feel: Totally relieved! This is going to work. Chances are that pile would still be here, along with a whole lot of other stuff if I had not made this fifteen minute commitment last week. There’s hope for living in a clean, beautiful home.

Strategy update: Even when I feel too tired to do the fifteen minutes, as I did last night, and even when I’m famished and feel I must have dinner first, as I did Tuesday night, and even when there is something more important to do, as there was tonight, KEEP MY DATE WITH MYSELF for just fifteen minutes when I get home in the evening. It is so worth the time.

Next: Handle that one piece of paper tomorrow night, then begin clearing the clutter in the top desk drawer. I’ll tell you why that’s my next target when I post tomorrow night.

I usually set aside a Saturday in January to do all my holiday thank yous, but this little desk pile of mine includes envelopes with current addresses of all the folks who sent our household gifts this season. That’s the result of a cogent little moment of foresight when the first Christmas card arrived in early December.

So my fifteen minutes tonight included filing, shredding, recycling and–ta da!–writing my first thank you note of the season.

Now I realize Miss Manners would be peeved that I waited two weeks after Christmas to send my first expression of gratitude, but folks, I am a clutter bug, and that means I can’t always send a proper response right away because I can’t find: a) my stash of pristine note cards; b) the address of the person who sent the gift; c) postage stamps.

To have all those things together in one spot was something of a miracle tonight, and as Miss Manners also says: It’s never too late to thank someone for taking the time to do something nice for you.

How I feel: Happy, because I can actually see this pile shrinking, but more importantly, because I enjoyed thinking of my dear aunt and her kindness to us each year.

Strategy update: No new.

Next: Looks like I have a good chance of finishing clearing my desk top tomorrow. Woohoo!

Thirteen pieces of paper and my renewal isn't up till July

Thirteen of the pieces of paper on my desk are from my favorite magazine, Ode, which began sending renewal notices the moment they cashed my last check.

I don’t like getting junk mail. It’s an enormous waste of paper and resources. More, it’s a waste of precious time. What about all those greenhouse gasses that result from cutting and logging the trees, transporting the logs to the mill, manufacturing the paper, shipping it to the printer, printing it up, carting it to the bulk mail processor, then the postal service, and finally, trucking to me.

Sure, one piece of mail, or one a month for that matter, doesn’t mean much in the vast sea of junk mail. Still, I’m the person responsible for those fat monthly reminders to renew, which would go unopened save for the need to shred and recycle.

So I filed my confirmation of an Ode gift subscription to a friend in case I need it for proof later, shredded pieces with my personal data, recycled the rest and asked Ode to stop sending snail-mail renewal notices. They have my e-mail address after all.

That’s what I did with my fifteen minutes tonight.

How I feel: I admit I’m discouraged that this first small pile is moving so slowly. Fifteen minutes goes by pretty darn fast. Still, it’s worth ten minutes of my time to craft an e-mail to Ode. I expect them to listen, because they’re on the greenie side too. Plus, eliminating one junk mail envelope every three weeks or so lowers my clutter ratio just that much and I won’t have to spend time sorting, shredding and recycling. That’s a good thing.

Actually, I’m starting to feel pretty good about this evening’s work. Thirteen pieces of paper: Gone. Future clutter: reduced forever. Peace of mind that I’ve removed one tiny droplet from the greenhouse gas bucket: Comforting, because it’s our collective mess I’m helping to clear, one piece of paper at a time.

Strategy update: Recognize that learning to live an increasingly sustainable lifestyle, as well as reducing the clutter in my life, requires a time investment here and there. View these time costs as investments in the future.

Next: I’ll keep working to clear the desk.