"Buried in Paper" by writer couple Melanie and Steve Rasnic Tem was recently posted at Storytellers Unplugged. It uncannily reflects my own recent resolution to declutter a lot of the paperwork that's piling sky high in my home office. I've been meticulously cataloguing and reorganizing my home bookshelves for months, and still haven't gotten it perfect, with stacks of books here and there still on the floors in offbeat categories that don't "fit" on shelves with others in a tidy way (I keep vacuuming around these stacks, secretly hoping the vacuum will suck them up and solve my problem).
I often go through bouts of decluttering in the early summer, right after classes end. It gives me a feeling, quite literally, of a 'clean break.' But whenever I've invested a little time during the (ever so short) winter break to do this, I've had a more enjoyable spring. Wish me luck.
A few related reading to pass along and note for later reading, should I fail to meet my resolution:
- Advice for clearing literary clutter from metafilter
- Pittfalls of Creativity Clutter from the great organization site, unclutterer.com
- Lifehacker: portal to tips and downloads for getting things done
- Zen Habits' Massive GTD (getting things done) Resource List
- Conquering Clutter an article on compulsive hoarding from David Dudley, AARP
- Sharon Crosby's Mind Over Clutter articles
Even though I had students submit 90% of their work electronically this term, I still lost the battle to clutter, leaving another semester-long stack of things I've been meaning to get to.
Thanks for reminding he that I'm not the only person who faces this problem.